Re: [Mingw-msys] What is the difference between the tools in msys and mingw

[zwz <zha...@gm...>]

Thanks. It helps a lot.

In fact, I installed both msys and mingw, so that I could do most of the
things just like I was on linux. The main goal is to compile c/c++
programs. 

>From your description, I guess the tools in mingw are preferred. Am I
right?


Charles Wilson
<cwi...@us...> writes:

> zwz wrote:
>> I use mingw+msys on Windows.
>> I find there are some tools in both msys and mingw, such as libtool,
>> autoconf, automake, xz, zlib etc..
>> 
>> This really confuses me. I do not know why there will be two versions.
>> What is the difference? Which one should I use?
>
> The packages that are available in both "mingw" and "msys" flavors can
> be divided into three groups:
>
> 1) autoconf, automake, libtool, gettext, libiconv:
> These are "autotools".  The "mingw" versions are the tools suitable for
> use when you want to build or maintain mingw (that is, native win32)
> applications and libraries.  In other words, the mingw versions are the
> ones most people want.  The "msys" versions are used to build and
> maintain msys tools.  Most people have no need for the "msys" versions
> -- except for the runtime library
> libltdl-2.2.7a-1-msys-1.0.11-dll-7.tar.lzma, which is needed by some of
> the other msys applications.
>
> 2) gzip, bzip2, xz, (and eventually, libarchive/bsdtar)
> These are archiving and compression tools. Either version may be used.
> Historically, we have provided the msys versions.  The mingw versions
> are a new addition -- that eventually will allow us to ship a "mingw"
> version of bsdtar that supports (gz/bzip2/lzma/xz) compression. With
> this new tool -- not yet available -- you will be able to "unpack"
> packages distributed by mingw.org on a "virgin" system -- one that does
> not already contain an existing msys installation.  (The msys versions
> of gzip/bzip2/xz/libarchive/bsdtar/GNUtar all require the msys dll
> itself to have already been installed).  I also expect that the new,
> currently-in-development mingw-get installer program will be compiled
> using the mingw gzip/bzip2/xz libraries so that it, too, will be able to
> deal with compressed archives.
>
> HOWEVER, if you a;lready have a regular MSYS installation, then the msys
> versions of these tools are normally preferred.
>
> 3) others: cygutils, popt
> popt is a runtime library used by cygutils. You only need the msys
> version if you have installed the msys version of cygutils. You only
> need the mingw version if you have installed the mingw version of cygutils.
>
> As for cygutils itself, the "cygutils-dos2unix" package is provided in
> both msys and mingw flavors as a historical curiosity: the mingw version
> replaces (part of) the historical "mingw-utils" package, which in
> version 0.3 provided dos2unix/unix2dos programs.  The msys version
> provides updated versions of the d2u/u2d *scripts* that have been part
> of the core msys package for many years.  You don't NEED either, and it
> really doesn't matter which flavor of cygutils-dos2unix you install --
> or neither, or both.
>
> Note that cygutils-1.3.4-3-msys-1.0.11-bin is available only in an msys
> flavor. It provides the cygutils tools OTHER than d2u/u2d.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> --
> Chuck
>
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