I've given you an
explanation of why your recommendation is wrong; now I provide an
example of it being wrong:
Reading specs from C:/test/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/specs
Configured with: ../gcc-3.4.5/configure --with-gcc --with-gnu-ld --with-gnu-as --host=mingw32 --target=mingw32 --prefix=/mingw --enable-threads --disable-nls --enable-languages=c,c++,f77,ada,objc,java --disable-win32-registry --disable-shared --enable-sjlj-exceptions --enable-libgcj --disable-java-awt --without-x --enable-java-gc=boehm --disable-libgcj-debug --enable-interpreter --enable-hash-synchronization --enable-libstdcxx-debug
Thread model: win32
gcc version 3.4.5 (mingw special)
C:/test/mingw/bin/../libexec/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/cc1plus.exe -quiet -v -iprefix C:\test\mingw\bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/ test.cpp -quiet -dumpbase test.cpp -auxbase test -version -o I:\DOCUME~1\John\LOCALS~1\Temp/cckZaaaa.s
ignoring nonexistent directory "C:/test/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/../../../../mingw32/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/mingw/include/c++/3.4.5"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/mingw/include/c++/3.4.5/mingw32"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/mingw/include/c++/3.4.5/backward"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/mingw/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/mingw/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/mingw/lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/mingw/mingw32/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/mingw/include"
#include "..." search starts here:
#include <...> search starts here:
C:/test/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/../../../../include/c++/3.4.5
C:/test/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/../../../../include/c++/3.4.5/mingw32
C:/test/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/../../../../include/c++/3.4.5/backward
C:/test/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/../../../../include
C:/test/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/include
End of search list.
GNU C++ version 3.4.5 (mingw special) (mingw32)
compiled by GNU C version 3.4.5 (mingw special).
GGC heuristics: --param ggc-min-expand=100 --param ggc-min-heapsize=131072
C:/test/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/../../../../mingw32/bin/as.exe -o test.o I:\DOCUME~1\John\LOCALS~1\Temp/cckZaaaa.s
Let me make it as clear as possible:
In the first line, you can see that I have installed MinGW to "C:\test\mingw".
In lines 7 through 14, you can see that all the hardcoded directories beginning with "/mingw"
are not found.
Therefore I see no reason to believe that putting your MinGW installation into just a folder named "mingw" not in the root of the drive makes any difference whatsoever.
"C:\mingw"? Yes, because then /mingw is seen to refer to it.
"C:\something\mingw"? No. Obviously not.
I'm not trying to earn your enmity, or tweak your beak just for the fun of it. I'm trying to explain how you made an incorrect statement. I'm also willing to be shown that I made an incorrect statement.