Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
108 lines (82 loc) · 3.36 KB

BUILD-WINDOWS.md

File metadata and controls

108 lines (82 loc) · 3.36 KB

BUILDING ON WINDOWS

This guide shows how to build OpenNEC on Windows using a standalone MinGW-w64 toolchain (64-bit).

Getting started

  1. Install a MinGW-w64 toolchain
  • Option A (recommended): download a standalone toolchain such as the Winlibs standalone builds (https://winlibs.com/) or the mingw-w64 installer builds. Choose an x86_64 target and the POSIX/SEH variant if offered.
  • Option B: use a packaged installer for MinGW-w64 appropriate for your environment. Ensure the installed toolchain provides x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc, x86_64-w64-mingw32-ar, and x86_64-w64-mingw32-ranlib (or equivalent prefixed binaries) and add the toolchain bin/ directory to your PATH.
  1. Prepare the build environment
  • Ensure the MinGW-w64 bin directory is on your PATH so commands like x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc and x86_64-w64-mingw32-ar are resolvable.
  • If you do not have a POSIX make, use the shipped mingw32-make or a GNU make that works with MinGW. Example usage below uses the make invocation the Makefile expects; if your system provides only mingw32-make, use that name instead.
  1. Clone and prepare the repo

Building

On Windows you can use PowerShell or the legacy Command Prompt. If you prefer bash you can install Git for Windows (which provides Git Bash). Examples:

PowerShell:

git clone <repo-url>
Set-Location OpenNEC
# optionally: git checkout pc-compatibility

cmd.exe (Command Prompt):

git clone <repo-url>
cd OpenNEC
REM optionally: git checkout pc-compatibility

Git Bash (if installed via Git for Windows):

git clone <repo-url>
cd OpenNEC
# optionally: git checkout pc-compatibility
  1. Build (use original matrix backend to avoid optional external libraries)
# Prefer the MinGW-w64 cross-toolchain binaries on PATH
make CC=x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc BACKEND=original

Notes

  • The project includes a small clock_gettime shim; on MinGW-w64 this is usually provided by the CRT/pthreads implementation. The Makefile excludes the bundled src/compat_time.c when a MinGW toolchain is detected to avoid collisions.
  • For most builds you can use BACKEND=original to avoid requiring OpenBLAS or other numeric libraries. If you need high-performance BLAS on Windows, install a native Windows build of OpenBLAS and make sure pkg-config and the library are available.

Testing

After building you can run a smoke test on Windows natively:

.\onec.exe test\example5.deck

Or from a Unix-like shell in the toolchain environment:

./onec.exe test/example5.deck

Help and shell notes

  • Preferred: use -h or --help to show usage on any platform.
  • On Windows cmd.exe, onec /? will also display help (traditional Windows form).
  • On Unix-like shells ? and * are shell globs — quote them if you intend to pass a literal ? (e.g. onec '?').

Troubleshooting

  • If you see missing symbols for threading or pthreads, ensure your MinGW distribution includes winpthreads. Some installers provide separate runtime packages for pthreads support.
  • If clock_gettime conflicts occur, the Makefile will normally avoid compiling the project's shim for MinGW; ensure you are using the prefixed cross-toolchain (e.g. x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc) so the Makefile detection works correctly.