Is MinGW exactly the same as GCC as far as standards compliance or features?

Question

As a port, I'd think it'd be hard to keep it completely up to speed with GCC. Is it, or are there any differences with regards to standards compliance or features?

Answer 1

On a version to version, basis, yes, as far as is possible. In other words 4.4.1 on Windows should be as c++ Standard compliant as 4.4.1 on Linux (for example). But there are, as far as I know, no guarantees of this.

OTOH, will the two implementations work in the same way? Almost certainly not - we've had a couple of examples of differences posted here recently. But can you use the implementations to port between Windows and Linux - yes, I do this routinely.