Getting Started with C/C++ and MSYS2

Introduction

Msys2 offers the same tools as Linux to build software on Windows.

Installation

• Download and install MSYS2 (page,installer). You can also use package managers like Chocolatey or Scoop to install MSYS2: Use this command to install with Chocolatey:

  choco install msys2

  Use this command to install with scoop:

  scoop install msys2

• Lunch a bash shell from cmd

  C:\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd -defterm -here -no-start -ucrt64

• Install git

  pacman -S git

• Install gcc

  pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc

• Install ninja

  pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-ninja 

• Install cmake

  pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cmake

• Install Visual Studio Code.

• Install C/C++ Extension Pack for Visual Studio Code. You can also install from commandline

  code --install-extension ms-vscode.cpptools-extension-pack

• The next step is to clone starting repository

  git clone https://github.com/hkinke/gscppmsys2.git hello

• Change the folder, remove .git folder, and start a new repository

  cd hello
  rm -rf .git
  git init

• Change the replace gscppmsys2 in CMakeLists.txt with the name of your project by example hello.

  cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.18)
  
  
  project(hello)
  
  add_executable(main main.cpp)

• From Visual Studio Code, choose the UCRT64 kit, configure, and build your project.

• Lunch you application (you can use Visual Studio Code integrated terminal Ctrl+Shift+`)

  ./build/main

  which gives the output

  hello from Msys2