Why Do I Get 'undefined reference to WinMain@16' When Using wWinMain in Mingw?

wWinmain, Unicode, and Mingw

When working with the Windows API in Mingw, the use of the wWinMain function presents challenges. This article addresses the issue of undefined reference errors and explores possible solutions.

Issue:

Attempting to compile a program using wWinMain in Mingw often results in the error:

undefined reference to WinMain@16

Cause:

The cause lies in the difference between the Windows API and Mingw. Windows uses Unicode (WCHAR), while Mingw defaults to ASCII (CHAR). When using wWinMain, which accepts Unicode arguments, Mingw doesn't know how to handle it.

Solution:

There are multiple solutions to this issue:

1. Wrapper Usage:

For older versions of Mingw, a wrapper solution can be employed. The mingw-unicode-main wrapper provides support for wmain and wWinMain functions.

2. -municode Option:

For recent versions of Mingw, the -municode compiler option can be used. Adding this option to the compilation command line ensures that Unicode support is enabled.

However, if the use of Unicode is not crucial, it can be omitted, as the limitations of ASCII are generally less significant. The impact on functionality should be considered before making a decision.

Additional Resources:

For further understanding, refer to the following resources:

• [mingw-unicode-main](https://github.com/coderforlife/mingw-unicode-main/)
• [MinGW-w64 Installation](https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw-w64/files/)
• [Code::Blocks wmain() Entry Point](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20591681/how-do-i-use-the-wmain-entry-point-in-codeblocks)

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