Re: Installing GSL on Windows to use with Visual Studio Code

[Vicent Giner Bosch]

Dear all,

I finally managed to install and use GSL in a Windows environment. In
case it helps anyone else in the future, here are the steps I
followed.

Please let me know what you think, anyway.

First of all, despite my question was specifically about Visual Studio
Code, I finally decided to stick with Code::Blocks
(https://www.codeblocks.org/) as an IDE for my programming tasks. Why?
Because I managed to understand how it works and how to set it up. And
because I do not need a programme with many features, but just the
essential ones.

1. Install MSYS2 (https://www.msys2.org/) following the instructions
on the same webpage, including the part in which MinGW is installed.

NOTE: You may need to add `C:\msys64\` to the PATH environment
variable in Windows.

2. Install the GSL. The binary files are available as a MSYS2 package
(mingw-w64-x86_64-gsl), so there is no longer need to download/clone
the source files and compile them. HOW TO DO THIS:
  2.1. Open a session of MSYS2.
  2.2. Type `pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gsl` (without the inverted comas).

3. Install Code::Blocks
(https://www.codeblocks.org/downloads/binaries/). You may choose the
installation file ended in `-setup.exe`, or the one that ends in
`mingw-setup.exe` which does include MinGW (although we will be using
the MinGW version that was installed together with MSYS2).

4. Tell Code::Blocks where the compiler MinGW is located:
  4.1. Go to Settings > Compiler... > Toolchain executables.
  4.2. Type `C:\msys64\mingw64` in Compiler's installation directory
and press OK.
  4.3. Go to Settings > Debugger... > GDB/CDB debugger > Default.
  4.4. Type `C:\msys64\mingw64\bin\gdb.exe` in Executable path and press OK.

5. Tell Code::Blocks where the GSL is located:
  5.1. Go to Settings > Compiler... > Linker settings.
  5.2. Add `C:\msys64\mingw64\lib\libgsl.a` and
`C:\msys64\mingw64\lib\libgslcblas.a`.

This worked for me, so far. Anyway, I am new to MSYS2 and to using 3rd
party libraries in C, so any critiques of these instructions will be
strongly welcomed.

I suggest keeping the answers within this thread, so that people
interested in this very same subject can easily find the discussion
and answers in the future.

Best,


--
vicent

@vginer_upv
vigibos.webs.upv.es