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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):

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.

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.

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?

A simple explanation hitting these areas would be helpful.

(My apologies if this post sounds silly/stupid. I thought I'd ask here. Ignoring these core bits never made anyone a better programmer.)

Thanks everyone.

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  • Have you read the welcome page on www.mingw.org? Does it answer any questions for you, or raise new, more specific ones? You may also want to read some introductory information on how compilers/compiled languages work.
    – eriktous
    Commented Oct 17, 2011 at 11:55
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    I have read. It doesn't answer much. First sentence means nada: "Mingw-w64 is an advancement of the original mingw.org project, created to support the GCC compiler on Windows systems."
    – WhyWhat
    Commented Jun 27, 2022 at 19:36

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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).

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.
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).

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.

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).
There are a few other minor things, but all in all, most things kind of work anyway.

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.

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    Do you know the history behind the -w64 fork of MinGW and why they so inconveniently chose to call it "w64"?
    – Asbjørn Ulsberg
    Commented Aug 17, 2016 at 10:08
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    What is exactly is a programming's language 'frontend'?
    – xtrinch
    Commented Jul 7, 2017 at 6:28
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    @Nim: The programming language is the frontend, more or less. A compiler often/usually consists of a frontend (for example C or C++) which gets parsed into an abstract syntax tree and translated to some unspecified intermediate representation of sorts. That intermediate representation is then transformed by the backend into a machine-specific number of instructions. Some compilers (LLVM) make this more explict, others make it less explict, but in principle they nevertheless work the same.
    – Damon
    Commented Jul 7, 2017 at 7:35
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    "...compiles for and links to the Windows OS component C Runtime Library in msvcrt.dll..." - I thought that MingW did not rely on msvcrt.dll, and instead came with its own standard library .dll. Am I wrong?
    – Aviv Cohn
    Commented Mar 28, 2020 at 21:19
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    And what is "GCC"?
    – Martín Nieva
    Commented Apr 27, 2021 at 20:22
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To compile C program you need a C implementation for your specific computer.

C implementations consist, basically, of a compiler (its preprocesser and headers) and a library (the ready-made executable code).

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.

The Windows library and MSVC together make a different implementation.

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    Good simple expaination.
    – RKum
    Commented Jul 14, 2020 at 8:05
  • @pmg so library code is not compatible for gcc compiler but we write code all that in int main() is compatible for gcc compiler right ?
    – Abhishek Mane
    Commented Aug 20, 2021 at 14:43
  • In header file declaration is there and in library files definition is there. So after compilation linker associates respective readymade code in object file. This is only you referring ` library that contains most ready-made executable code` right ? but this happening after compilation so why it's problem with gcc compiler ? I think I am missing some basic but I am not understanding ?
    – Abhishek Mane
    Commented Aug 20, 2021 at 14:54
  • Not quite right... (parts of) the standard library are installed with the Operating System (my 3-year old niece computer has that functionality built in). When you install a compiler (with headers and [extra] standard library ready-made functions) the connection between the compiler and the OS part of the standard library is mostly well established. MinGW just says: "don't link with the OS functions, use these ones instead".
    – pmg
    Commented Aug 22, 2021 at 7:03
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MinGW is a suite of development tools that contains GCC (among others), and GCC is a C compiler within that suite.

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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.

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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)

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  • @rubenvb - enlighten me, please
    – Real Name
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 13:10
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    MinGW doesn't provide a linux-like environment, that is MSYS(2) and/or Cygwin. MinGW provides headers and libraries so that GCC (a compiler suite, not just a "unix/linux compiler") can be built and used against the Windows C runtime. It provides sporadic extensions, mostly where the C and/or C++ standards require additional functionality that hasn't been implemented in Windows' versions of the C library (think C11 currently). MinGW is not "an approximation" of GCC on Windows. It is rather feature-complete. The reasons for its existence don't fit into this little box anymore.
    – rubenvb
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 13:17
  • @rubenvb what c++ 11(or 14 for that matter) functionality does it provide, that MS compiler does not ? Did you ever encounter usage of MinGW without Cygwin? What is the reason you need to use the named header files on windows, and how does it contradict anything I said? As a person who does NATIVE development on Windows , Linux and Mac I am really , really curious - for 10 years or so , I am yet to hear a comprehensive answer
    – Real Name
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 13:36
  • before VS2015 (and even in the current VS2015, see here), there are various things missing or badly implemented where GCC and Clang both have correct implementations. VS generally lags behind in standards conformance. This has been so since GCC 4.7 came out. I (and e.g. Qt Open Source) use MinGW-w64 without Cygwin. I don't understand what you mean by "named header files". GCC with MinGW-w64 is just another compiler on Windows, and useful as such, outside of any licensing limitations VS comes with.
    – rubenvb
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 13:53
  • "MinGW provides headers headers and libraries so that GCC" - that is what I mean . On C++ compliance I stand corrected - I don't care much for it (especially C++14) myself . What I should have written "linux developers, funboys of c++14/17 and people who like the over-complicated way of development" - thank you for correcting me . Licencing limitation of MSVC- I am not familiar with them , using community edition you can pretty much compile everything outside of VS(which is just an IDE)
    – Real Name
    Commented Jul 13, 2016 at 18:18

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