Changes between Version 9 and Version 10 of CompilationGuide/MSVC

Timestamp:

Nov 2, 2015, 1:25:20 PM (11 years ago)

Author:

Stefano Sabatini

Comment:

add extended section about setting the environment

CompilationGuide/MSVC

@@ -24 +24 @@
 }}}
 
-To set up a proper environment in MSYS, you need to run `msys.bat` from the Visual Studio or Intel Compiler command prompt.
+== Setting the environment ==
+
+In order to build a program with the VisualStudio tools, you need to setup a proper environment in order to make sure that the configure and build system will be able to find
+the tools.
+
+In particular, the build system will use the `cl` compiler and the `link` linker bundled with the employed version of VisualStudio. In order to setup the enviroment it is so necessary to set the PATH, LIB, and INCLUDE variables to appropriate values.
+
+This can be done by launching a cmd.exe native shell from the VisualStudio GUI. This can be done for example adding a tool from the Tools menu:
+{{{ Tools -> External tools... -> Add }}}
+
+To set up a proper environment in MSYS, you need to run `msys.bat` (or the equivalent `mingw32_shell.bat`) from the command prompt.
+
+Now, make sure that the `cl` and `link` program are not override by other programs with the same name from MSYS/MinGW (in particular, note that MinGW provides a program named `link`). In order to do so, you can set the MSYS path so that the VisualStudio tools are used instead, for example with the command:
+{{{
+export PATH="c/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0/VC/BIN/":$PATH
+}}}
+
+or removing or renaming the `link` binary provided by MSYS.
 
 Next, make sure any other headers and libs you want to use, such as zlib, are located in a location that the compiler can see. Do so by modifying the `LIB` and `INCLUDE` environment variables to include the Windows-style paths to these directories. Alternatively, you can try and use the `--extra-cflags`/`--extra-ldflags` configure options.
+
+
+== Build ==
 
 Finally, run: