to which compiler should we step up to bundle with CB

[killerbot]

which version of gcc should we take, cooked by which project ?

Any suggestions ?

[BlueHazzard]

My personal opinion is to switch to msys environment... it makes everything so much easier...

[Pecan]

My personal opinion is to switch to msys environment... it makes everything so much easier...

It not going to be a happy situation for students and teachers to have to install msys2 in addition to installing CodeBlocks.
I think we should still provide a "ready-to-go" download that includes the compiler.

It might be too complicated for high school and college students and their teachers to maintain both CodeBlocks plus a msys2 environments.
 

[blauzahn]

Debian's latest stable Linux version "bullseye" has gcc-10.2.1. The just released Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit) is based on that as well. On the pi, its repository does not list any newer version. Last weekend, I compiled wxwidgets trunk and cb trunk on my pi. @killerbot: There I also had to apply the 3 tiny patches fixing compile errors I sent you a few days ago.

My recommendation is to keep cb compiling with gcc-10.2.1 for now. At least, its support for C++17 is pretty ok IMHO. Any newer gcc would exclude many users on debian as well as many users, students and makers on the pi. That would be unfortunate. Also, please do not forget users on less performant and/or low buget systems like in Africa.

btw: cb-trunk compiles (patched) on arch with gcc-13.1.1 or clang 15.07. At the moment, wxwidgets trunk does not compile out of the box with gcc-13.1.1. gcc-12 and 10 are fine though. Right now, just out of curiosity, I try to compile cb-trunk on my pi with clang-13. So far the compilation is ongoing. Fingers crossed.

My main platforms I use cb on are ubuntu (lts), arch as well as pi.

On distrowatch.com you can get a good overview of the gcc-version shipped with distros. e.g.:

mint 11.2
manjaro: 12.2
ubuntu (lts) 11.2
arch 13.1.1
FreeBSD 11.2
CentOS 11.2

Have a nice day.

[killerbot]

we only bundle a compiler on windows, the one we used on windows to build the executables (nightlies).
At the moment this is an 8.x.

I know TDM is at 10.x
But that is also already old again, knowing gcc13 released last weeek.

I think gcc12 is most probably the most interesting one, giving a lot of c++20 features.


Personally I am not so fond of msys2, seems to complicated, compared to the more simple compiler bundles we used to ship.

[sodev]

At the moment, wxwidgets trunk does not compile out of the box with gcc-13.1.1.

Compiles fine for me on Fedora 38 with gcc 13.1.1.

Personally I am not so fond of msys2, seems to complicated, compared to the more simple compiler bundles we used to ship.

The great thing of MSYS2 is, that you can get a lot of libraries easily. However, this setup only works easily if you use its shell, using the compiler standalone is cumbersome. For that use case, it's easier to use a standalone compiler like a plain MinGW-w64. But getting libraries compiled with such a compiler can be very hard. So well, for the "CodeBlocks @school" use case that uses nothing more than std::cout standalone is probably better, but for the Real-World use case MSYS2 might be better.

[blauzahn]

@sodev: Indeed. Wxwidgets compiles fine ootb with gcc-13.1.1. I mixed it up with cppcheck where a static_assert fails. Thank you for correcting me.

With gcc-10 I meant the minimum version cb should be able to compile with at the moment. I appreciate bundling a newer gcc with cb on windows (only) so that users can use newer features. Being restricted to a compiler lagging several versions behind might discourage from using it and therefore cb on Windows. This might also frustrate cb-devs. Lets hope that the coming debian version will be available on Pi os soon.

[ollydbg]

The great thing of MSYS2 is, that you can get a lot of libraries easily. However, this setup only works easily if you use its shell, using the compiler standalone is cumbersome. For that use case, it's easier to use a standalone compiler like a plain MinGW-w64. But getting libraries compiled with such a compiler can be very hard. So well, for the "CodeBlocks @school" use case that uses nothing more than std::cout standalone is probably better, but for the Real-World use case MSYS2 might be better.

I think most package supplied by MSYS2 can by used by pkg-config command from a normal Windows CMD.
For example, below code is from one of my Code::Blocks project's linker options. I link to glm, glfw3, glew and wx libraries supplied by MSYS2. The last line is actually using wx-config-msys2.exe.

Code

`pkg-config --libs glm`
`pkg-config --libs glfw3`
`pkg-config --libs glew`
`$(#WX_CONFIG) --libs all`

I think its simple and powerful to use MSYS2.

[killerbot]

anyone any epxerience with this one, looks very promising : https://winlibs.com/ (I choose the one without clang), and the content of it is (a bot to much maybe (cmake / ninja/ ..):

This is the winlibs 64-bit standalone build of:
- GCC 13.1.0
- GDB 13.1
- MinGW-w64 11.0.0 (linked with ucrt)
- GNU Binutils 2.40
- GNU Make 4.4.1
- PExports 0.47
- dos2unix 7.4.4
- Yasm 1.3.0
- NASM 2.16.01
- JWasm 2.12pre
- ccache version 4.8
- CMake 3.26.3
- ninja 1.11.1
- doxygen 1.9.6

[Miguel Gimenez]

I have checked the Nuwen distro from Stephen T. Lavavej, it includes GCC 11.2.0 and Boost 1.77, and works fine except for two annoyances:

- The included binutils has a linking bug that can be solved deleting a flie from the distro
- C::B does not compile due to PCH problems (lot of errors from MapViewFileEx). I do not know if this is a problem from the distro or from GCC 11.2

[killerbot]

didn't know that one existed, cool, but seems outdated.

PCH problems, hmm, as my track record in this forum shows, I hate them, they are nothing but troubles ;-)

[killerbot]

I have successfully build with this "https://github.com/brechtsanders/winlibs_mingw/releases/download/13.1.0-16.0.2-11.0.0-ucrt-r1/winlibs-x86_64-mcf-seh-gcc-13.1.0-llvm-16.0.2-mingw-w64ucrt-11.0.0-r1.zip"

• wxwidgets 3.2.2.1
• CB trunk

First runs seem to be ok.

I think this is a compiler bundle worth using ...
Maybe as the base for the next nightly ... ?

[ollydbg]

I have successfully build with this "https://github.com/brechtsanders/winlibs_mingw/releases/download/13.1.0-16.0.2-11.0.0-ucrt-r1/winlibs-x86_64-mcf-seh-gcc-13.1.0-llvm-16.0.2-mingw-w64ucrt-11.0.0-r1.zip"

• wxwidgets 3.2.2.1
• CB trunk

First runs seem to be ok.

I think this is a compiler bundle worth using ...
Maybe as the base for the next nightly ... ?

I'm OK with this gcc suite, although I use msys2's gcc.

Note that I got a notification email that Release GCC 12.3.0 + LLVM 16.0.4 + MinGW-w64 11.0.0 MSVCRT (release 1) brechtsanders/winlibs_mingw released yesterday.

[Miguel Gimenez]

@killerbot, that release uses UCRT instead of MSVCRT. This would force users < Windows 10 to install the UCRT as a prerequisite, even for software deployment. Previous release uses MSVCRT.

[killerbot]

correct, but I have a feeling we should ditch pre win10 stuff. MSVCRT is suggested not to be used anymore ...

It is worth considering to try this approach out ?

[Miguel Gimenez]

There are a lot of users (and potential users) that still use W7 (even XP). In the company I work for about 80 % of the OS are W7-64, there are one XP and one W7-32, only a few are W10.

  - If you compile next release using the UCRT compiler they will have problems, unless the installer takes care of the needed MSW update.
  - If you bundle the UCRT compiler, they will need to install the MSW update when deploying their software to pre-W10 systems.

IMHO, MSVCRT will be with us many years.

[killerbot]

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/update-for-universal-c-runtime-in-windows-c0514201-7fe6-95a3-b0a5-287930f3560c

 seems this works to for Win 7 (even that horrible Vista), only XP is out of the picture, which I really think is ok, we should drop old stuff some day.

[Miguel Gimenez]

Also, whatever compiler is chosen must be properly detected. 20.03 had problems detecting the bundled compiler.

[killerbot]

currently nightly detected it without issues for me.

[ollydbg]

For me, I'm still using GCC with MSVCRT runtime. It works fine under Win7 and Win10. I haven't see someone using UCRT under Win7 before.

[MortenMacFly]

anyone any epxerience with this one, looks very promising : https://winlibs.com/

This is currently also my favourite compiler suite. However, the last version that was able to compile everything I have a need for was:
gcc-10.3.0-llvm-12.0.0-mingw-w64-9.0.0-r2
...but I will try version 13 - seems this might be a good one if it compiles wx32, indeed.

[nenin]

GCC 13 is important step for MinGW-w64 because it should support native Win32 threads. At least I can run simple test from the box.
Nixman just published GCC 13.1:  https://github.com/niXman/mingw-builds-binaries/releases  - it is kind of further development of the current 8.1.

[nenin]

I haven't see someone using UCRT under Win7 before.

It is me. 
I did it also on XP, with moderate success. 
By any way better to install UCRT if possible, even if soft is linked against MSVCRT.

[MortenMacFly]

...but I will try version 13 - seems this might be a good one if it compiles wx32, indeed.

I did that now an with:
gcc-13.1.0-llvm-16.0.4-mingw-w64ucrt-11.0.0-r4
...I have full success with all of my projects! This would be my current favourite.
I can also live very well with niXman, but as I said in the other thread: Since in the WinLibs release most common libs/tools are also bundled I would prefer the WinLib one.
Lets see how the next nightly with POSIX threads turns out...

[killerbot]

you mean the latest nightly ;-)
It is already existing.

[MortenMacFly]

I did that now an with:
gcc-13.1.0-llvm-16.0.4-mingw-w64ucrt-11.0.0-r4
...I have full success with all of my projects! This would be my current favourite.

BTW: There are projects that do not compile but still do with TDM - who really was the best IMHO. What does not compile are static builds (including static c/c++ libs) based on openmp. Unfortunately symbols are missing in that case. However, still its a very good compiler. Maybe I can strip these down to a reproducible sample and send to the author as a bug-report...

[ollydbg]

I did that now an with:
gcc-13.1.0-llvm-16.0.4-mingw-w64ucrt-11.0.0-r4
...I have full success with all of my projects! This would be my current favourite.

BTW: There are projects that do not compile but still do with TDM - who really was the best IMHO. What does not compile are static builds (including static c/c++ libs) based on openmp. Unfortunately symbols are missing in that case. However, still its a very good compiler. Maybe I can strip these down to a reproducible sample and send to the author as a bug-report...

I think the author of winlibs project is very active, see: brechtsanders (Brecht Sanders), maybe he can help.