use zig or msys2 compiler toolchain (gcc/clang) for windows?

[goyalyashpal]

hi! windows dist of c3 requires the horrid msvc.

src:

• install instructions

c3c/README.md

Lines 195 to 199 in 9a114b3

	#### Installing on Windows with precompiled binaries
	1. Download the zip file: [https://github.com/c3lang/c3c/releases/download/latest/c3-windows.zip](https://github.com/c3lang/c3c/releases/download/latest/c3-windows.zip)
	(debug version [here](https://github.com/c3lang/c3c/releases/download/latest/c3-windows-debug.zip))
	2. Unzip exe and standard lib.
	3. If you don't have Visual Studio 17 installed you can either do so, or run the `msvc_build_libraries.py` Python script which will download the necessary files to compile on Windows.

it would be nice if it could use the msys2-gcc / msys2-clang toolchain (and optiinally distributed there too).

yes, i have searched with keywords {msys,cygwin} on {issues,discussions}

[lerno]

It doesn't require that you use MSVC. But it does need to link against the .dlls so the script downloads the required dependencies.

[goyalyashpal]

i would try to see for myself if smth regarding that can be done - just as a hobby. if ud like to share some initialising vectors for that, feel free. 😊😃

[lerno]

The thing is that requiring the user to install msys or some such would be a HUGE requirement, as opposed to the current which is to just run a script which downloads .lib files. What is the win?

[goyalyashpal]

"What is the win?"

many students (i.e. begginers) doing c/c++ devt already have mingw on their system. and likely, many developers & softwares alraedy use msys2 for "build from src" when doing multi platform devt (like for inkscape etc)

[goyalyashpal]

actually, i am running on a public wifi & havent got my laptop with me for now. so, is there some link using which i can dowload it on mobile, and transfer it to pc later?

[lerno]

Download what? The compiler or the necessary files for compiling for windows?

[goyalyashpal]

i have downloaded the c3-windows.zip (~30 MiB)

i have msys2 on my system, but nothing related to visual studio is available there. so, whatever would be required to get c3 up & running on my pc.

thanks a lot for prompt responses & helping me out.

[lerno]

The .py script works on any computer, zip the resulting directory and unpack it in the same directory as c3c.exe. It would be automatically included in C3 if it wasn't for copyright issues.

[goyalyashpal]

hey! how about using the zig compiler?

its lightweight, mit license, cross platform, cross compiling, sane defaults, provides caching. can even pick different library (musl, glibc, etc.)

https://github.com/ziglang/zig

[goyalyashpal]

The bottom line is that I want perfect integration with MSVC ...

the reason for that being that its (supposed to be) literally THE stdlib talking to the os kernel for windows right?

.py script ... at a later point might be integrated into the compiler

i dont think that would be any good.

[lerno]

the reason for that being that its (supposed to be) literally THE stdlib talking to the os kernel for windows right?

I don't know what you mean by this.

Also, I don't know why you mind having the compiler download the MSVC sdk on demand.

[goyalyashpal]

i meant that "they are supposed to be the perfect stdlib for windows" - is this the reason u want to use msvc

i dont have a prob with msvc. i just want to know the reason

[lerno]

I don't want people to run into any issues linking libraries compiled with MSVC.