Windows build with Msys2/MinGW64

[vryy]

It seems that the instruction to compile on Windows (see #26) is outdated. I looked at INSTALL_WINDOWS and saw the line numbers are not correct anymore. Also, in sc.h and p4est_algorithms.c there is code like defined _WIN32. So is the native build with Visual Studio supported or still experimental?

[sloede]

I don't know about native builds using VS, but note that we still build p4est regularly using MinGW as part of Julia's BinaryBuilder stack (such that p4est is available as a library in Julia without user compilation).

This is essentially the build script being used, maybe it can be of use for you to get started:
https://github.com/JuliaPackaging/Yggdrasil/blob/494a78263c891933191a3c6308420036a243357d/P/P4est/build_tarballs.jl#L19-L65

[cburstedde]

Thanks to both of you, the INSTALL_WINDOWS file is indeed horribly outdated. If, maybe, the two of you might come up with a new version of that file according to your present experience, that would be highly appreciated!

[vryy]

@cburstedde I could manage to compile with MinGW but got lots of strange errors down the line when linking to my project, so I end up compiled natively using VStudio. That works flawlessly. I could upload the details in the future since I was now in travel.

[cburstedde]

@cburstedde I could manage to compile with MinGW but got lots of strange errors down the line when linking to my project, so I end up compiled natively using VStudio. That works flawlessly. I could upload the details in the future since I was now in travel.

Thanks! It would be nice if we could come up with working guidelines for MinGW. Nonetheless, good documentation for VStudio (and removing anything that does not work from the docs) would be highly appreciated!