How to use clang with mingw-w64 headers on windows

Question

I have clang 3.9 from http://llvm.org/releases/3.9.0/LLVM-3.9.0-win32.exe

clang version 3.9.0 (branches/release_39)
Target: i686-pc-windows-msvc
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin

And gcc 6.2.0 (Mingw-w64)

gcc (i686-posix-dwarf-rev1, Built by MinGW-W64 project) 6.2.0
Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

I don't have MSVC installed on my PC and no Windows SDK. I need some particular feature of clang and I wanted to replace it with gcc and more specifically with g++ because I use C++.

When I try to compile simple file I get:

fatal error: 'string' file not found

Does it mean my current clang installation doesn't support mingw on windows? Basically all I want is to use headers and libs from my mingw-w64 installation. I was looking for solution and didn't find anything. I don't know what should I do.

Does it also mean my clang installation depends on MSVC that I don't have?

EDIT: From the comment on this page: http://blog.johannesmp.com/2015/09/01/installing-clang-on-windows-pt2/

This doesn't work anymore with the latest binaries (3.7.1, 3.8, 3.9) from LLVM, because these were compiled with Visual Studio and for Visual Studio.

You can install the full Visual Studio 2015 (takes about 8GB) or install "Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools 2015 Update 3" which contains only the command line tools from VS plus the standard C++ header files that Clang needs.

I think it explains everything. Does it mean I need mingw build to get it working with mingw?

Solution 1

The correct thing to do, is this...

clang -target i686-pc-windows-gnu test.c -otest.exe

Or if you want 64bit output...

clang -target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu test.c -otest.exe

Clang will determine the location of the headers and libraries from your path. Make sure that you only have the version of Mingw in your path that you are targetting.

By default, the current release of Clang (5.0.0 as of now) will target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc

By way of example...

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.16299.19]
(c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\burito>copy con hello.c
#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    printf("Hello World!\n");
    return 0;
}
^Z
        1 file(s) copied.

C:\Users\burito>clang hello.c -ohello.exe --verbose
clang version 5.0.0 (tags/RELEASE_500/final)
Target: x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin
clang.exe: warning: unable to find a Visual Studio installation; try running Clang from a developer command prompt [-Wmsvc-not-found]
 "C:\\Program Files\\LLVM\\bin\\clang.exe" -cc1 -triple x86_64-pc-windows-    msvc18.0.0 -emit-obj -mrelax-all -mincremental-linker-compatible -disable-free -    disable-llvm-verifier -discard-value-names -main-file-name hello.c -mrelocation-    model pic -pic-level 2 -mthread-model posix -fmath-errno -masm-verbose -mconstructor-aliases -munwind-tables -target-cpu x86-64 -momit-leaf-frame-pointer -v -dwarf-column-info -debugger-tuning=gdb -resource-dir "C:\\Program Files\\LLVM\\lib\\clang\\5.0.0" -internal-isystem "C:\\Program Files\\LLVM\\lib\\clang\\5.0.0\\include" -internal-isystem C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0/VC/include -internal-isystem C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0/VC/include -internal-isystem C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0/VC/PlatformSDK/Include -internal-isystem C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 8/VC/include -internal-isystem C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 8/VC/PlatformSDK/Include -fdebug-compilation-dir "C:\\Users\\burito" -ferror-limit 19 -fmessage-length 120 -fms-extensions -fms-compatibility -fms-compatibility-version=18 -fno-threadsafe-statics -fdelayed-template-parsing -fobjc-runtime=gcc -fdiagnostics-show-option -fcolor-diagnostics -o "C:\\Users\\burito\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\hello-5c526d.o" -x c hello.c
clang -cc1 version 5.0.0 based upon LLVM 5.0.0 default target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
ignoring nonexistent directory "C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0/VC/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0/VC/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0/VC/PlatformSDK/Include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 8/VC/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 8/VC/PlatformSDK/Include"
#include "..." search starts here:
#include <...> search starts here:
 C:\Program Files\LLVM\lib\clang\5.0.0\include
End of search list.
hello.c:1:10: fatal error: 'stdio.h' file not found
#include <stdio.h>
         ^~~~~~~~~
1 error generated.

C:\Users\burito>clang hello.c -ohello.exe --verbose -target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
clang version 5.0.0 (tags/RELEASE_500/final)
Target: x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin
 "C:\\Program Files\\LLVM\\bin\\clang.exe" -cc1 -triple x86_64-pc-windows-gnu -emit-obj -mrelax-all -disable-free -disable-llvm-verifier -discard-value-names -main-file-name hello.c -mrelocation-model pic -pic-level 2 -mthread-model posix -fmath-errno -masm-verbose -mconstructor-aliases -munwind-tables -target-cpu x86-64 -momit-leaf-frame-pointer -v -dwarf-column-info -debugger-tuning=gdb -resource-dir "C:\\Program Files\\LLVM\\lib\\clang\\5.0.0" -internal-isystem "C:\\Program Files\\LLVM\\lib\\clang\\5.0.0\\include" -internal-isystem "C:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/include" -internal-isystem "C:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\x86_64-w64-mingw32\\include" -internal-isystem "C:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\include" -fdebug-compilation-dir "C:\\Users\\burito" -ferror-limit 19 -fmessage-length 120 -fno-use-cxa-atexit -fobjc-runtime=gcc -fdiagnostics-show-option -fcolor-diagnostics -o "C:\\Users\\burito\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\hello-d88ba4.o" -x c hello.c
clang -cc1 version 5.0.0 based upon LLVM 5.0.0 default target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
ignoring nonexistent directory "C:\Program Files\mingw-w64\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/include"
#include "..." search starts here:
#include <...> search starts here:
 C:\Program Files\LLVM\lib\clang\5.0.0\include
 C:\Program Files\mingw-w64\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include
 C:\Program Files\mingw-w64\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\mingw64\include
End of search list.
 "C:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\bin\\ld.exe" -m i386pep -Bdynamic -o hello.exe "C:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\x86_64-w64-mingw32\\lib\\crt2.o" "C:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\lib\\gcc\\x86_64-w64-mingw32\\7.2.0\\crtbegin.o" "-LC:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\lib\\gcc\\x86_64-w64-mingw32\\7.2.0" "-LC:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\x86_64-w64-mingw32\\lib" "-LC:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\lib" "-LC:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/lib" "C:\\Users\\burito\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\hello-d88ba4.o" -lmingw32 -lgcc -lgcc_eh -lmoldname -lmingwex -lmsvcrt -ladvapi32 -lshell32 -luser32 -lkernel32 -lmingw32 -lgcc -lgcc_eh -lmoldname -lmingwex -lmsvcrt "C:\\Program Files\\mingw-w64\\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\\mingw64\\lib\\gcc\\x86_64-w64-mingw32\\7.2.0\\crtend.o"

C:\Users\burito>hello
Hello World!

C:\Users\burito>

Solution 2

After installing older version built with MinGW that is 3.7.0 RC3 it worked.

You can notice the difference in version i686-pc-windows-gnu vs i686-pc-windows-msvc.

I think clang 3.9 would work too if they didn't break something in their source code and if you'd build it yourself. Would be nice to have newest 3.9 working with MinGW too. I'm too lazy though to try to build it myself.

EDIT: There are some packages for mingw too https://github.com/Alexpux/MINGW-packages that you can install using MSYS2 that seem to provide support for clang. There are some commits related to 3.8 and 3.9.

Hope this will help someone that has similar problems.