Tutorial: compile for Windows on Linux with MinGW (cross compile)

[Topping1]

First, install MinGW
sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64-posix
sudo apt install gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64-posix

Then, clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ggerganov/whisper.cpp

• then, for compilation, we need to modify the pthread flag and static link libgcc and libstdc++ as follows:

x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-posix -I. -O3 -std=c11 -mfma -mf16c -mavx -mavx2 -c ggml.c -o ggml.o

x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++-posix -I. -I./examples -O3 -std=c++11 -lwinpthread -c whisper.cpp -o whisper.o

x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++-posix -I. -I./examples -O3 -std=c++11 -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++ -lwinpthread examples/main/main.cpp ggml.o whisper.o -o main

the compiled executable was tested on an Intel 4th gen CPU and it worked BUT accented characters do not show correctly (not a problem for english). A workaround (the problem might be with MinGW): before using main.exe on a command prompt window, execute the command chcp 65001 (UTF-8 encoding).

Tried to run it on a 3rd gen intel CPU but did not work.

[regstuff]

Tested successfully on an i5-8300H. Failed on an old Pentium G4400.
If this works well, I suppose it would be a good idea to setup a Github Workflow to auto-compile whenever this repo is updated.

[ggerganov]

@Topping1
Very nice!
Can you try cross-compiling using x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-posix + -lwinpthread without using mingw-std-threads?

x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-posix -I. -O3 -std=c11 -mfma -mf16c -mavx -mavx2 -c ggml.c -o ggml.o

x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++-posix -I. -I./examples -O3 -std=c++11 -lwinpthread -c whisper.cpp -o whisper.o

x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++-posix -I. -I./examples -O3 -std=c++11 -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++ -lwinpthread examples/main/main.cpp ggml.o whisper.o -o main

I want to avoid adding the extra source files.

@regstuff
Yes - having a Github action to build a Windows executable would be great.
I think there are a lot of people that want to try Whisper on Windows without going through the hassle of compiling it.

[Topping1]

@Topping1 Very nice! Can you try cross-compiling using x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-posix + -lwinpthread without using mingw-std-threads?

x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-posix -I. -O3 -std=c11 -mfma -mf16c -mavx -mavx2 -c ggml.c -o ggml.o

x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++-posix -I. -I./examples -O3 -std=c++11 -lwinpthread -c whisper.cpp -o whisper.o

x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++-posix -I. -I./examples -O3 -std=c++11 -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++ -lwinpthread examples/main/main.cpp ggml.o whisper.o -o main

I want to avoid adding the extra source files.

@regstuff Yes - having a Github action to build a Windows executable would be great. I think there are a lot of people that want to try Whisper on Windows without going through the hassle of compiling it.

I will try and report back. By the way, when browsing https://github.com/ggerganov/whisper.cpp/actions I found the item
ggml : fix Windows build #225 https://github.com/ggerganov/whisper.cpp/actions/runs/3509700272, and at the end of the page you can find that the "Artifacts Produced during runtime" section contains two automatically compiled windows executables (win32 and win64). I have tried the 64bit version and works ok on windows 10. I guess you already implemented the github action a couple of days ago.

[ggerganov]

Ah yes - I didn't even realise that the job already produces the executable. Not sure how to reference the latest one though - I would like to put a link the README.

I think it would be still useful to be able to cross compile using mingw, so if you get the chance to try it - let us know.

[Topping1]

Ah yes - I didn't even realise that the job already produces the executable. Not sure how to reference the latest one though - I would like to put a link the README.

I think it would be still useful to be able to cross compile using mingw, so if you get the chance to try it - let us know.

Apparently, Github doesn´t have yet a way to reference the latest artifact from a build action (see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60789862/url-of-the-last-artifact-of-a-github-action-build). In that stackoverflow question, a free service is mentioned that can generate a permanent link, for example https://nightly.link/ggerganov/whisper.cpp/actions/runs/3509700272/whisper-bin-x64.zip. Not sure if this link will work with new action runs, there is some documentation on the page that explains it in more detail.

[Topping1]

@ggerganov compiling with the POSIX version worked! In summary:

sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64-posix

sudo apt install gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64-posix

In ggml.c line 18
change #include <Windows.h>
to
#include <windows.h>
#include <errno.h>

x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-posix -I. -O3 -std=c11 -mfma -mf16c -mavx -mavx2 -c ggml.c -o ggml.o

x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++-posix -I. -I./examples -O3 -std=c++11 -lwinpthread -c whisper.cpp -o whisper.o

x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++-posix -I. -I./examples -O3 -std=c++11 -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++ -lwinpthread examples/main/main.cpp ggml.o whisper.o -o main

This version still does not show correctly accented characters. I have tested the automatic win64 build and also shows this problem.

[Topping1]

@ggerganov I found a workaround (the problem might be with MinGW): before using main.exe on a command prompt window, execute the command chcp 65001 (UTF-8 encoding).

[ggerganov]

@Topping1 Thank you for the efforts. I just pushed the windows.h fix on master and referenced this issue from the README for building with MinGW. If you want, you can update your original comment at the top of the thread with the latest instruction, so it is more visible when someone looks for the build steps.

[R4ZZ3]

Hi,

Any more detailed instructions coming? I have been able to get this working on WSL2.
Now I tried with compiling with the instructions above using Ubunt22.04 in WSL2.
First I got error that libwinpthread-1.dll is missing. Downloaded it from here https://www.dll-files.com/download/1e0d62c34ff2e649ebc5c372065732ee/libwinpthread-1.dll.html?c=OVhZYVRGRklHdFNGQWQ2NTZ3ZGVPdz09 and put it in the project root.

Then I tried main.exe again but still running into error "application did not start correctly"

[Topping1]

Hi,

Any more detailed instructions coming? I have been able to get this working on WSL2. Now I tried with compiling with the instructions above using Ubunt22.04 in WSL2. First I got error that libwinpthread-1.dll is missing. Downloaded it from here https://www.dll-files.com/download/1e0d62c34ff2e649ebc5c372065732ee/libwinpthread-1.dll.html?c=OVhZYVRGRklHdFNGQWQ2NTZ3ZGVPdz09 and put it in the project root.

Then I tried main.exe again but still running into error "application did not start correctly"

@R4ZZ3 I have tried your setup (WSL2 but with ubuntu 20.04) with the instructions of the first message of this thread and could compile the file with no errors about libwinpthread-1.dll missing. Not sure what else can be happening. Maybe try to compile in a fresh install of a linux VM?

[R4ZZ3]

@Topping1
sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64-posix
sudo apt install gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64-posix

For me these run into error with Ubuntu 20.04