Build instructions on Windows

[maxaltdev]

Apologies for the potentially redundant question, but are there any plans to include build instructions for Windows? Preferably via native toolchains, e.g. Visual Studio and MSVC.

[ptsouchlos]

That's doable, but Qt is the only dependency, so you can just do the standard cmake build

cmake -S <fstl source folder> -B build -DQt5_DIR=<Path to Qt5/lib/cmake/Qt5>
cmake --build build

[ptsouchlos]

I see how the documentation is lacking though. Should be fixable. Thanks!

[Andryshik345]

@DeveloperPaul123 Can you tell what way do you use to compile windows version? I've been trying to do this in different ways for three days now and nothing has worked yet. Besides Qt and cmake, what compiler you need? Mingw? MSYS2? MSVC?

[ptsouchlos]

@Andryshik345 I use MSVC to compile with the msvc2019 x64 build of Qt 5.15 LTS. What issues are you having?

[Andryshik345]

@DeveloperPaul123 Do you use cmake there? Is there any steps after cmake --build build? I also tried to use Github's CI without any luck. You can look here: https://github.com/Andryshik345/fstl/actions

[ptsouchlos]

@DeveloperPaul123 Do you use cmake there? Is there any steps after cmake --build build? I also tried to use Github's CI without any luck. You can look here: Andryshik345/fstl/actions

@Andryshik345 Yes I do but I forgot to mention I don't use the Visual Studio generator. I use CMake + Ninja. This is the gist of the command I use: cmake -S . -B build -DQt5_DIR=<Qt5 directory> -G "Ninja"

[Andryshik345]

@DeveloperPaul123 still fails on CI :(
https://github.com/Andryshik345/fstl/actions/runs/16004245100/job/45146820427
Any thoughts? Maybe I forgot to install something with choco?

[ptsouchlos]

@DeveloperPaul123 still fails on CI :( Andryshik345/fstl/actions/runs/16004245100/job/45146820427 Any thoughts? Maybe I forgot to install something with choco?

You've installed 2 versions of Qt5. Why not just use MSVC on Windows?

[Andryshik345]

Why not just use MSVC on Windows?

@DeveloperPaul123 Sadly I just can't install Qt on my machine for some reasons (probably because I'm at Russia). And I suspect I'll get the same error anyway.

[ptsouchlos]

Why not just use MSVC on Windows?

@DeveloperPaul123 Sadly I just can't install Qt on my machine for some reasons (probably because I'm at Russia). And I suspect I'll get the same error anyway.

Are you setting up the CI so you can download a pre-built binary of fstl on Windows? I doubt you would get the same error if you didn't install 2 versions of Qt on the same CI and use MSVC instead of GNU as you're having linker errors and MSVC doesn't use ld.

[Andryshik345]

Why not just use MSVC on Windows?

@DeveloperPaul123 Sadly I just can't install Qt on my machine for some reasons (probably because I'm at Russia). And I suspect I'll get the same error anyway.

Are you setting up the CI so you can download a pre-built binary of fstl on Windows? I doubt you would get the same error if you didn't install 2 versions of Qt on the same CI and use MSVC instead of GNU as you're having linker errors and MSVC doesn't use ld.

I tried to configure cmake for MSVC before trying ninja and got this https://github.com/Andryshik345/fstl/actions/runs/15978466537/job/45066939704
Plus you keep saying me that I'm installing Qt twice, so it means CI already has installed Qt libs? Everyone on Internet install or build them, so I don't really know the correct way. If so, where they're installed on a VM then?
Sorry if I turned this issue into a help thread.

[ptsouchlos]

Why not just use MSVC on Windows?

@DeveloperPaul123 Sadly I just can't install Qt on my machine for some reasons (probably because I'm at Russia). And I suspect I'll get the same error anyway.

Are you setting up the CI so you can download a pre-built binary of fstl on Windows? I doubt you would get the same error if you didn't install 2 versions of Qt on the same CI and use MSVC instead of GNU as you're having linker errors and MSVC doesn't use ld.

I tried to configure cmake for MSVC before trying ninja and got this Andryshik345/fstl/actions/runs/15978466537/job/45066939704 Plus you keep saying me that I'm installing Qt twice, so it means CI already has installed Qt libs? Everyone on Internet install or build them, so I don't really know the correct way. If so, where they're installed on a VM then? Sorry if I turned this issue into a help thread.

You do need to install the libs. I thought it was installing twice because I saw a reference to C:\Tools\Qt\msvc2019 and the gnu build( see here and here), but after looking at the workflow file, I think it's just your path that is wrong since it seems like you're expecting the MSVC build of Qt but getting the MinGW one. Sorry for the confusion, my mistake.

I'm not sure what the qt5-default choco package installs, but it seems to install the mingw build of Qt, which is probably not what you want. I would just use aqt directly instead or use something like this: https://github.com/jurplel/install-qt-action

[Andryshik345]

So, the whole story ended with the fact that Qt 5.15.x needs msvc2019 for building and Github Actions deprecated windows-2019 runner on 2025-06-30 and the oldest they have now is windows-2022. Qt6 is too major hop and will probably fail to build here, so I guess I'll continue trying to build it locally.

UPD: I finally did it. Thanks for help.

[ristiisa]

UPD: I finally did it. Thanks for help.

locally or in an action?

[Andryshik345]

UPD: I finally did it. Thanks for help.

locally or in an action?

locally. You can have my build, so you don't need to figure out yourself. But basically I just installed MSVC iirc.

fstl.zip