<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>Chapter 17. Installation from Source Code on Windows</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="installation-platform-notes.html" title="16.7. Platform-specific Notes" /><link rel="next" href="install-windows-full.html" title="17.1. Building with Visual C++ or the Microsoft Windows SDK" /></head><body><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">Chapter 17. Installation from Source Code on <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="productname">Windows</span></th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="installation-platform-notes.html" title="16.7. Platform-specific Notes">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="admin.html" title="Part III. Server Administration">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Part III. Server Administration</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 11.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="install-windows-full.html" title="17.1. Building with Visual C++ or the Microsoft Windows SDK">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></hr></div><div class="chapter" id="INSTALL-WINDOWS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title">Chapter 17. Installation from Source Code on <span class="productname">Windows</span></h2></div></div></div><div class="toc"><p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p><dl class="toc"><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="install-windows-full.html">17.1. Building with <span class="productname">Visual C++</span> or the <span class="productname">Microsoft Windows SDK</span></a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="install-windows-full.html#id-1.6.4.8.8">17.1.1. Requirements</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="install-windows-full.html#id-1.6.4.8.9">17.1.2. Special Considerations for 64-bit Windows</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="install-windows-full.html#id-1.6.4.8.10">17.1.3. Building</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="install-windows-full.html#id-1.6.4.8.11">17.1.4. Cleaning and Installing</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="install-windows-full.html#id-1.6.4.8.12">17.1.5. Running the Regression Tests</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="install-windows-full.html#id-1.6.4.8.13">17.1.6. Building the Documentation</a></span></dt></dl></dd></dl></div><a id="id-1.6.4.2" class="indexterm"></a><p> It is recommended that most users download the binary distribution for Windows, available as a graphical installer package from the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> website. Building from source is only intended for people developing <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> or extensions. </p><p> There are several different ways of building PostgreSQL on <span class="productname">Windows</span>. The simplest way to build with Microsoft tools is to install <span class="productname">Visual Studio Express 2019 for Windows Desktop</span> and use the included compiler. It is also possible to build with the full <span class="productname">Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 to 2019</span>. In some cases that requires the installation of the <span class="productname">Windows SDK</span> in addition to the compiler. </p><p> It is also possible to build PostgreSQL using the GNU compiler tools provided by <span class="productname">MinGW</span>, or using <span class="productname">Cygwin</span> for older versions of <span class="productname">Windows</span>. </p><p> Building using <span class="productname">MinGW</span> or <span class="productname">Cygwin</span> uses the normal build system, see <a class="xref" href="installation.html" title="Chapter 16. Installation from Source Code">Chapter 16</a> and the specific notes in <a class="xref" href="installation-platform-notes.html#INSTALLATION-NOTES-MINGW" title="16.7.5. MinGW/Native Windows">Section 16.7.5</a> and <a class="xref" href="installation-platform-notes.html#INSTALLATION-NOTES-CYGWIN" title="16.7.2. Cygwin">Section 16.7.2</a>. To produce native 64 bit binaries in these environments, use the tools from <span class="productname">MinGW-w64</span>. These tools can also be used to cross-compile for 32 bit and 64 bit <span class="productname">Windows</span> targets on other hosts, such as <span class="productname">Linux</span> and <span class="productname">macOS</span>. <span class="productname">Cygwin</span> is not recommended for running a production server, and it should only be used for running on older versions of <span class="productname">Windows</span> where the native build does not work, such as <span class="productname">Windows 98</span>. The official binaries are built using <span class="productname">Visual Studio</span>. </p><p> Native builds of <span class="application">psql</span> don't support command line editing. The <span class="productname">Cygwin</span> build does support command line editing, so it should be used where psql is needed for interactive use on <span class="productname">Windows</span>. </p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="installation-platform-notes.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="admin.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="install-windows-full.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">16.7. Platform-specific Notes </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 17.1. Building with <span class="productname">Visual C++</span> or the <span class="productname">Microsoft Windows SDK</span></td></tr></table></div></body></html>
