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Detailed installation process of Cygwin (64 bits)

License​

The license terms are provided here: https://cygwin.com/licensing.html

Download the installer​

Download the installer

Install cygwin​

  • Launch it, it will open the following window
Install cygwin
  • Click on “Next”
  • Click on “Next”
  • Chose a folder where Cygwin will be installed (example: “C:\cygwin” or “C:\cygwin64”)
  • Chose a folder to store the installation files ( example: “C:\User\MyName\Downloads”)
  • Click on “Next”
  • Select a mirror site. Any can be used.
  • Click on “Next”
  • The following window will be displayed
Cygwin select packages
  • Click on “View” combo box and select “Category”
Cygwin select category
  • Then select the specified version in packages
    • Devel/gcc-core (11.2)
    • Devel/gcc-g++ (11.2),
    • Devel/gdb,
    • Devel/make (4.4),
    • Libs/libboost-devel (1.66)
    • Interpreters/python37 (3.7)
    • Interpreters/python37-devel (3.7)
caution

Please be careful to install the same package numbers above, to avoid any misunderstanding.

Optionally, you can install an additionnal toolchain using MinGW_x64. This toolchain enables to build executable files which can run on windows platform using native libraries and, in certain cases, give more stable behavior at runtime.

The following packages have to be installed:

  • mingw64-x86_64-gcc-core (11.2)
  • mingw64-x86_64-gcc-g++ (11.2)
  • mingw64-x86_64-boost (1.66)

To install a package, click on the small arrow and select the binary file to download. We advise to install the last stable version of each package.

install a package
  • Click on “Next”
Confirmation
  • The installer will uninstall old versions if you’re updating your cygwin installation and install missing modules. Click on “Next”
Installation in progress
  • When the installation is done, click on “Finish”
Installation finish

tip

To find out if cygwin has been installed correctly: In the Cygwin folder at the root of C, double-click on Cygwin.bat and type: cygcheck -c.
A (fairly long) list of packages will be edited. Check that the installation of each package is "OK". If it's marked "Incomplete", go back to Cygwin (by clicking on the .exe) and reinstall the faulty packages.

Add cygwin in PATH​

This enables to use it in Eclipse for example.

variables environnement systeme
  • Click on “Change Environment Variables”
Change Environment Variables
  • Click on “environment variables”
Path
  • Select the variable named “Path” and click on “change”
info

You have to select "Path" in the System Variables

  • Click on “New” and add the path to the folder bin in the cygwin folder
Cygwin path
  • Click on ok and validate
  • Cygwin is fully installed

Compilation with cygwin in Eclipse environment​

Compilation with GCC​

When creating a C/C++ project, the tool enables to select directly Cygwin GCC as compilation toolchain. Therefore the basic compilation configuration is set automatically.

If you are using a Linux installation, you'll have to execute the following commands.

Linux Packages to install:​

To run Eclipse :

sudo apt install default-jdk

To compile C++ code

sudo apt-get install gcc
sudo apt-get install g++
sudo apt-get install make
sudo apt-get install libboost1.74-all-dev