How to install the xPack Windows Build Tools binaries

The recommended method is via xpm.

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Overview

The xPack Windows Build Tools can be installed automatically, via xpm (the recommended method), or manually, by downloading and unpacking one of the portable archives.

Easy install

The easiest way to install Windows Build Tools is by using the binary xPack, available as @xpack-dev-tools/windows-build-tools from the npmjs.com registry.

Prerequisites

The only requirement is a recent xpm, which is a portable Node.js command line application. To install it, follow the instructions from the xpm install page.

Install

With xpm available, installing the latest version of the package is quite easy:

cd my-project
xpm init # Only at first use.

xpm install @xpack-dev-tools/windows-build-tools@latest --verbose

This command will always install the latest available version, in the global xPacks store, which is a platform dependent folder (check the output of the xpm command for the actual folder used on your platform).

Tip: The install location can be configured using the XPACKS_STORE_FOLDER environment variable; for more details please check the xpm folders page.

Tip: The archive content is unpacked into a folder named .content. On some platforms this might be hidden for normal browsing, and require separate options (like ls -A) or, in file browsers, to enable settings like Show Hidden Files.

xPacks aware tools, like the Eclipse Embedded CDT plug-ins automatically identify binaries installed with xpm and provide a convenient method to manage paths.

Important: Automatic path discovery for the packages from the new @xpack-dev-tools scope was added to GNU MCU Eclipse plug-ins with v4.x; update older versions or configure the path manually.

Uninstall

To remove the links from the current project:

cd my-project

xpm uninstall @xpack-dev-tools/windows-build-tools

To completely remove the package from the central xPacks store:

xpm uninstall --global @xpack-dev-tools/windows-build-tools --verbose

Test

To check if the xpm installed make starts, use something like:

C:\>%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\xPacks\@xpack-dev-tools\windows-build-tools\4.3.0-1\.content\bin\make --version
GNU Make 4.3.90
Built for i686-w64-mingw32

Manual install

For all platforms, the xPack Windows Build Tools binaries are released as portable archives that can be installed in any location.

The archives can be downloaded from the GitHub releases page.

Download

The Windows versions of xPack Windows Build Tools are packed as ZIP files. Download the latest version named like:

xpack-windows-build-tools-4.3.0-win32-x64.zip

Note: In case you wonder where the suffix comes from, it is exactly the Node.js process.platform and process.arch. The win32 part is confusing, but we have to live with it.

Unpack

To manually install the xPack Windows Build Tools, unpack the archive and copy it into the %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\xPacks\windows-build-tools (for example C:\Users\ilg\AppData\Roaming\xPacks\windows-build-tools) folder; according to Microsoft, AppData\Roaming is the recommended location for installing user specific packages.

Note: For manual installs, the recommended install location is slightly different from the xpm install folders, which use the scope (like @xpack-dev-tools) to group different tools, and .content to store the unpacked archive.

Important: Although perfectly possible to install Windows Build Tools in any folder, it is highly recommended to use this path, since by default the Eclipse Embedded CDT debug plug-ins search for the executable in this location.

Test

To check if the manually installed make starts, use something like:

C:\>%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\xPacks\windows-build-tools\xpack-windows-build-tools-4.3.0\bin\make --version
GNU Make 4.3.90
Built for x86_64-w64-mingw32

Not required on macOS, use the system tools.

Not required on GNU/Linux, use the system tools.