What's been going on in w64devkit the past year
6 hours ago
- Release security improved: code-signed binaries, automated GitHub Actions builds, and immutable release artifacts.
- x64 release now a multilib toolchain, able to compile 32-bit Windows programs via -m32 or i686-w64-mingw32 prefix.
- Compiler no longer requires bin/ on PATH; GCC patched for direct invocation.
- Bigobj COFF format now automatically used when needed, thanks to upstream Binutils patch by Peter0x44.
- Builds switched from -Os to -O2 for static runtimes and computationally expensive tools, increasing size and speed.
- CMake and Ninja included, with CMake defaulting to Ninja; also added ccmake TUI and Ninja Multi-Config support.
- Ccache included with Windows-specific patches; can be enabled via w64devkit.ini.
- New tools: widl/uuidgen for COM, make2compdb for JSON compilation databases, recycle for sending files to recycle bin, quilt for patch management, NSIS for installers, zstd for compression.
- C11 threads implementation added to Mingw-w64 runtime, requiring Windows 7+, excluding recursive locks.
- std::terminate now traps instead of calling exit, reducing binary size and enabling GDB inspection.
- Future plans include re-enabling LTO with FatLTO runtimes for C++ and Fortran, using AI to fix LTO bugs.
- Commitment to Windows XP support for x86 release maintained.