Talk:MinGW

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Contents 1 Pronunciation 2 LINK.EXE and LIB,EXE mingw requirements 3 Linux-like? 4 Remove Distribution Notes? 5 MinGW and MSYS 6 Origin of the Windows API header files and libraries 7 OS

[edit] Pronunciation

What is the proper pronounciation for MinGW? Min-gee-double-u? ming-double-u? Em-in-gee-double-u?

Earnie Boyd (one of the project admins) pronounces it Min-gee-double-u if that helps ... (see http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=4363554&forum_id=5119 and http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=4363555&forum_id=5119 for other thoughts).

lol. Not knowing the origin of the name when I was using it, I always pronounced it "ming-whuh" (rhyming it with "lingua"). — FREAK OF NUR_xTURE (TALK) 20:52, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

It should be pronounced 'minj double-yoo' - as in 'minge'. ;) Pulseczar 16:41, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] LINK.EXE and LIB,EXE mingw requirements

Are requirements for LIB.EXE and LINK.EXE availability specified in library development section still actual?

No way, I removed them. --62.177.70.220 09:50, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Linux-like?

At the risk of sounding too much like RMS, I'm going to be semantic here. Shouldn't it be a GNU-like enviornment, versus a Linux-like one? After all, the G in MinGW stands for GNU. Linux is just a kernel, and as MinGW32 runs on a Windows system, it uses the Windows kernel. It has virtually no link to Linux other than Linux usually using a GNU environment. Mpeg4codec 18:35, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

The only mention of "Linux-like" I see in the article is with reference to Cygwin, not to MinGW.  :) — Haeleth Talk 01:15, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Must have gotten my thoughts jumbled. In any case, I believe much of my above argument still applies. Cygwin strives to emulate the user space and library functions, which consist mostly of GNU software (userland, glibc, etc.). Considering that at least one other kernel that I know of has been combined with the GNU utilities (GNU/Hurd), I'd say linking GNU strictly to Linux is not entirely appropriate. In conclusion, I believe the article should be changed to note that Cygwin provides a GNU environment, possibly adding that it is in many ways similar to the environment found on most Linux computers.

To ramble on a bit further, wouldn't calling it a true POSIX environment be even more accurate? In the end, I suppose it's all just a matter of semantics.. Mpeg4codec 05:02, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

I happen to be of the same opinion, and wouldn't argue if someone were to change the wording here. The reason I used "Linux-like" here (at least, I think that was my doing) is that that's the wording the Cygwin website uses now. Probably because more people know what Linux is like than know about POSIX.  :/

(Incidentally, Cygwin's libc is newlibc, not glibc. Which actually makes it less like Linux, but...) — Haeleth Talk 16:50, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

I think my edit accomplishes both our goals :). Mpeg4codec 14:40, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Remove Distribution Notes?

The stuff under "Distribution Notes" should probably be removed... it belongs in some readme file, not in an encyclopedia. 72.201.244.179 03:50, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] MinGW and MSYS

Having read the article I don't remotely understand what either MinGW or MSYS are. Could someone please alter it to explain it more slowly and thoroughly. 86.136.8.54 10:18, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Err, yeah, it is a bit technical right now. The key thing is that it's a Windows-native port of the GNU build system, which lets people use GCC and other free software for developing on Windows. Chris Cunningham 11:56, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Well, what is your frame of reference? Why did you come to this article, to start? Are you a programmer? A *nix user? Ham Pastrami (talk) 17:43, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Origin of the Windows API header files and libraries

Where do the Windows API header files come from ? It is supplied with a set of API libraries as well, even more curious to know where these come from. Also they obviously don't infringe on Microsoft copyrights. 62.31.160.103 22:53, 6 September 2007 (UTC)Andy Page,Bristol,Uk

I'd be interested to know this as well. I'm not entirely certain that it doesn't infringe on copyrights. Short of reverse-engineering the entirety of Win32, I don't see how else they would have come up with the headers and libraries except by basing it on Microsoft's Platform SDK (or the contents of Visual Studio) and the binaries that ship with Windows. But Microsoft also provides some of this free of charge, and perhaps with authorized redistribution so it's not necessarily an infringing use. Ham Pastrami (talk) 07:00, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] OS

Should the OS be listed as Windows or cross-platform? From what I know MinGW runs in GNU/Linux, and it's stated in the article that MinGW can be used to cross-compile. CHL (talk) 13:09, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

From what I can see on the project page, MinGW's binaries are not provided in any form other than for Windows. Ham Pastrami (talk) 18:53, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

The Windows headers MinGW provides can be used to cross-compile. The Unix binary for MinGW's compiler is, like, GCC. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 21:21, 4 May 2008 (UTC)