Windows Prerequisites For IBCP+Git

A couple of programs need to be installed on Windows to be able to obtain and build the IBCP program.  Instructions for both Windows XP (32-bit) and Windows 7 (64-bit) will be given - adjust accordingly for other versions (these are the two versions of Windows I have available).

First the MinGW (Minimalist GNU for Windows) package needs to be installed.  The version I am using, which is the latest as of this date, can be obtained from Sourceforge/MinGW.  Download and run the mingw‑get‑inst-20120426.exe installer.  In the installer, use the defaults (especially "Use pre-packaged repository catalogs" on the third dialog).  On the seventh dialog "Select Components", select C++ Compiler, MSYS Basic System, and MinGW Developer Toolkit in addition to the C Compiler.  This will download and install the GCC and MSYS programs.  The version of GCC installed is 4.6.2 (close to the version 4.6.3 on Mint 13).

Next, the Git for Windows package needs to be installed.  The Git‑1.7.11‑preview20120710.exe installer can be downloaded from msysgit Downloads.  When installing this program at the Select Components dialog, under Windows Explorer integration select Simple context menu to install Git Bash and Git GUI.  Select the defaults for the rest of the dialogs.

Now the git package needs to be integrated with the MSYS package.  All that is necessary is that the PATH environment variable needs to be modified to include where the git programs are installed.  For Windows XP, this is C:Program Files/Git/bin and for Windows 7, this is C:Program Files (x86)/Git/bin.  Within the MSYS command line, edit the file /etc/profile (or with Notepad - the file is located at C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\etc\profile) and add the following line after all other lines that modify PATH:

Windows XP: export PATH="$PATH:/c/Program Files/Git/bin"
Windows 7:   export PATH="$PATH:/c/Program Files (x86)/Git/bin"

(Update October 6, 2012) In order for the "/c" part to work in MSYS, the /etc/fstab (C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\etc\fstab) file system table file needs to be modified by adding a new line containing "C:\  /c" to give access to the entire C drive.

If necessary, restart the MSYS command window, and confirm git is there by using the git ‑‑version command within the MSYS command window.  Next up, obtaining the IBCP repository on Windows.