Re: Python recompile

bart <bc@freeuk.com> wrote:

 
I think nobody does. There's always been some sort of mystique
surrounding 'gcc' on Windows.
 
'MinGW' supposedly 'Minimalist Gnu on Windows'. In that case I wouldn't
like to see the full-scale one..

"Minimalist" is not about size of the compiler.  Rather, it is
about possible support routines.  For "hosted implementation" C
mandates presence of C library and there is a lot of functions
not in C standard, but included in libraries of C compilers.
There is also question of operating system support, complicated
by fact that Windows is different than other systems.  Cygwin
solved those issues by offering Posix emulation and a sizable
collection os libraries.  MinGW is minimalist in the sense
that it provides very little own libraries and mainly uses
what is provide by Windows.

To put it differenly, you could compile program in one computer
and get relatively small program which runs OK on different
Windows machines because libraries it needs are already present.
This is quite different compared to Cygwin, where you need to
install Cygwin libraries before normal Cygwin program can run
(I write about normal programs because actual compiler in
Cygwin and Mingw used to be the same and with some tweaks one
could use Cygwin compiler to produce MinGW execuatbles).

--
                              Waldek Hebisch