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== Setup MinGW command line tools ==

[http://www.mingw.org MinGW] A collection of freely available and freely distributable Windows specific header files and import libraries, augmenting the GNU Compiler Collection, (GCC), and its associated tools, (GNU binutils). MinGW provides a complete Open Source programming tool set which is suitable for the development of native Windows programs that do not depend on any 3rd-party C runtime DLLs.

=== Download and install ===
* The easiest way is to download the [http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tdm-gcc/tdm-mingw-1.808.1-webdl.exe On demand TDM/MinGW Installer 1.808.1] and run it. This installer allows you to download and install the official MinGW command line tools 3.4.5 and then unofficial TDM's experimental GCC/MinGW32 builds (gcc 4.3.1).
* Run the installer and press 'Create'. As installation directory I chose <tt>c:\MinGW-3.4.5</tt> or <tt>c:\MinGW-4.3.1</tt> depending on the gcc version I selected. To install gcc 4.3.1 choose the 'TDM-GCC Recommended, C/C++' type of install for gcc 3.4.5 choose 'MinGW stable, C/C++'. In addtion you can choose a fortran, ada, objc and objc++ language extension. After clicking 'Install' the packages will be downloaded and installed in the given directory.

=== Setup ===
To configure and compile plplot with MinGW it is best to use the Windows CLI. Please follow the instructions in [setup_cli|Setup CLI] to get the Windows Command Line Interface ready for development. Then open your [http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html favorite text editor] and enter the following CLI commands
<pre>
@echo off

rem setup Open Watcom compiler
set WATCOM=C:\DevZone\WATCOM
set PATH=%WATCOM%\BINNT;%WATCOM%\BINW;%PATH%
set INCLUDE=%WATCOM%\H;%WATCOM%\H\NT

rem setup PLplot library
set PLPLOTDIR=%USER_ROOTDIR%\PLDev\plplot\buildwatcom
echo Set PLPLOT working directory to %PLPLOTDIR%.
set PLPLOT_LIB=%PLPLOTDIR%\..\data
set PATH=%PLPLOTDIR%\dll;%PATH%
</pre>

=== Links ===
* MinGW Homepage: http://www.mingw.org
* TDM's Experimental GCC/MinGW32 Builds: http://www.tdragon.net/recentgcc/