How do I compile with zlib on windows using gcc?-CodePudding

My aim is to compile zlib alongside my application files, I use gcc from tdm-gcc and have cloned the repository https://github.com/madler/zlib

in /example there is a zpipe.c file which utilizes the library but I can't seem to get it compiling on windows.

I've added -lz to the end of my compile command and I receive /x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lz error.

If I try to compile with just -Izlib I end up with these errors:

$ gcc -Izlib zpipe.c -o zpipe
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0x6a): undefined reference to `deflateInit_'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0xca): undefined reference to `deflateEnd'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0x12e): undefined reference to `deflate'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0x1be): undefined reference to `deflateEnd'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0x23c): undefined reference to `deflateEnd'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0x2c0): undefined reference to `inflateInit_'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0x320): undefined reference to `inflateEnd'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0x36f): undefined reference to `inflate'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0x3d1): undefined reference to `inflateEnd'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0x440): undefined reference to `inflateEnd'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\[redacted]\AppData\Local\Temp\ccjXicsi.o:zpipe.c:(.text 0x474): undefined reference to `inflateEnd'
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status

Any help is greatly appreciated! I've searched stack overflow and tried all the suggestions and also googled and I'm still having issues.

The errors seem trivial and I've fixed such errors in the past, but this one I'm stuck on and I'm not sure what else to try.

CodePudding user response：

1) Creating the static library.

Inside the zlib folder where the .c and .h files are located running gcc -c *.c will generate .o files that can be used to build the library.

after you have the .o files, running ar -rc libz.a *.o will generate a libz.a file, this will allow you to link via -lz

2) Compiling zpipe.c into zpipe.exe

put zpipe.c into the folder where libz.a is located, this is for simplicity when compiling.

running gcc -L. zpipe.c -o zpipe.exe -lz will create zpipe.exe.

3) Quick demo

Create a file hello.txt with Hello World! inside.

Run ./zpipe.exe < hello.txt > output.txt this will inflate the data in hello.txt and put it in output.txt

Run ./zpipe.exe -d < output.txt > original.txt to decompress the file and you will see Hello World! inside original.txt

Definitions

-L. tells gcc to use the current folder for the header files.

-lz tells gcc to compile with a static library who's name starts with lib and ends in .a for eg. libexample.a would be -lexample

CodePudding user response：

When using MSYS2 shell it's quite simple, just run the following commands (replace /usr/local with the desired location):

INSTALLPREFIX=/usr/local
wget -c http://www.zlib.net/zlib-1.2.12.tar.gz
tar xfz zlib-1.2.12.tar.gz
cd zlib-1.2.12
make -f win32/Makefile.gcc install \
 SHARED_MODE=1 \
 INCLUDE_PATH=$INSTALLPREFIX/include \
 LIBRARY_PATH=$INSTALLPREFIX/lib \
 BINARY_PATH=$INSTALLPREFIX/bin