This Tutorial will show you how to compile the latest Powder Toy alpha with MinGW (gcc for Windows)


Installing MinGW

1. Create the folder c:\MinGW
2. Add C:\MinGW\bin; to the PATH environment variable
a. Open System control panel
b. Go to the Advanced tab
c. Click the Environment Variables button
d. Search for Path in the 2nd listbox
e. Click Edit
f. Add 'C:\MinGW\bin;' (without quotation marks) right at the beginning
3. Download mingw-get (http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/files/Automated%20MinGW%20Installer/mingw-get/ mingw-get-0.1-alpha-4/mingw-get-0.1-mingw32-alpha-4-bin.zip/download)
4. Extract mingw-get and put the bin, libexec and var folders into the MinGW folder
5. Open the Command Prompt.
6. Type 'mingw-get install gcc' (This will install gcc)

Installing Libraries

7. Download SDL (http://www.libsdl.org/release/SDL-devel-1.2.14-mingw32.tar.gz)
8. Extract SDL and put the bin, include, lib and share folder into the MinGW folder
9. Download bzip2 (http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/downlinks/bzip2-lib-zip.php)
10. Extract bzip2 and put the incude and lib folders into the MinGW folder

Prepare Source

11. Download the Powder Toy source and extract it
12. Edit the *.h files in the folder includes
a. Replace all '#ifdef WIN32' lines with '#if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__GNUC__)'
13. Edit the *.c files in the folder src (*)
a. Find the lines which start with '_inline '
b. Replace the '#ifdef WIN32' above it with '#if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__GNUC__)'
c. In powder.c search for 'max(' and replace the '#ifdef WIN32' above it with '#if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__GNUC__)'

Compile and get dlls

14. Since you can not use the make file I made small .bat file to compile everything, download it (http://www.filefactory.com/file/b416fh3/n/compile.zip)
15. Extract the file and put the compile.bat into the folder of the Powder Toy source (where the src and includes folders are)
16. Run compile.bat and go thru the dialogs. (This will compile the source)
17. Copy the sdl.dll from 'C:\mingw\bin' to the place of your Powder Toy executable
18. Download the bzip2 binaries (http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/downlinks/bzip2-bin-zip.php)
19. Extract the bzip2 binaries and copy the bzip2.dll from the bin folder to the place of your Powder Toy executable
20. Powder Toy should be ready to go now.

* NOTE: I might have forgotten some changes I did to the source files so please post if have trouble with the how-to.

I already talked with Simon about making the code more compatible, so that the preparation isn't necessary any more. As soon as we come to a conclusion I can add it into the Wiki. In the meantime you can of course add this yourself. It might only get easier in the future.

Thanks for pointing this out Simon I'll add this to my post.

pilojo
It will only create windows binaries.
For vista have a look here: http://banagale.com/changing-your-system-path-in-windows-vista.htm