How can I install a go package with MinGW which depends on libiconv

Question

I am currently trying to set up a Go project, and considering I am running Windows, while the other 2 developers are working on a Mac, I have some trouble with installing a few packages.

After trying to install the packages with cmd, I was only able to install 2 out of 4. The other two needed gcc.

Therefore, I installed MinGW. I was able to install a third package that way, but now I am stuck on https://github.com/mikkyang/id3-go.

It seems to depend on another underlying project, https://github.com/djimenez/iconv-go. The moment I try to go install id3-go, I am always left with this error:

src\github.com\djimenez\iconv-go\converter.go:8:19: fatal error: iconv.h: No such file or directory

Somehow, I need to use libiconv with MinGW, but I have no idea how to connect both parts. I'm not really an expert in that field, so any help would be appreciated a lot. I already downloaded libiconv for Windows.

Related issue for additional information I found on the github project: https://github.com/mikkyang/id3-go/issues/21

EDIT: I made some progress on the whole problem. I now got all the files I need, but now I am stuck with this warning:

# github.com/djimenez/iconv-go
E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -liconv
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status

I tried to add the libiconv2.a from my libiconv installation to the mingw32 lib folder, but then this is what I end up with:

# github.com/djimenez/iconv-go
E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib/../lib/libiconv.a when searching for -liconv
E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib/../lib\libiconv.a when searching for -liconv
E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib/libiconv.a when searching for -liconv
E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib\libiconv.a when searching for -liconv
E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib/../lib/libiconv.a when searching for -liconv
E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib/libiconv.a when searching for -liconv
E:/Tools/TDM-GCC/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/5.1.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -liconv
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status

I have no idea how to proceed from here.

Answer 1

I've met the same problem when I want to go install github.com/google/gopacket which need CGO. It's because your libiconv2.a is generated by other compiler, so it's incompatible with mingw32 compiler as the error message says. We need generate the static lib with the mingw32 toolset:

1. find libiconv-2.dll(the coresonding dynamic library) in your PC
2. run gendef(located in C:\TDM-GCC-64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\bin in my 64-bit Windows ) on those files gendef libiconv-2.dll, this will generate libiconv2.def file

3. Then generate the static library:

   dlltool --as-flags=--64 -m i386:x86-64 -k --output-lib libiconv2.a --input-def libiconv2.def

4. copy libiconv2.a to proper location.