GC on Windows 10

[Gregory A Failing]

These questions may best be answered by Arnold Trembley but any response is welcome.

While most of my development is linux based, I also use Code::Blocks (plus wxWidgets) for my windoze apps. I have already installed 'MinGW 6.3.0' which includes 'gcc'.

I would like to download and set up GC for windows runtime and compiler on my Win 10 computer. Is there a tarball or .7z download available that includes BDB for ISAM but does not include MinGW and 'gcc'? If not can I delete or rename the included MinGW folder and change an environmental to refer to my existing MinGW folders?

Next ...

I assume that GC on Windows works primarily as a TUI console application. But can GC be used to instantiate and populate GUI windows by setting dialog parameters like size, fonts, colors, etc in a windows GUI app?

Is that possible (probably) or simply not addressed yet by the GC wizards? Third party support?

If GUI administration/population is not feasible yet, I will still need to use GC/BDB ISAM as some data is used by a linux app that also uses GC and BDB. I'll just call a GC object to do the ISAM stuff from the gcc code.

Thank you in advance for any input.

Gregory

[Arnold Trembley]

Gregory,
There are two versions of "MinGW", the old one (sometimes referred to as MinGW32), and the new one (sometimes referrred to as MinGW64). The old MinGW on Sourceforge is still on GCC 6.3.0. It hasn't been updated since May 30, 2017. It was moved to OSDN, but that website appears to be dead or non-responsive. It was last updated a few years ago to GCC 9.2.0 but I have been unable to download it for new machines.

MinGW64 is actively maintained and supports both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows. It has multiple versions available for download, but the most popular one is probably MSYS2, which is the name of its bash shell. When people talk about MSYS2, they are really talking about MinGW64, but the reverse is not necessarily true.

For a number of reasons, building GnuCOBOL on Windows using either Cygwin or Microsoft Visual C++ is not the most desirable solution. Going forward, it is probably much easier to build GnuCOBOL for Windows using MinGW64/MSYS2, and will be a better product, even though the binaries will be much larger.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MinGW

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mingw-w64

https://www.msys2.org/ Where you can download MSYS2/MinGW64

There are some MinGW64 kits that could build much smaller binaries, such as W64DevKit, but it could take quite a bit of work to prepare an automated GnuCOBOL build using alternate tools.

Unfortunately, COBOL is not a programming language that is easily adaptable to GUI interfaces. There are software tools (including open source tools) that allow building GUI interfaces for Linux, Windows, and even MacOS. They generally use C++ and would required some interface code or bridge code to connect COBOL programs to GUI API's.

Some examples of GUI frameworks would be wxWidgets, .NET MAUI, QT (pronounced "cute"), and GTK.

https://wxwidgets.org/ appears to be open-source.

Kind regards,

[Simon Sobisch]

For the "old MinGW" -> Arnold is so kind to provide a backup including the newest GCC that was available (9.2.0) on his page.
For MSYS32: the 32bit environments are in the "phase out" state, they will be dropped "soon" (and many packages are already not available for that subsystem any more).

[Chuck Haatvedt]

Gregory,

I use MSYS2 to build the GNUCOBOL compiler, GCSORT, CBL-GDB, PDCURSESMOD and BERKELEY DB 18.40 for Windows 10 or 11. I build both the 32 and 64 bit versions of these.

These contain a number of enhancements which I have made to support multiple TUI window support as well as direct screen access via MF / Fujitsu CBL callable functions.

The following is a link to my DropBox folder which includes 7z archive files for the Windows binaries as well as a tarball for building on Linux. As you are probably aware, the GNUCOBOL compiler is actually a transpiler in that it generates C code which is then compiled via a C compiler to create executable files. These Windows binaries contain the most recent version of the GCC compiler.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/5tqte43y4la2938wlh2ym/AOgv4GQkaJh5g2mCmVxy0DU?rlkey=dcutci4w1i30xevaqhvcp4c45&st=3u5o2tvy&dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/5tqte43y4la2938wlh2ym/AOgv4GQkaJh5g2mCmVxy0DU?rlkey=dcutci4w1i30xevaqhvcp4c45&st=3u5o2tvy&dl=0

If you would like more information, please contact me via PM and I can share my Microsoft Teams contact information. I'm also on Matrix via the Element chat client.

        Chuck Haatvedt

ps.. I build the scripts which Arnold uses to build his MSYS2 builds.

[Gregory A Failing]

Wow Chuck, that is impressive.

I am very familiar with GC in the linux environment with several OLRT apps in production. My windows development work is limited to Code::Blocks/wxWidgets for GUI apps. These are small endeavors but I recently have been asked to port some of the linux code to Windoze hence my query.

I'll give this a go. Thank you very much.

Gregory

[Simon Sobisch]

I would like to download and set up GC for windows runtime and compiler on my Win 10 computer. Is there a tarball or .7z download available that includes BDB for ISAM but does not include MinGW and 'gcc'? If not can I delete or rename the included MinGW folder and change an environmental to refer to my existing MinGW folders?

That sounds like a bad idea if you don't know exactly what you do (which seems to be the case).
Instead, I'd suggest building your Windows MinGW binaries on your own, following Arnold's build guide.

an GC be used to instantiate and populate GUI windows by setting dialog parameters like size, fonts, colors, etc in a windows GUI app?

you can use a "TUI-GUI" depending on your curses implementation - for Windows that would be SDL or (more common used) WinGUI port of PDCursesMod; for GNU/Linux that would be SDL or X11

Otherwise you can use "any GUI library" - if you CALL into the right functions of those (but I'd suggest to not call the GUI library directly, instead use a COBOL<->C(++)/whatever wrapper in between [that would use wxwidgets, for example] or use "CGI way" (presenting an HTML form that you can adjust with css and javascript) or use a complete separate web frontend that calls COBOL to process and query data.

There are proprietary third party apps for GUI programming in COBOL, I can't remember one that's free software (and more than a "stub").

[Chuck Haatvedt]

The binaries that I provide for Windows are the most current builds and should include every thing you need to port your Linux GNUCOBOL code to run on Windows. If you use any libraries not included in GNUCOBOL itself, let us know here and we will try to assist you to get them running on Windows. Some Linux system functions can be difficult to implement on Windows, before worrying too much about that let's see what we are looking at.

You can always contact me directly via Private Message and I will try to assist you.

          Chuck Haatvedt

[Rich Di Iulio]

Hi!

I am trying to build a fresh GnuCOBOL using VBISAM. However, I get hang up building GMP (either 6.2.1 or 6.3.0). I get an error cannot find a working compiler. I have looked around what I had used in the past and they not helping. I even looked at Arnold's website and Chuck's Dropbox.

I have MinGW-64 working with the latest software. GCC version is 15.2.0.

If there are shell scripts that I can run, great. I do not mind doing things manually. I just need to know what to do about the error.

I was away from GnuCOBOL for a time doing RM/COBOL stuff, I'm back.

Any help would be very appreciated.

[Simon Sobisch]

I'd check if you have gcc and g++ installed. Otherwise: just check configure.log as it tells you exactly what it tried and what failed. Feel free to posst here if you can't take any reasonable information out of that log.

[Rich Di Iulio]

I am able to get the old GC build to run without and problems.

I have attached the config.log from the build of GMP-6.3.0

[Simon Sobisch]

Something is broken with that setup in the linker / library setup:

configure:5968: checking compiler gcc -m32 -O2 -pedantic -fomit-frame-pointer 
Test compile: 
configure:5982: gcc -m32 -O2 -pedantic -fomit-frame-pointer  conftest.c >&5
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libmingw32.a when searching for -lmingw32
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C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libmingw32.a when searching for -lmingw32
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../..\libmingw32.a when searching for -lmingw32
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libmingw32.a when searching for -lmingw32
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lmingw32: No such file or directory
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libmingw32.a when searching for -lmingw32
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/libgcc.a when searching for -lgcc
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0\libgcc.a when searching for -lgcc
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/libgcc.a when searching for -lgcc
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lgcc: No such file or directory
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/libgcc.a when searching for -lgcc
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/libgcc_eh.a when searching for -lgcc_eh
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0\libgcc_eh.a when searching for -lgcc_eh
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/libgcc_eh.a when searching for -lgcc_eh
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lgcc_eh: No such file or directory
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/libgcc_eh.a when searching for -lgcc_eh
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libmingwex.a when searching for -lmingwex
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../..\libmingwex.a when searching for -lmingwex
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libmingwex.a when searching for -lmingwex
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lmingwex: No such file or directory
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libmingwex.a when searching for -lmingwex
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libmsvcrt.a when searching for -lmsvcrt
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../..\libmsvcrt.a when searching for -lmsvcrt
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libmsvcrt.a when searching for -lmsvcrt
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lmsvcrt: No such file or directory
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libmsvcrt.a when searching for -lmsvcrt
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libkernel32.a when searching for -lkernel32
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../..\libkernel32.a when searching for -lkernel32
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libkernel32.a when searching for -lkernel32
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lkernel32: No such file or directory
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../libkernel32.a when searching for -lkernel32
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
configure:5985: $? = 1
failed program was:

int main () { return 0; }

and also:

configure:6396: gcc -O2 -pedantic -fomit-frame-pointer -m64  conftest.c >&5
conftest.c: In function 'foo':
conftest.c:1:21: warning: ignoring return value of '__builtin_alloca' declared with attribute 'warn_unused_result' [-Wunused-result]
    1 | int k; int foo () { __builtin_alloca (k); }
      |                     ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/15.2.0/../../../../lib/libmingw32.a(lib64_libmingw32_a-crtexewin.o): in function `main':
D:/W/B/src/mingw-w64/mingw-w64-crt/crt/crtexewin.c:66:(.text.startup+0xb5): undefined reference to `WinMain'
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
configure:6399: $? = 1

[Rich Di Iulio]

Okay, I looked on the web for any solutions, but did not find anything. Are there any suggestions here?

[Rich Di Iulio]

After spending the day looking for answers to this problem. I decided to reset the Msys64 environment. However, when I did I had problems installing it. I then decided to install onto another drive on the computer.

Well, I now can build GnuCOBOL.....It appears my primary drive maybe having problems...great!

Thanks to Simon for responding to my issue.

[Rich Di Iulio]

Well, I thought I was all set. I ran into a problem with building VBISAM, When I ran make, it failed. I used Arnold Trembley's Build Guide for MinGW. I used the three options and got same result.

I also got a question, is there only one build of GC 3.2? I noticed there is a GC 3.3, but could not find a link to download

[Anonymous]

Chuck Haatvedt chuck.haatvedt@gmail.com
8:41 PM (9 minutes ago)
to [gnucobol:discussion]

https://sourceforge.net/p/gnucobol/discussion/cobol/thread/44e5d83ba6/

This is a link to my 3.3 build of gnu Cobol with Berkeley database. It also includes GCsort.

Rich, about 1 year ago I did some work on VISAM to get it working with gnu Cobol 3.x, the performance is pretty lousy but it does work I believe the source code modifications for that are located on Arnold's website I don't have access to my build environment right now. I haven't built it in probably over a year you could try that. if I were you and you're not distributing this for use by another company I would just stick with Berkeley database.

ps.. I'm traveling on vacation so I don't have access to my development environment until mid October.

[Rich Di Iulio]

Chuck I do not like the premise of Oracle. As a rule I do not like using their products.

Thank you for the link to GC 3.3.

[Arnold Trembley]

Are you building VBISAM for MSYS2/MinGW64? If so, I would recommend this package:
https://www.arnoldtrembley.com/vbisam-2.1.1.7z

If you are building VBISAM for MinGW (32-bit), then I would recommend:
https://www.arnoldtrembley.com/vbisam_install_guide_v5.1.zip

Because it's the easiest to build for MinGW32.

I don't have any binaries for GC 3.3, because it is still in development and we don't have a release candidate yet. Chuck Haatvedt has some GC 3.3 binaries available for download on his dropbox, but they include experimental code that might not be included in a GC 3.3 release candidate. They also use BDB rather than VBISAM.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/5tqte43y4la2938wlh2ym/AOgv4GQkaJh5g2mCmVxy0DU?rlkey=dcutci4w1i30xevaqhvcp4c45&st=9swbyou0&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/5tqte43y4la2938wlh2ym/ANeLz9c1nkQU54wbjJGShzA/GNUCOBOL-X32-BDB.7z?rlkey=dcutci4w1i30xevaqhvcp4c45&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/5tqte43y4la2938wlh2ym/AK8obmIaHWUWs43Q5dMVe7Y/GNUCOBOL-X64-BDB.7z?rlkey=dcutci4w1i30xevaqhvcp4c45&dl=0

If you just want to download the source code for GnuCOBOL 3.3 current development, Chuck H. has a script to do this automatically.

[Anonymous]

https://sourceforge.net/p/gnucobol/discussion/cobol/thread/44e5d83ba6/

This is a link to my 3.3 build of gnu Cobol with Berkeley database. It also
includes GCsort.

Gregory about 1 year ago I did some work on VI Sam to get it working with
gnu Cobol 3.x, the performance is pretty lousy but it does work I believe
the source code modifications for that are located on Arnold's website I
don't have access to my build environment right now. I haven't built it in
probably over a year you could try that. if I were you and you're not
distributing this for use by another company I would just stick with
Berkeley database.

On Mon, Sep 15, 2025, 8:29 PM Rich Di Iulio trolley78@users.sourceforge.net
wrote:

Well, I thought I was all set. I ran into a problem with building VBISAM,
When I ran make, it failed. I used Arnold Trembley's Build Guide for MinGW.
I used the three options and got same result.

I also got a question, is there only one build of GC 3.2? I noticed there
is a GC 3.3, but could not find a link to download

---

GC on Windows 10
https://sourceforge.net/p/gnucobol/discussion/help/thread/8f5bc35f24/?limit=25#b181/6b7d/8895/3711/462f/f217/5d75

---

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https://sourceforge.net/p/gnucobol/discussion/help/

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[Rich Di Iulio]

Well, I generally like to build my own copy with the options I like.

Unfortunately my Windows 10 PC has gone crazy. I cannot install MinGW64 without some weird issues. I have decided to remove it entirely and not use it until I go to Windows 11 (maybe).

Thank you all who responded and tried to help me. When I go to Windows 11, it will be without Norton 360. I will be using BitDefender.

Regards...

[Anonymous]

Rich if is a Windows platform - use Chuck or Arnold's built versions.
Chuck's version has a lot of updates - thoroughly tested.
Arnold's MinGW versions work fine too
If it is your intent to build Windows GnuCOBOL from scratch -why?

[Michael Del Solio]

I also really like the versions from Arnold and Chuck. They work really well and are very easy to use. The version from SuperBOL (https://superbol.eu/en/developers/windows-aio-32/) is also good. In my opinion, it has the advantage that GixSQL is already included in the bin directory, so you can start using embedded SQL (sqlite3, Postgresql, etc.) right away.

Another option is the package from MSYS2 (pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gnucobol), if you already have MSYS2 installed. And there is also the option of using Ubuntu 24.04 under WSL on Windows with the GnuCOBOL package from Ubuntu (sudo apt install gnucobol).