Ability to compile a C/++ executable on a...

[JohnOne]

... machine which has not IDE or compiler installed.

Goal:

An end user can input some data, for instance a number of file names.

An executable is compiled which when ran opened all of those files.

What would I need to distribute in a package if I wanted to be able to do that.

Free compiler, libraries etc?

I'm talking the bare minimum tools and utilities I would need.

Appreciate any advice, and the filenames and opening is just an example it could be the end exe draws a line or does a calculation etc.

[JohnOne]

I'm rather lousy at explaining stuff so here is an example of what I mean.

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#include <ButtonConstants.au3>
#include <ComboConstants.au3>
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <StaticConstants.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>

$GUI = GUICreate("GUI", 229, 184, 192, 124)
$Label = GUICtrlCreateLabel("What do you want", 40, 40, 91, 17)
$Combo = GUICtrlCreateCombo("Select", 40, 72, 145, 25, BitOR($CBS_DROPDOWN, $CBS_AUTOHSCROLL))
GUICtrlSetData($Combo, "Open a file|Something else")
$Button = GUICtrlCreateButton("Ok", 40, 112, 75, 25)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)


While 1
    $nMsg = GUIGetMsg()
    Switch $nMsg
        Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
            Exit
        Case $Button
            Switch GUICtrlRead($Combo)
                Case "Open a file"
                    _OpenAFile()
                Case "Something else"
                    _SomethingElse()
                Case Else
                    _ErrorFunc()

            EndSwitch
    EndSwitch
WEnd

Func _OpenAFile()
    ConsoleWrite("//Open file" & @LF)
    ;Create the cpp file.
    $sFile = '#include <windows.h>' & @LF
    $sFile &= '#include <ShellApi.h>' & @LF
    $sFile &= @LF
    $sFile &= 'int main()' & @LF
    $sFile &= '{' & @LF
    $sFile &= 'ShellExecute(NULL, L"open", L"C:\\File.txt", NULL, NULL, SW_SHOW);' & @LF
    $sFile &= @LF
    $sFile &= 'return 0;' & @LF
    $sFile &= '}' & @LF
    ConsoleWrite($sFile & @LF)
    ;FileWrite("name.cpp", $sFile)
    
    ; Now compile this to exe. 
    
EndFunc

Func _SomethingElse()
    ConsoleWrite("Something else" & @LF)
EndFunc

Func _ErrorFunc()
    ConsoleWrite("Error" & @LF)
EndFunc

[Mat]

tcc is very small and could probably do this.

[Richard Robertson]

Does it need to by dynamically compiled? The resource stuffing method of AutoIt sounds like it would be more appropriate for your particular example.

[JohnOne]

Yes, the idea is to compile on the fly.

[jchd]

Then tcc is the way to go. It compiles and links almost as fast as simply loading an exe from disk. Give it a try to experience what I mean.

[JohnOne]

I will do, have to look into it first. Never compiled from command line or anything before see.

Speed is not an issue. the created binary will not be ran on the fly, but for future use.

[mrider]

@Mat and @jchd:

I've always used MinGW for these types of tasks, mostly because it's already on my computer anyway for Perl's CPAN.

TCC looks awesome and I'd never heard of it.  I know I'm not the one that asked the question - but thanks for the pointer nonetheless!

[jchd]

tcc and gcc don't live on the same planet, not even in the same galaxy. Of course gcc is much more powerful and comes with state of the art optimizations and cross-compile possibilities. It would be naïve to expect a 1.5Mb compiler+linker+libraries+doc+examples to be able to compete with VS or gcc or Intel or some other monster toolchain. Yet tcc is surprisingly tiny, fast and good at what it aims to do.

[mrider]

Good point - and I'll keep that in mind.  But the little bit of hand-written C code I currently compile in MinGW would probably work just fine in TCC.

[Werty]

Very interesting, that tcc, thanks

[Richard Robertson]

After looking at your example AutoIt code, I can see you importing some headers. You'll need to have those headers available (along with all headers they depend on, plus lib files when appropriate) with your compiler.

That's why compilers tend to be in a Software Development Kit (SDK) rather than a standalone executable.