PostgreSQL 8.0.3 Documentation
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# Chapter 15. Client-Only Installation on Windows

Although a complete PostgreSQL installation for Windows can only be built using MinGW or Cygwin, the C client library (libpq) and the interactive terminal (psql) can be compiled using other Windows tool sets. Makefiles are included in the source distribution for Microsoft Visual C++ and Borland C++. It should be possible to compile the libraries manually for other configurations.

> Tip: Using MinGW or Cygwin is preferred. If using one of those tool sets, see Chapter 14.

To build everything that you can on Windows using Microsoft Visual C++, change into the `src` directory and type the command

    nmake /f win32.mak

This assumes that you have Visual C++ in your path.

To build everything using Borland C++, change into the `src` directory and type the command

    make -DCFG=Release /f bcc32.mak

The following files will be built:

`interfaces\libpq\Release\libpq.dll`

  The dynamically linkable frontend library

`interfaces\libpq\Release\libpqdll.lib`

  Import library to link your programs to `libpq.dll`

`interfaces\libpq\Release\libpq.lib`

  Static version of the frontend library

`bin\psql\Release\psql.exe`

  The PostgreSQL interactive terminal

The only file that really needs to be installed is the `libpq.dll` library. This file should in most cases be placed in the `WINNT\SYSTEM32` directory (or in `WINDOWS\SYSTEM` on a Windows 95/98/ME system). If this file is installed using a setup program, it should be installed with version checking using the `VERSIONINFO` resource included in the file, to ensure that a newer version of the library is not overwritten.

If you plan to do development using libpq on this machine, you will have to add the `src\include` and `src\interfaces\libpq` subdirectories of the source tree to the include path in your compiler's settings.

To use the library, you must add the `libpqdll.lib` file to your project. (In Visual C++, just right-click on the project and choose to add it.)

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