Compiling in C using tasks.json and GCC? - c

Question

This is my tasks.json, why is build failing when I try to execute with GCC?
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"type": "shell",
"label": "C/C++: g++.exe build active file",
"command": "C:\\MinGW\\bin\\g++.exe",
"args": [
"-g",
"${file}",
"-o",
"${fileDirname}\\${fileBasenameNoExtension}.exe"
],
"options": {
"cwd": "C:\\MinGW\\bin"
},
"problemMatcher": [
"$gcc"
],
"group": {
"kind": "build",
"isDefault": true
}
}
]
}
This is the output when I type "gcc helloworld.exe" in terminal
> C:\Users\Administrator\projects\helloworld>gcc helloworld.exe
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: DWARF error: could not find abbrev number 3874
helloworld.exe:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.text+0x290): multiple definition of `_mingw32_init_mainargs'; c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../crt2.o:(.text+0x290): first defined here
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: helloworld.exe:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.text+0x2d0): multiple definition of `mainCRTStartup'; c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../crt2.o:(.text+0x2d0): first defined here
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: helloworld.exe:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.text+0x2f0): multiple definition of `WinMainCRTStartup'; c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../crt2.o:(.text+0x2f0): first defined here
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: helloworld.exe:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.text+0x310): multiple definition of `atexit'; c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../crt2.o:(.text+0x310): first defined here
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: helloworld.exe:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.text+0x320): multiple definition of `_onexit'; c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../crt2.o:(.text+0x320): first defined here
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: helloworld.exe:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.text+0x330): multiple definition of `__gcc_register_frame'; c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/crtbegin.o:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.text+0x0): first defined here
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: helloworld.exe:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.text+0x3e0): multiple definition of `__gcc_deregister_frame'; c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/crtbegin.o:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.text+0xb0): first defined here
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: helloworld.exe:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.bss+0x4): multiple definition of `_argc'; c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../crt2.o:(.bss+0x4): first defined here
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: helloworld.exe:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.bss+0x0): multiple definition of `_argv'; c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../crt2.o:(.bss+0x0): first defined here
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: helloworld.exe:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.eh_frame+0xc8): multiple definition of `__EH_FRAME_BEGIN__'; c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/9.2.0/crtbegin.o:cygming-crtbegin.c:(.eh_frame+0x0): first defined here
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
Solution is in the comments, thank you everyone for your help!

Answer 1

To compile a C program, the command is
gcc -g -o helloworld.exe -Wall helloworld.c
-g Enable debugging
-o helloworld.exe Put the executable in helloworld.exe
-Wall Enable all warnings
helloworld.c Look for the source code in helloworld.c
Your command is attempting to "compile" the file which you expect the compiler to produce. I don't know if that is producing the errors you see, but it certainly is not correct.

Answer 2

Okay I found somewhat of a solution.
I believe I was trying to compile again after already compiling it, when my intentions were to execute the file.
So I switched the code to c and compiled in the terminal with this:
gcc -g -o helloworld.exe -Wall hiworld.c
Then to execute the new exe I used this:
.\helloworld.exe
thanks for the help!