Windows minGW g++ version 3.4.5

[PUK_999]

I've installed Qt under Windows. Qt installs mingw for me. Dropping to the Qt command prompt and typing g++, I see the following:


C:\Qt\2009.03\qt>g++ --version
g++ (GCC) 3.4.5 (mingw-vista special r3)
Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.


I'm more familiar with the Microsoft compiler world of things, so forgive me if the following questions are silly:

1. Does that mean Qt 4.5 on Windows is tied to g++ 3.4.5?
2. I read somewhere else that g++ (gcc is the same thing, right?) is on version 4.4.1. Why such an old version?
3. Is it possible and trivial to upgrade the compiler if necessary?
4. What if I was to use some third party piece of software that only works on gcc versions 4 and upwards?

Thanks,

PUK

[franz]

Does that mean Qt 4.5 on Windows is tied to g++ 3.4.5?

Not tied to, just shipped with.

Is it possible and trivial to upgrade the compiler if necessary?

Yes (depends on your definition of trivial). However, I'm not exactly sure what version they officially support. The supported platforms page states they support mingw 3.4.2.

Go to http://www.mingw.org. It's currently at gcc-4.4.0.

What if I was to use some third party piece of software that only works on gcc versions 4 and upwards?

You'd need gcc v4 or up.

[franz]

Actually, their installer installs 3.4.5 at this point. You need to do 4.4.0 by hand at the moment it seems.

Also bear in mind that the MinGW compiler is not maintained by the GCC developers, but by a different team, so they are likely to lag a bit behind the GCC devs.

[PUK_999]

Thanks franz. I'm just worried incase I get so far down the line with my application, need to use a 3rd party library which won't work with the compiler Qt requires. Looks like I might have some flexibility in updating it then...

PUK

[ComaWhite]

I read that Qt-4.6 will be shipped with GCC-4.4.0