Windows¶
For gcovr to work, you have to have installed Python on your system. To see the installation process, please refer to requirements.md.
MSYS¶
Installing MSYS¶
If you do not have MSYS installed yet, download it from msys2.org.
After installation, you will have several bash environments available. You can use those directly, but we recommend adding the environment to your PATH, so you can run gcc, make, or pacman directly from your regular Windows Terminal or PowerShell.
We use the UCRT64 environment because it works best with Windows 10 and newer, thanks to Microsoft’s modern Universal C Runtime (UCRT) toolchain.
This environment offers better compatibility, stability, and Unicode support than the older MSVCRT-based ones.
Adding to PATH¶
To add the UCRT64 environment to your PATH permanently, open an administrator PowerShell window and run:
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path + ";C:\msys64\ucrt64\bin;C:\msys64\usr\bin", "Machine")
After that, restart PowerShell or Command Prompt, and verify that MSYS2 is correctly available by checking pacman:
You should see output similar to:
If this works, your MSYS environment is set up correctly.
If not, ensure your PATH variable is correct and that MSYS2 is installed under C:\msys64\.
Installing the Tooling¶
Once MSYS2 is installed, you’ll need to install the essential build tools.
In an MSYS2 UCRT64 terminal or your normal terminal if added to PATH, run:
pacman -S --needed --noconfirm mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gdb mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-make mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-clang-tools-extra mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-clang
WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)¶
If you prefer a fully native Linux environment on Windows, WSL is a great option.
Installation steps:
- Enable WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) from Windows Features or run:
- Install Ubuntu (recommended) or another Linux distribution from the Microsoft Store.
- Open your WSL terminal and install the required build tools:
- Verify your setup: