Runtime requirement for c-compiler on Windows

Package Builders conda-forge
1

The fenics project is working on Windows support. FEniCS does runtime code-generation and compilation, which means it has a runtime dependency on c_compiler on linux/mac. But I assume that a runtime dependency on vs2022 would not actually work without users going through VS installation on their OS.

Is this a good reason to try the new clang compilers on Windows, so we can have a fully conda-installable compiler for the runtime dependency (i.e. is clang enough, or is there still an SDK install requirement)? And if so, how many packages are likely to require being built with clang instead of msvc? Only the runtime requirement, runtime and direct links, etc.?

The relevant packages:

ffcx only generates code that links standard C library stuff (like libm) and things for a Python extension.

EDIT: updated linking description

2

Even if you use clang, you will need the Windows SDK. So this will not change much on that front. With a correct setup, you probably don’t need to recompile anything. Still, clang is slightly more pedantic. Thus, not everything that builds with MSVC will also build with clang.

3

Thanks! Will stick with default compilers, then, since this is still highly experimental.