MSYS2 for Windows

Software distribution & development platform

This powerful and lightweight software development platform allows you to create, deploy, distribute, and manage apps in three different environments. These environments include tools to create native Windows apps and a POSIX emulator that includes Unix utilities.

MSYS2 offers two environments that allow you to create native Windows apps. Both are called MinGW-w64 and one version is for 32-bit architectures, while the other is for 64-bit. Each environment contains build tools, compilers, libraries, and other resources for building 32/64 bit programmes.

Windows programs compiled using MSYS2 do not require any additional emulation. They can be distributed and executed as native Windows apps.

MSYS2 is an additional environment that the platform offers. It is an emulated POSIX platform that includes all the Unix tools a developer requires. It allows developers to create Windows apps using Unix utilities they are familiar with.

This includes the ability to execute unmodified Unix code within MSYS2. Additional Unix tools can be installed in the environment. This allows developers to build apps based on the POSIX emulation layer rather than the native Cygwin API.

MSYS2 is a great place to start if you are a Unix programmer. The platform includes basic *nix utilities such as a bash shell and version control tools.

The platform makes it easy to download, manage, and find Unix packages. It also comes with Pacman. Pacman, Arch Linux's default package manger, will be familiar to most *nix developers. There are over 1800 MSYS2 packages available.

The platform offers developers a safe environment to work on software for Windows distribution. This platform has been optimized to ensure smooth and efficient performance by removing any extraneous features that are not necessary.

MSYS2 is a simple platform that allows for the seamless deployment of Unix code on Windows machines. It is a great tool for creating Win32/Win64 applications with the flexibility and ease of *nix tools.