Installing clang++ to compile and link on Windows : Part 2

01 Sep 2015

Part 1 : The Problem

Part 2 : Approach 1 - Clang 3.7

Part 3 : Approach 2 - MSYS2

Approach 1 - Clang 3.7

In this approach we’ll be installing Clang 3.7.0 and gcc 5.1.0 (via MinGW-w64), to allow us to build and link with clang from the standard windows command prompt.

First quickly consider the following:

• This tutorial was created for, and tested with windows 8.1 - I can’t make promises how well it will work on windows 10.
• If you have an older version of clang/LLVM installed, please use its uninstaller before continuing. Make sure that neither C:\Program Files\LLVM orC:\Program Files (x86)\LLVM exist on your machine.
• You’ll need to edit your system PATH, and the standard windows UI for it is pretty awful. You should consider grabbing the free Windows Environment Variable Editor or “Eveditor”: http://eveditor.com/ which is more user friendly and shows you if you have invalid paths set.
• You will also need to be able to open .7z archives, so make sure to install 7zip or something similar.

Ok, let’s get to the fun part. You will need to install all of the following:

1. Clang for 64 bit
   • Download Link - clang 3.7.0 64 bit.
   • Run the installer. When you get to the PATH settings, make sure to add LLVM to the system PATH:
   • Use the default install location: C:\Program Files\LLVM. Once the installation completes hit ‘Finish’.
   • clang++.exe should be located in C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin, which should be in your system PATH.
2. Clang for 32 bit
   • Download Link - clang 3.7.0 32 bit.
   • Run the installer. IMPORTANT: because we technically just installed a different version of LLVM, the installer will see the 64 bit version as an ‘older version’ and will give you this warning: You will want to click ‘No’, so that the 64 bit version doesn’t get uninstalled. We want both the 32 and the 64 bit versions.
   • You will once again be prompted to add LLVM to the path. This time leave it set to Do not add LLVM to the system PATH.
   • Use the default install location: C:\Program Files (x86)\LLVM and complete the installation.
   • clang++.exe should be located in C:\Program Files (x86)\LLVM\bin, but should NOT be in your system path.
3. MinGW-w64 for 64 bit
   • Download Link - MinGW-w64: 64 bit, version 5.1.0 with posix threads and seh exceptions.
   • Extract the x86_64….7z file, either to your desktop (and move it), or directly to your C: Drive:
   • Once done you should be able to find g++.exe in C:\mingw64\bin - you cannot change this location because Clang has it hardcoded.
   • Add C:\mingw64\bin to your system PATH.
4. MinGW-w64 for 32 bit
   • Download Link - MinGW-w64: 32 bit, version 5.1.0 with posix threads and dwarf exceptions.
   • Extract the x686….7z file, either to your desktop (and move it), or directly to your C: Drive.
   • Once done you should be able to find g++.exe in C:\mingw32\bin
   • Do NOT add mingw32 to your path!
5. Batch files
   • The 64 bit version of clang/g++ will be used by default. If you want to use the 32 bit versions you can temporarily modify your path with these batch files:
   • Right click view raw and save setgcc32.bat and setgcc64.bat:
   • Both batch files should be in a folder on the PATH. For example, create C:\Utils, place the batch files in there and add C:\Utils to your path.

And that’s it! At this point, you should have the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Clang 3.7.0 and MinGW-w64 5.1.0 installed. You can now compile 64 bit windows applications through clang like this:

And if you need to compile to 32 bit, just run the batch script, which will temporarily modify your path to prefer the 32 bit versions:

Note: If you see a fatal error that some common library cannot be found when you try to compile, such as:

If this happens check that:

• C:\mingw64\bin exists and IS in your system PATH
• C:\mingw32\bin exists and is NOT in your system PATH.

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Installing clang++ to compile and link on Windows
Part 1 : The Problem
Part 2 : Approach 1 - Clang 3.7
Part 3 : Approach 2 - MSYS2