Installing MSYS2

Starting January 2021, all Windows binaries are 64-bit, compiled under the MINGW64 subsystem of MSYS2 (64-bit version).

Although it may be possible to run the programs from other MINGW64 installations, for example Cygwin, it is recommended MSYS2 be installed. This replaces the gtk_bundle package that was previously used to supply graphical interface dlls.

When installing MSYS2 and XicTools programs, you are strongly advised to install in the default locations if possible.

Go to www.msys2.org. Download and run the installer, and follow the directions. It is easy. When done, you will have a shell window on the screen. You should type the following commands to load some things you will need.

pacman -S vim
pacman -S winpty
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gtk2
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gsl

This provides the vim editor, the winpty program described below, the GTK-2 libraries and dependencies, and the Gnu Scientific Library. These satisfy all references needed to run the XicTools programs.

Then, use the vim editor to edit the .bash_profile file that exists in the current (your home) directory. Add the following lines to the bottom of the file:

mount c:/usr/local/xictools /usr/local/xictools
export PATH="/usr/local/xictools/bin:$PATH"
export XT_HOMEDIR=c:/msys64/home/your_username

To run the programs in the future:
Click MSYS2 64bit in the Start menu, then MSYS2 MinGW x64 in the sub-menu. This brings up a shell window with the MinGW 64-bit support enabled. Note that there are multiple choices in the sub-menu so be sure to select the one specified, others may not work with the XicTools programs. Take some time to learn about MSYS2 and MINGW64, particularly the pacman package manager. You can install lots of useful software that runs in this environment.