How to install Cygwin (2022) and how to compile and run C/C++ on windows 10

As part of the numerous packages in cygwin, there are cross-compilation toolchains which target both 32 bits and 64 bits; their names start with “mingw64-”.

Once they are installed, they should be used according to the general cross-compilation approach.

General installation notes:

When installing packages for the first time, the setup program does not install every package. Only the minimal base packages from the Cygwin distribution are installed by default, which takes up about 100 MB.

Clicking on categories and packages in the setup program package installation screen allows you to select what is installed or updated.

Individual packages like bash, gcc, less, etc. are released independently of the Cygwin DLL, so the Cygwin DLL version is not useful as a general Cygwin release number. The setup program tracks the versions of all installed components and provides the mechanism for installing or updating everything available from this site for Cygwin.

Once you've installed your desired subset of the Cygwin distribution, the setup program will remember what you selected, so re-running it will update your system with any new package releases.

The setup program will check by default if it runs with administrative privileges and, if not, will try to elevate the process. If you want to avoid this behaviour and install under an unprivileged account just for your own usage, run setup with the --no-admin option.

Cygwin
Platform Supported: Windows
GCC / Mingw-w64 Version: 11.3.0/10.0.0
Languages: C, C++, Fortran, Obj-C
Additional Software in Package Manager: many