Getting mingw-get to install correctly - mingw/msys path missing plus more!

Question

I\'m running windows XP.

I have been following this tutorial and so downloading mingw-get-inst here.

I\'ve done this a couple times and the last time I check

Answer 1

If you issue the command $ echo $PATH, you'll notice it contains /mingw/bin But the /mingw directory is unavailable. To mount it, edit the MSYS fstab, adding a line like C:\MinGW /mingw For details, see the MingW Getting Started guide, more specifically section "After Installing You Should..."

You only need to add MinGW/bin to the Windows' Environment Settings' Path if you plan to use MingW's executables outside of MSYS.

Answer 2

The MSYS and MinGW installation procedure is a nightmare, and has got worse over the years. If you just want the compiler suite (no UNIX tools like sed, grep), then I suggest you go to Twilight Dragon Media and download GCC from there. If you also want all the tools, including the Bash shell, the easiest way I've found to get them is to install Git for Windows (which you may want anyway), which includes them all. And if you want a C++ IDE that works well with GCC, take a look at Code::Blocks.

Answer 3

What is the result of running, at a cmd.exe prompt, the command echo %Path%? It should (given what you wrote about your system) include “C:\MinGW\bin”—does it?

What is the result of running dir C:\MinGW?

Note that mingw-get show shows details of available packages—those mingw-get knows how to download and install. The installer is a bit primitive, but has gotten better over the last year or so.