A simple explanation of what is MinGW什么是MinGW的简单解释

Question

I'm an avid Python user and it seems that I require MinGW to be installed on my Windows machine to compile some libraries. I'm a little confused about MinGW and GCC. Here's my question (from a real dummy point of view):
我是一个狂热的 Python 用户，似乎我需要在我的 Windows 机器上安装 MinGW 来编译一些库。我对 MinGW 和 GCC 有点困惑。这是我的问题（从真实的虚拟角度来看）：

So Python is language which both interpreted and compiled. There are Linux and Windows implementations of Python which one simply installs and used the binary to a execute his code. They come bundled with a bunch of built-in libraries that you can use. It's the same with Ruby from what I've read.
所以Python是一种既能解释又能编译的语言。有 Python 的 Linux 和 Windows 实现，只需安装并使用二进制文件来执行他的代码。它们与您可以使用的一堆内置库捆绑在一起。从我所读到的内容来看，Ruby 也是如此。

Now, I've done a tiny bit a of C and I know that one has a to compile it. It has its built-in libraries which seem to be called header files which you can use. Now, back in the school day's, C, was writing code in a vi-like IDE called Turbo-C and then hitting F9 to compile it. That's pretty much where my C education ends.
现在，我已经做了一点 C 语言，我知道有一个可以编译它。它有其内置库，这些库似乎被称为您可以使用的头文件。现在，回到学生时代，C 是在一个名为 Turbo-C 的类似 vi 的 IDE 中编写代码，然后按 F9 进行编译。我的C教育差不多就到此为止了。

What is MinGW and what is GCC? I've been mainly working on Windows systems and have even recently begun using Cygwin. Aren't they the same?
什么是 MinGW，什么是 GCC？我主要在 Windows 系统上工作，甚至最近开始使用 Cygwin。它们不是一样的吗？

A simple explanation hitting these areas would be helpful.
对这些区域进行简单的解释会有所帮助。

(My apologies if this post sounds silly/stupid. I thought I'd ask here. Ignoring these core bits never made anyone a better programmer.)
（如果这篇文章听起来很傻/愚蠢，我深表歉意。我想我会在这里问。忽略这些核心位永远不会让任何人成为更好的程序员。

Thanks everyone. 谢谢大家。

Answer 1

MinGW is a complete GCC toolchain (including half a dozen frontends, such as C, C++, Ada, Go, and whatnot) for the Windows platform which compiles for and links to the Windows OS component C Runtime Library in msvcrt.dll. Rather it tries to be minimal (hence the name).
MinGW 是一个完整的 GCC 工具链（包括六个前端，如 C、C++、Ada、Go 等），用于 Windows 平台，它为 Windows 操作系统组件 C 运行时库编译并链接到 msvcrt.dll。相反，它试图做到最小（因此得名）。

This means, unlike Cygwin, MinGW does not attempt to offer a complete POSIX layer on top of Windows, but on the other hand it does not require you to link with a special compatibility library.
这意味着，与Cygwin不同，MinGW不尝试在Windows之上提供完整的POSIX层，但另一方面，它不需要您与特殊的兼容性库链接。
It therefore also does not have any GPL-license implications for the programs you write (notable exception: profiling libraries, but you will not normally distribute those so that does not matter).
因此，它对你编写的程序也没有任何 GPL 许可证的影响（值得注意的例外：分析库，但你通常不会分发这些库，所以这无关紧要）。

The newer MinGW-w64 comes with a roughly 99% complete Windows API binding (excluding ATL and such) including x64 support and experimental ARM implementations. You may occasionally find some exotic constant undefined, but for what 99% of the people use 99% of the time, it just works perfectly well.
较新的 MinGW-w64 附带大约 99% 的完成 Windows API 绑定（不包括 ATL 等），包括 x64 支持和实验性 ARM 实现。你可能偶尔会发现一些奇特的常数未定义，但对于 99% 的人 99% 的时间使用的东西来说，它运行良好。

You can also use the bigger part of what's in POSIX, as long as it is implemented in some form under Windows. The one major POSIX thing that does not work with MinGW is fork, simply because there is no such thing under Windows (Cygwin goes through a lot of pain to implement it).
您还可以使用POSIX中的大部分内容，只要它在Windows下以某种形式实现即可。与 MinGW 不起作用的一件主要 POSIX 事情是 fork ，仅仅是因为 Windows 下没有这样的东西（Cygwin 为实现它经历了很多痛苦）。
There are a few other minor things, but all in all, most things kind of work anyway.
还有一些其他的小事，但总而言之，大多数事情都是有效的。

So, in a very very simplified sentence: MinGW(-w64) is a "no-frills compiler thingie" that lets you write native binary executables for Windows, not only in C and C++, but also other languages.
所以，用一个非常非常简化的句子来说：MinGW（-w64）是一个“简洁的编译器”，它让你为Windows编写原生二进制可执行文件，不仅可以用C和C++，还可以用其他语言。

Answer 2

To compile C program you need a C implementation for your specific computer.
要编译 C 程序，您需要针对特定计算机的 C 实现。

C implementations consist, basically, of a compiler (its preprocesser and headers) and a library (the ready-made executable code).
C 实现基本上由编译器（其预处理器和头文件）和库（现成的可执行代码）组成。

On a computer with Windows installed, the library that contains most ready-made executable code is not compatible with gcc compiler ... so to use this compiler in Windows you need a different library: that's where MinGW enters. MinGW provides, among other things, the library(ies) needed for making a C implementation together with gcc.
在安装了 Windows 的计算机上，包含大多数现成可执行代码的库与 gcc 编译器不兼容......因此，要在 Windows 中使用此编译器，您需要一个不同的库：这就是 MinGW 入口。 MinGW 除其他事项外，提供了制作 C 实现所需的库 gcc 。

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The Windows library and MSVC together make a different implementation.
Windows 库和 MSVC 一起实现不同的实现。

Answer 3

MinGW is a suite of development tools that contains GCC (among others), and GCC is a C compiler within that suite.

Answer 4

MinGW is an implementation of most of the GNU building utilities, like gcc and make on windows, while gcc is only the compiler. Cygwin is a lot bigger and sophisticated package, wich installs a lot more than MinGW.

Answer 5

The only reason for existence of MinGW is to provide linux-like environment for developers not capable of using native windows tools. It is inferior in almost every respect to Microsoft tooolchains on Win32/Win64 platforms, BUT it provides environment where linux developer does not have to learn anything new AND he/she can compile linux code almost without modifications. It is a questionable approach , but many people find that convenience more important than other aspects of the development . It has nothing to do with C or C++ as was indicated in earlier answers, it has everything to do with the environment developer wants. Argument about GNU toolchains on windows and its nessessety, is just that - an argument

GCC - unix/linux compiler, MinGW - approximation of GCC on Windows environment, Microsoft compiler and Intel compiler - more of the same as names suggest(both produce much , much better programs on Windows then MinGW, btw)