mingw installation on Linux

Question

I'm currently trying to compile Windows applications on a Linux OS. I need mingw to do this. I read that Debian comes with mingw package already installed. When I run the shell command:

apt-cache search mingw

I get an output:

binutils-mingw-w64 - Cross-binutils for Win32 and Win64 using MinGW-w64
binutils-mingw-w64-i686 - Cross-binutils for Win32 (x86) using MinGW-w64
binutils-mingw-w64-x86-64 - Cross-binutils for Win64 (x64) using MinGW-w64
g++-mingw-w64 - GNU C++ compiler for MinGW-w64
g++-mingw-w64-i686 - GNU C++ compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win32
g++-mingw-w64-x86-64 - GNU C++ compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win64
gcc-mingw-w64 - GNU C compiler for MinGW-w64
gcc-mingw-w64-base - GNU Compiler Collection for MinGW-w64 (base package)
gcc-mingw-w64-i686 - GNU C compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win32
gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64 - GNU C compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win64
gcc-mingw32 - GNU Compiler Collection for MinGW32 (transition package)
gfortran-mingw-w64 - GNU Fortran compiler for MinGW-w64
gfortran-mingw-w64-i686 - GNU Fortran compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win32
gfortran-mingw-w64-x86-64 - GNU Fortran compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win64
gnat-mingw-w64 - GNU Ada compiler for MinGW-w64
gnat-mingw-w64-i686 - GNU Ada compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win32
gnat-mingw-w64-x86-64 - GNU Ada compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win64
gobjc++-mingw-w64 - GNU Objective-C++ compiler for MinGW-w64
gobjc++-mingw-w64-i686 - GNU Objective-C++ compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win32
gobjc++-mingw-w64-x86-64 - GNU Objective-C++ compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win64
gobjc-mingw-w64 - GNU Objective-C compiler for MinGW-w64
gobjc-mingw-w64-i686 - GNU Objective-C compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win32
gobjc-mingw-w64-x86-64 - GNU Objective-C compiler for MinGW-w64 targeting Win64
gdb-mingw-w64 - Cross-debugger for Win32 and Win64 using MinGW-w64
gdb-mingw-w64-target - Cross-debugger server for Win32 and Win64 using MinGW-w64
libconfig++-dbg - parsing and manipulation of structured config files(C++ debug symbols)
libconfig++-dev - parsing and manipulation of structured config files(C++ development)
libconfig++9 - parsing and manipulation of structured configuration files(C++ binding)
libconfig-dbg - parsing and manipulation of structured config files(debug symbols)
libconfig-dev - parsing and manipulation of structured config files(development)
libconfig-doc - parsing and manipulation of structured config files(Documentation)
libconfig9 - parsing and manipulation of structured configuration files
mingw-ocaml - OCaml cross-compiler based on mingw
mingw32-ocaml - OCaml cross-compiler based on mingw -- dummy transitional package
mingw-w64 - Development environment targetting 32- and 64-bit Windows
mingw-w64-dev - Development files for MinGW-w64 (transitional package)
mingw-w64-i686-dev - Development files for MinGW-w64 targeting Win32
mingw-w64-tools - Development tools for 32- and 64-bit Windows
mingw-w64-x86-64-dev - Development files for MinGW-w64 targeting Win64
mingw32 - Minimalist GNU win32 (cross) compiler
mingw32-binutils - Minimalist GNU win32 (cross) binutils
mingw32-runtime - Minimalist GNU win32 (cross) runtime

When I check the /usr/bin/ and /usr/lib for i686-w64-mingw32 I can't find it anywhere.

I've also find a search sing find -name "mingw" without much luck.

Does Debian come with mingw or do I have to install it? If it does come with mingw how do I use it?

Answer 1

Install the toolchain with wine64 (for running Windows executables):

sudo apt-get install gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64 g++-mingw-w64-x86-64 wine64

Take an example program hello.c:

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    printf("Hello world!\n");
}

Compile:

x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -g -o hello hello.c

Check the result:

file hello.exe

Which should output something like this:

hello.exe: PE32+ executable (console) x86-64, for MS Windows

Run:

wine64 ./hello.exe
Hello world!

There is also gdb-mingw-w64 providing /usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gdb but I could not figure out how it works (when I try it says Don't know how to run. Try "help target".).

One can use /usr/share/win64/gdbserver.exe (from gdb-mingw-w64-target package) to remote-cross-debug the windows binaries on Linux. For example:

/usr/share/win64/gdbserver.exe localhost:1234 ./hello.exe
Listening on port 1234

Then open regular gdb session:

gdb -q hello.exe
Reading symbols from hello.exe...
(gdb) target remote localhost:1234
Remote debugging using localhost:1234
warning: Could not load shared library symbols for 4 libraries, e.g. C:\windows\system32\ntdll.dll.
Use the "info sharedlibrary" command to see the complete listing.
Do you need "set solib-search-path" or "set sysroot"?
0x000000007bcddf65 in ?? ()
(gdb) b main
Breakpoint 1 at 0x40159c: file hello.c, line 2.
(gdb) c
Continuing.

Breakpoint 1, main () at hello.c:2
2   int main() {
(gdb) n
3       printf("Hello world!\n");
(gdb) n
4   }
(gdb) c
Continuing.
[Inferior 1 (Remote target) exited normally]