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digitalmars.D - Compiling on windows

reply frustrated <jilefe6760 5nek.com> writes:
Why does dmd/ldc2 for windows use old mingw 8.0 libs?
Why is dmd/ldc2 for windows so dependent on msvc and the windows 
sdk?
Jun 05
next sibling parent reply "Richard (Rikki) Andrew Cattermole" <richard cattermole.co.nz> writes:
On 06/06/2026 4:32 PM, frustrated wrote:

 Why does dmd/ldc2 for windows use old mingw 8.0 libs?


Nobody has needed it to be updated.

Most of WinAPI was added as of Windows 2000.

Here is where to update it: 
https://github.com/dlang/installer/blob/f733556b660fd7255b2155ae4e03069184973ba6/.github/workflows/build_windows.yml#L42


 Why is dmd/ldc2 for windows so dependent on msvc and the windows sdk?


Because its the system tool chain.

If you want to program a native program, you need the system tool chain.

We do support without both, except for ImportC but that genuinely needs 
cl, and nobody has advanced supporting clang-cl which needs a bit of 
work even if you have msvc installed.
Jun 05
parent reply frustrated <jilefe6760 5nek.com> writes:
On Saturday, 6 June 2026 at 04:52:13 UTC, Richard (Rikki) Andrew 
Cattermole wrote:

 On 06/06/2026 4:32 PM, frustrated wrote:

 Why does dmd/ldc2 for windows use old mingw 8.0 libs?


 Nobody has needed it to be updated.

 Most of WinAPI was added as of Windows 2000.

 Here is where to update it: 
 https://github.com/dlang/installer/blob/f733556b660fd7255b2155ae4e03069184973ba6/.github/workflows/build_windows.yml#L42


 Why is dmd/ldc2 for windows so dependent on msvc and the 
 windows sdk?


 Because its the system tool chain.

 If you want to program a native program, you need the system 
 tool chain.

 We do support without both, except for ImportC but that 
 genuinely needs cl, and nobody has advanced supporting clang-cl 
 which needs a bit of work even if you have msvc installed.


I’ve been experimenting with LDC2 on Windows for a while, and one 
practical issue I keep running into is the outdated MinGW runtime 
it ships with.

For comparison, I’m using a modern MinGW toolchain (e.g. from 
mstorsjo’s clang builds) in C++, which includes up-to-date 
Windows libraries—things like windowsapp.lib, newer WinRT 
headers, etc. With that setup, I can build hybrid applications 
combining ImGui (DX11) with WinRT APIs (HTTP, XML), and 
everything works fine.

Trying to replicate a similar setup in D is currently not 
feasible, because the bundled MinGW is too old and lacks those 
newer libraries and APIs.

So this isn’t really about abstract “new APIs”, but about 
practical limitations when targeting modern Windows features. Is 
there any plan to update the MinGW toolchain or make it easier to 
use a newer one with LDC/DMD?
Jun 05
next sibling parent "Richard (Rikki) Andrew Cattermole" <richard cattermole.co.nz> writes:
On 06/06/2026 5:18 PM, frustrated wrote:

 Trying to replicate a similar setup in D is currently not feasible, 
 because the bundled MinGW is too old and lacks those newer libraries and 
 APIs.


You know, you can ship the import libraries yourself.

Point the linker at them, either the file itself or the directory and 
it'll use them, you don't need to rely on the compiler to ship them.

You are not blocked.


 So this isn’t really about abstract “new APIs”, but about practical 
 limitations when targeting modern Windows features. Is there any plan to 
 update the MinGW toolchain or make it easier to use a newer one with 
 LDC/DMD?


I have no desire to do a PR, feel free.

Ldc should update if dmd updates, however I can't find where to do it.
Jun 05
prev sibling parent Adam D. Ruppe <destructionator gmail.com> writes:
On Saturday, 6 June 2026 at 05:18:56 UTC, frustrated wrote:

 I’ve been experimenting with LDC2 on Windows for a while, and 
 one practical issue I keep running into is the outdated MinGW 
 runtime it ships with.

 For comparison, I’m using a modern MinGW toolchain (e.g. from 
 mstorsjo’s clang builds)


I see that uses .a files and we want .lib files.... the .libs 
that come with ldc (and opend) come from here:

https://github.com/ldc-developers/mingw-w64-libs/

and there's an update script that hasn't been run for ages......  
last update 2018?! golly i just tried running it again against 
the newest mingw-64 release and it needed some minor fixes but i 
think i got it done.

Any chance you could send me a smallish (i'll prolly have to port 
it to D unless you do that too) test program that uses some of 
the newer apis so i can try to build it with my opend-dev? the 
script ran successfully just now but that doesn't mean it 
generated actually usable output.
Jun 06
prev sibling next sibling parent Kapendev <alexandroskapretsos gmail.com> writes:
On Saturday, 6 June 2026 at 04:32:26 UTC, frustrated wrote:

 Why does dmd/ldc2 for windows use old mingw 8.0 libs?
 Why is dmd/ldc2 for windows so dependent on msvc and the 
 windows sdk?


Welcome to Windows.
It's not too late to switch to Linux (preferably Ubuntu).
Jun 05
prev sibling next sibling parent Guillaume Piolat <first.name gmail.com> writes:
On Saturday, 6 June 2026 at 04:32:26 UTC, frustrated wrote:

 Why does dmd/ldc2 for windows use old mingw 8.0 libs?
 Why is dmd/ldc2 for windows so dependent on msvc and the 
 windows sdk?


I usually point interns and new staff to:

https://p0nce.github.io/d-idioms/#Installing-Dlang-on-Windows
Jun 06
prev sibling next sibling parent Mike Parker <aldacron gmail.com> writes:
On Saturday, 6 June 2026 at 04:32:26 UTC, frustrated wrote:


 Why is dmd/ldc2 for windows so dependent on msvc and the 
 windows sdk?


For the same reason it's dependent on gcc on Linux and clang/gcc 
on Mac: it's the system toolset.
Jun 06
prev sibling next sibling parent Adam D. Ruppe <destructionator gmail.com> writes:
On Saturday, 6 June 2026 at 04:32:26 UTC, frustrated wrote:

 Why does dmd/ldc2 for windows use old mingw 8.0 libs?


im lazy on this too but.....


 Why is dmd/ldc2 for windows so dependent on msvc and the 
 windows sdk?


There's no good reason for this, and opend ripped most that 
nonsense right out and is better for it. We use the ucrt by 
default so you don't have to mess with getting the msvcrt 
yourself, and it self-contains what it needs.

I don't think we outright ignore msvc if it is present, so if you 
have it installed, it will try to use it, but tbh it probably 
should since it just adds inconsistency. But the opend package 
does work out of the box if you don't have it installed.

This "system toolchain" party line is user-hostile nonsense.

https://opendlang.org/index.html
Jun 06
prev sibling parent Walter Bright <newshound2 digitalmars.com> writes:
On 6/5/2026 9:32 PM, frustrated wrote:

 Why does dmd/ldc2 for windows use old mingw 8.0 libs?
 Why is dmd/ldc2 for windows so dependent on msvc and the windows sdk?


So it can link with msvc generated object files.
Jun 07