The issue

When running my mingw compiled game, I receive the following errors when removing the path to my C:\MinGW-6.3.0\bin folder:

The program can't start because libstdc++6.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.

The program can't start because libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.

My game structure

My current game file structure is laid out something like this:

bin/
Output.exe <- release build of the game
orx.dll <= game framework dll

data/ <- folder containing my assets
src/ <- containing around 10 .cpp and .h files.

The ideal situation

I would like to end up with:

• Data folder with my assets
• Bin folder with:
  • my game .exe which has libstdc++6.dll and libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll statically linked.
  • The orx.dll which the .exe dynamically links to.

There's a number of references to this issue via various searches. The easiest fix is to simply copy libstdc++6.dll and libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll next to my .exe, but I wish to have the configuration above, having them statically compiled in.

Experimenting and Learning

First I took note the the sizes of the various libraries:

libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll 917K
libstdc++-6.dll 1474K
orx.dll 6703K

My executable, which dynamically links to orx.dll is: 513K

I have read that by adding -static to the linker options in my makefile (ALL_LDFLAGS) should statically compile in the libraries to my exe. So by doing so and compiling again, the second compile is slightly larger. The two exe's are:

Outpost-dynamic.exe 513K
Outpost-static.exe 748K

The difference between the static and dynamic version is 235K. None of my libraries above are around that size, so I am not sure what compiled in statically.

If I test either of these .exe's they will fail looking for the libstdc++6.dll and libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll again.

The static version prompts for the files once, the dynamic one prompts for them twice.

I then inspected both exe's in Dependency Walker. I am not 100% of how to interpret the results, but I'll have a go, please tell me if I am wrong. Firstly, the regular dynamic version:

Interesting that it shows orx.dll because (while not compiled into the exe) it is a dependency, and therefore will be loaded during execution. Also, the exe know it needs libstdc++6.dll and libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll, but because I took the path away, the exe will not work.

Next I try the static one:

Even more interesting. libstdc++6.dll and libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll no longer show. Probably because they are statically compiled in? But I can't find any trace of them. But the exe is not looking for them anymore. (That's a lie, because the orx.dll if expanded is still looking for them).

The next thing to try is to add the entire static compile linker flags: -static -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++

However, after cleaning and compiling again, the result is an exe that is 748K again. So perhaps those flags are in the wrong place.

I have also tried combinations of -Wl flags to set some things dynamic and some static, but I might not have gotten it right.

Conclusion

I really want to understand what I should expect by trying to compile things statically. Should the files have compiled into my exe? Did it actually succeed? Did I miss some other required step? Why did they file sizes differ? Was there some success in doing this?