[image] Why do I need Microsoft C++ build tools in order to install the Rust Compiler? [image] Which one of these do I install?

[image] BatmanAoD: MinGW (a toolchain that, for lack of a better explanation, allows programs to run in a more “Linux-y” environment) Not really. MinGW is a port of the GNU toolchain that targets Windows, and the Win32 API, for writing Windows software. The reason MinGW and MSVC are separat…

[image] DanielKeep: The above is a complete pig’s breakfast of a mess My phrasing was a pathetic attempt to try to gloss over those details, partly to hide my own ignorance and partly to avoid talking about Cygwin and MSYS. But, yes, "Linux-y binary interface" may have been a better thing to …

[image] BatmanAoD: “Linux-y binary interface” may have been a better thing to mention than “Linux-y environment” Even then, it's not that it's a "Linux-y binary interface". It's not even entirely correct to say it's a "UNIX-y toolchain", since UNIX doesn't use import libraries in the first p…

[image] DanielKeep: There’s nothing particularly “Linux-y” about it, Well, technically, you're right, but for practical purposes (and at a level of detail accessible to the OP), the only reason to choose MinGW over the native toolchain is for compatibility with other MinGW-ABI binaries, and t…

[image] BatmanAoD: [..] the only reason to choose MinGW over the native toolchain is for compatibility with other MinGW-ABI binaries [..] Well, there's also compatibility with libraries that simply don't compile with MSVC in the first place, or where compiling with MSVC is not supported. I r…

Its actually a dead link the first link so I have to download the entire thing :frowning:

Isn't it possible to use gcc/g++ compiler instead?

That's what the GNU target uses. This is for the MSVC target. To quote myself: [image] DanielKeep: The reason MinGW and MSVC are separate targets is because MinGW does a not-that-great job of being a Windows toolchain. It’s incompatible with MSVC import libraries, the import libraries is does…

http://landinghub.visualstudio.com/visual-cpp-build-tools Hey man, this link appears to be dead. Is there an alternative link I could use to download this?

If you've already got the VS installer, you can just install through that.

Why do I need Microsoft C++ build tools?

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Why do I need Microsoft C++ build tools?

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