MSYS2 Compiler Environment : installation

Core System installation

  • Go to http://msys2.github.io
  • Download and run the installer msys2-x86_64-20160921.exe
  • When prompted to enter Installation Folder, use default choice C:\msys64
  • Tick Run MSYS2 now, this will open a shell
  • Update the package database and pacman with pacman -Sy pacman
  • If needed, close MSYS2, run it again from Start menu. Update the rest with: Update the package database and core system packages with: pacman -Syu
  • Again, if needed, close MSYS2, run it again from Start menu. Update the rest with: pacman -Su

Pinning to Taskbar: shortcut command list

  1. C:\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd -mingw64
  2. C:\msys64\usr\bin\mintty.exe -i /msys2.ico /usr/bin/bash --login

Pacman, the package manager

The documentation wiki page

Querying package databases

  • Help on queries on the sync database -S
  • Help on queries on installed packages -Q
pacman -S --help
pacman -Q --help
  • Search for packages in the database / in already installed packages

pacman -Ss string1 string2

pacman -Qs string1 string2
  • To display installed file list a given package
pacman -Slq package_name

pacman -Qlq package_name
  • To display extensive information about a given package
pacman -Si package_name

pacman -Qi package_name

Installing packages

  • Installing specific packages
pacman -S package_name1 package_name2

Removing packages

  • Removing packages, leaving all of its dependencies installed
pacman -R package_name
  • Removing packages and its dependencies which are not required by any other installed package
pacman -Rs package_name

Updating packages

  • Comparing versions before updating, to see old and new versions of available packages
pacman -Syu

Main Components installation

Utilities used to store, backup, and transport files

pacman -S tar

Git : The distributed version control system

pacman -S git

Binutils : A set of programs to assemble and manipulate binary and object files

pacman -S binutils

Utils for compilation

GNU autotools : tools to automate parts of the compilation process

pacman -S autoconf

pacman -S automake

pacman -S libtool

pacman -S make

CMake : a tool to build across several platforms

  • CMake (compulsory)
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-cmake
  • Qt5 Framework (optional big package only needed for cmake-gui)
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-qt5

Gcc : The GNU Compiler Collection - C and C++ frontends

  • Gcc for MinGW w64-x86_64 environment (compulsory)
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc
  • GNU Debugger (optional)
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gdb

Additional developer libraries

  • Boost, the Free peer-reviewed portable C++ source libraries (compulsory)
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-boost
  • GMP, A free library for arbitrary precision arithmetic (optional)
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gmp
  • GNU readline library (optional)
pacman -S libreadline-devel

Python : the version 3 of the high-level scripting language

Required by

  • Z3 prover compilation Optional otherwise
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-python3