MinGW - MSYSBuild Environment

The MSYS build environment is one whose GNU canonical system name (like returned by ``uname -s'') will have MSYS_ as the beginning portion of the string. The MSYS build environment is used to build the tools distributed by MSYS. The binaries it creates are dependent on the msys-1.0.dll runtime. The GCC version it uses is currently at 2.95.3-1.

To get started we must setup the msys tools directory. I choose to put the environment in a /msys directory and will assume that is where the tools are installed throughout this document. So the first exciting thing is to install the msysDVLPR-1.0.0-alpha-1.tar.gz file unarchiving it into the /msys directory. This package contains the include and library files for the msys runtime and build environment as well as the GCC version needed for MSYS. You will need to modify your /.profile with the following similar code:

if [ $MSYSTEM == MINGW32 ]; then
  export PATH=".:/usr/local/bin:/bin:$PATH"
else
  export PATH=".:/msys/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:$PATH"
fi

Now you can enter the MSYS Build Environment by simply doing

/msys/bin/msysdvlpr

which will open a new window with new colors. I've provided for different coloring schemes so you can easily recognize the difference. The coloring is controled via the msys.bat file and environment variables that maybe set. This new window is your MSYS Build Environment. If you set it up correct ``gcc -v'' should report version 2.95.3-1.

The next step will be to update this old alpha version with changes that have been made to MSYS. This means that you should build and install the CVS version of MSYS with a prefix specification of /msys. This will update the runtime headers and library to the most current version. You can find instructions on how to build MSYS here; note that I've followed the alternate installation in this document.

You might wish to add the following to your /.profile file as well, this change helps to identify the runtime build and the windows path of the current working directory.

#Determine windows path
W=`pwd -W`

#Determine identifying version info
V=`echo -n \`uname -r | cut -d \( -f 1\`-\`uname -v | sed -e 's/ /@/'\``

#Reset bash prompt
export PS1='\[\033]0;$MSYSTEM-$V($W):\w\007
\033[47m\033[30m\]\u@\h \[\033[47m\033[35m\w\033[0m\]
$ '

Similar profile commands can be established on remote systems to help you identify the remote window in the task bar.

MSYSBuildEnvironment

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