Access to the GNU C and C++ compilers

How you access the GNU C and C++ compilers depends on your operating system.

Linux

• GNU tools come with any Linux distribution (Linux itself is GNU) and are available on the Department Linux servers such as rcga-linux-ts1.dc.sfu.ca.

Windows

Windows users will have to install the tools themselves. Two options are MinGW and cygwin.

• MinGW is a contraction of "minimalist GNU for Windows". Though not as full-featured a toolset as cygwin (see below) MinGW has the advantage that it is able to compile binary executable files that do not rely on any system-specific libraries, making these binary executables portable across systems.
  • Installation instructions are not currently available
• Cygwin provides a complete Unix-like environment for Windows computers.   Binary executables compiled under cygwin rely on cygwin-specific libraries and hence can only be run by users with the same system as the one on which the binary file was compiled.
  
  • Full cygwin installation instructions are available at here.

Mac

The development tools for Mac are part of a package called the "Xcode command line tools". Apple does not include this tool set by default.

• The recommended way to install Command Line Tools is to type the following from a Terminal window:

  xcode-select --install
  

  If this installation method does not work for you, this thread on Stackexchange may be helpful for providing a work-around.