C code compilation - c

i want to compile a 'c' code and create an executable from my application. as of now i do it by specifying the path of my compilation .exe (c++) present in the bin folder of my Dev-Cpp folder.
it works fine but i need to pack the compiler along with the application so i wanted to know what files and folders are needed so that i can compile it directly from the application.
what are the files needed exactly i.e. headers,the compilation application, libs and what else...
any help?

If you're asking how to create and distribute a project which is able to build upon an existing compiler for its functionality, there are packages you can find which are just the compiler portion without the IDE. Minimalist GNU for Windows is such a package:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MinGW
(In fact, when the people who put together Dev-C++ wrote their integrated development environment, they get the actual compilation functionality from MinGW...which they bundled into their package for good measure. So if you were going to write an IDE of your own, you would start from the MinGW distribution...not by trying to hand-pick files out of Dev-C++.)
One issue to be sensitive to is licensing. While there are not generally any legal issues out of the box regarding distributing executables built with a system like MinGW, when you go as far as to include the compiler in your own "product", it might be tricky. Dev-C++ is under the same license as MinGW (GPL) but I'd imagine there'd be issues if it were not.
If you only need a subset of the full functionality (let's say you only compile C and not C++) there will be a lot of header files and such that you could cut out. But you have to trade off the difficulty of maintaining this sort of optimization vs. just having your program ask users to install MinGW and then tell your program where they installed it. It might take up more space and lead installation to be a two-step process...but frees you from a large number of concerns.
So that's what I would suggest: Have a setting in your program (much like Dev-C++ does) which lets people specify where the MinGW binaries are installed on their system. But let them install it independently.

Related

How can I compile ANSI C99-based MEX code delivered with Linux makefiles under Win64 MATLAB?

It seems I've got a real problem here due to my lack of any knowledge about Linux systems:
I have downloaded some open source code, which
is written in C
uses complex.h, so I assume it is ANSI C99
comes with makefiles designed for compilation under Linux systems
provides interfaces to IDL, MATLAB, Python etc.
I am indeed familiar about compiling C/MEX files under Windows-based MATLAB environments, but in this case I don't even know where to start. The project is distributed in several folders and consists of dozens of source and header files. And, to begin with, the Visual Studio 2010 compiler I've used to compile MEX files until now does not comply with the C99 standard, i.e. it does not recognize the complex.h header.
Any help towards getting this project compiled would be highly appreciated. In particular, I have the following questions:
1) Is there any possibility to automatically extract compilation information from the MEX files and transfer it to Windows reality?
2) Is there any free compiler being able to compile C99 stuff, which is also easy to embed in MATLAB?
I have done this (moved in-house legacy code inc. mex files to Win64). I can't recommend the experience.
You will have to recompile, no way around it.
Supported compilers for mex depend on your MATLAB version
This File Exchange entry for using Pelles C may be a starting point (if it works with your version of MATLAB).
I am guessing that there is a main makefile which then works through the makefiles in the subdirectories - have a read through the instructions for compiling under Linux, it will give you some idea of what's going on and may also discuss what to do if you want to change compiler. Once you've found a compatible compiler, the next stage is to understand what the makefiles are doing and edit them accordingly (change paths, compiler, compiler flags, etc.)
Then, from memory (it was a while ago), you get to enjoy a magical mystery tour through increasingly obscure compiler errors. Document everything because if you do get it working, you won't be in a mood to do this twice.
MATLAB R2016b on Windows now supports the MinGW compiler. I'm successfully using this to compile code written primarily for Linux/gcc. I installed this from the Add-On menu in MATLAB (search MinGW).
For my case, I'm building with the legacy code tool. The only thing I needed to do differently than normal was to tell the compiler to support c99 via a compiler flag. This does the trick:
legacy_code('compile', def, {'CFLAGS=-std=c99'})
I had trouble getting the flag command just right (I had some extra quotes that apparently broke things), and asked The MathWorks, so credit is due to their support team for this.
If you are using mex, I would expect to do something very similar.
I would guess that the makefiles are irrelevant for your application; you will need to tell the mex or legacy_code function about all of the files necessary to build the whole application or link against pre-built libraries (which it sounds like you don't have).
I hope this helps!

How to build Qt-5 application in Windows with no dependencies

I'd like to know the definitive method of building a Qt 5 application on Windows such that no dependencies whatsoever are required to run it, in particular the C runtime. I want to be able to distribute the final .exe with no prerequisite software/DLLs required. In particular, I want to avoid requiring my users to have to install vcredist.exe for MSVC*.dll or the MinGW redistributables.
I'll happily use either of the compilation environments (MinGW or MSVC), and will rebuild Qt from source if that is a necessary step (though I'd like to know if it is indeed necessary).
You have to static build the code. Chech this link explaining step by step method to build your code statically. http://qt-project.org/wiki/How-to-build-a-static-Qt-for-Windows-MinGW#9731f56412bd237286d3271405d55fd2

Compiling open source projects

I have been trying to compile open source projects since past few months with no success. I just don't know how to go about the entire thing. Readings over the internet have not helped much.
Some come with ./Configure and a Makefile while others with only a Makefile. How to use them to generate executables (or they have some other purpose ).
My machine currently has:
Windows XP,
Mingw Compiler for C/C++,
Cygwin
Do I need any other software?
Thanks!
Edit:
Thanks for the response. Currently I am trying to compile "Null Httpd". It comes only with a makefile.
In my command line prompt I type
/directoryContainingMakeFile/mingw32-make Makefile
I get
"Nothing to be done for 'Makefile'"
:(? Am I doing it the right way?
./configure is the first thing to run, if it exists -- it checks if your system has the requirements for the project, and also allows you to set project specific settings or simply set the default values.
Next, the command make (though some projects require automake, or cmake, which are similar but more powerful utilities) takes those configurations and builds from the source code into the executable. Make isn't a compiler in itself though -- its simply used to specify how to build the project. Most projects in C use gcc, probably with many standard libraries to be linked in, in which case this should run on top of cygwin perfectly well. If it has other dependencies however, you are on your own for the most part (this gets complicated very quickly -- if this happens, its usually a less time-consuming effort to work in the OS the source was made to compile on).
After this, you should find the binaries you require in the same directory :)

How to build executable from c written source files?

There is few files with .c anf .h extensions (cmdline.c cmdline.h core.c core.h and so on) in src directory, also there is one file "MakeFile" without extension. Is there any possibility to build these source files into some executable file on Windows 7 (64bits) ? I think i need to download compilers for C or some sdks right?
Yes.
You need to:
download and install a C/C++ compiler (I recommend TDragon's distribution of MinGW ),
add the compiler to your PATH (the installer can do it for you most of the cases); verify it's done by opening cmd.exe and typing gcc -v and mingw32-make -v, both should give you half a screenful of version information if your path is set correctly,
via cmd.exe, navigate to the folder in which the Makefile resides and call mingw32-make.
From now on everything should compile automatically. If it doesn't, post the errors.
Update:
First of all, it'd be useful for you to get the MSys package. Install it and you'll have a more recent version of make (use it instead of mingw32-make from now on).
About the CreateProcess bug, it has to do with the system PATH variable being too long. You'd need to do something like this:
open cmd
execute set PATH=c:/mingw32/bin;c:/msys/1.0/bin (change the paths here to reflect your own installation if it's different)
then as before: navigate to your project's directory, run make. Everything should be smooth now if you're not missing any external libraries.
BTW- remember not to install MinGW or MSys in directories with spaces.
I am not a Windows Developer..
But still as per my knowledge. Visual Studio (i.e 2008, I guess) has the ability to read the Makefile.
Please have a look at it..and if needed change this makefile to their format..
There are many opensource product which are platform independent..and they get compiled on both OS with the just Makefile they provided.
Or else use 'cygwin'
Developer C++ works in windows but it is actually GCC code bought into Windows, Is anyone familiar about the procedure they used to convert the linux ( .sh) to executables ??
I think i need to download compilers for C or some sdks right?
A compiler certainly, but what additional libraries you may need will depend entirely on the code itself. A successful build may also depend on the intended target of the original code and makefile. The makefile may be a GNU makefile, but there are other similar but incompatible make utilities such as Borland Make and MS NMake. If it is a simple build, you may be able to avoid the makefile issue altogether and use the project management provided by an IDE such as Visual C++ 2010 Express.
If you do not know what this code is or what it does and what it needs to build, you are taking a risk building it at all. Maybe you should post a link to the original source so that you can get more specific advice on how to build it.
[EDIT]
Ok, now looking at the code you are attempting to build, it is a very simple build, so if you wanted to avoid using GNU make, then you could just add all the *.c files in the src folder to a project in your IDE and build it.
However there is one serious gotcha, it uses the BSD sockets API and Linux system headers. You will need to first port the code to Windows APIs such as WinSock (very similar to BSD Sockets), or build it under Cygwin (a sledgehammer for a nut somewhat). There may be other Linux dependencies that need sorting, I have not looked in detail, but it looks fairly simple. That said, if you did not have the first clue regarding compiling this stuff, then perhaps this is not a task you could do?
Of course compiling the code may only be half teh problem, if it was designed to run on Linux, there may be run-time dependencies that prevent it running on Windows. Again I have not looked in detail.
Also looking at the code, I would suggest some caution, this may not be the best quality code. That may be unfair, but one obvious flaw and an indication if inexperience is the lack of include guards in the headers.

How to create a working Executable file (.exe) from a C code

I have a C code created in Plato3. I want to create an exe file so I can share it with others.
Can someone please tell me how is this possible ?
I have tried sending the exe file that is created when normally compiled, but it crashes every time in runs on computers other than mine ...
Please help,
Thanks :)
[EDIT]
Program running on windows xp or vista .. same error :
Compiler used : SilverFrost (Fortran/C/C++) Development Studio (Plato3)
This application has failed to start
because salflibc.dll was not found,
reinstalling the application may fix
this problem
salflibc.dll is a library installed by the compiler on your development machine.
salf = Salford C Compiler, the obscure compiler included in Silverfrost
libc = C-language runtime support library, necessary for the basic functionality of any program
.dll = dynamically-linked library, i.e. a separate file from your .exe file
You might look for a compiler option that looks like "statically link runtime library;" this might eliminate the DLL dependency. However, if the compiler were capable of doing that, one would expect it to be the default, if not the only way.
However, I recall from the olden days of Classic Mac OS that sometimes DLL runtime libraries were used, the benefit being upgradability. Sometimes is a key word, though. (I suppose when the compiler vendor is the OS vendor, as with MSVC or Apple GCC, it is the norm, though.)
Another trick from that environment was to put the DLL in question in the application's directory and distribute it with the app. Typically runtime DLLs are licensed for free redistribution.
At the very least you have to make sure that the executable is running on the same architecture/operating system that it was compiled on.
Additionally, you need to make sure that any third party, or system libraries that are needed are available on the other systems too.
update
Based on the new information and error message you provide, it looks like you need to re-distribute the salflibc.dll
I would agree with other commenter's and suggest a different platform for development that is more mainstream, or supported.

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