[Qgis-developer] Compiling with mingw in windows

[Martin Dobias]

On 10/9/06, Radim Blazek <radim.blazek at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/8/06, frdcn <frdcn at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi qgis developers:
> >
> > I?m trying to compile qgis in windows using mingw, I searched in wiki pages
> > and I found instructions in how building qgis with visual c++, but there are
> > restrictions in qt license about using it with visual studio.
>
> Really? Qt is GPL and AFAIK there are no restrictions for compiler
> in GPL. We plan (I believe) to use Visual C++ in future because it is
> more native - Martin?

Radim is right, GPL-ed Qt4 for windows doesn't have any compiler
restrictions, but only MinGW is supported by Trolltech. Qt-win project
provides a set of patches to enable compilation with MSVC and Borland
compilators. See wiki page:
http://wiki.qgis.org/qgiswiki/Building_QT_4_with_Visual_C%2B%2B_2005

Mateusz Loskot managed to compile also QGIS with MSVC and provided his notes:
http://wiki.qgis.org/qgiswiki/Building_Quantum_GIS_with_Visual_C%2B%2B_2005
Beware, the project files on the page are not being actively
maintained since then and you'll probably need to tweak them.

> > could somebody
> > tell me where to start to compile with mingw ?
>
> I think that you can follow instructions for crosscompilation on Linux
> because it is also using MinGW:
> http://wiki.qgis.org/qgiswiki/BuildingWindowsBinaryOnLinux
>
> Definitely we need more (well at least one) developers working
> on Windows with possibility to debug (impossible with crosscompiler).
> If you manage to compile with MinGW on windows, it would be very
> appretiated if you put a zip package with all precompiled/installed
> dependencies so that others can start easily.

I think Tim has been playing with MinGW on windows recently, but I
don't know about the status of his effort.

I've also tried to compile QGIS on windows - both with MinGW and
Visual C++ - and both with success. But only the Lib-Refactoring SVN
branch and by using CMake system. That eliminates the need of automake
& friends, therefore my experience doesn't include building current
version of QGIS. However I plan to provide precompiled environment for
building once I get it to a more final status.

Martin