i was working in RotateExtrudeNode.cc today and in VisualStudioCode some of the #include statements have red squiggly lines under them showing there is a problem..

for this include:

#include "core/RotateExtrudeNode.h"

i get

but i cannot find where glib.h is coming from. I know that i need to update the include path, and i have found where to do that ..

is glib.h part of the compiler? a specific library?

another mystery is

cannot open source file "libintl.h" (dependency of "C:\Users\Jeff\.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.cpptools-1.27.5-win32-x64\bin\core\module.h")C/C++(1696)

BUT … i did solve a red squiggly for a boost header by installing boost and adding its folder to the include path list

any tips for finding header files in general .. short of doing a find command from the root folder and working thru the resulting massive list of .h files

i found out that libintl.h is part of gettext and i have two versions visible in PowerShell
winget show gettext

but then .. i don’t know where those are installed either

Are those development packages? You need source code to compile all of
this. To be honest, compiling large open source projects based on gnu
libraries like gettext, on Windows, is not for the faint of heart, or the
inexperienced for that matter. I put together a toolchain based around
vcpkg last year but there didn't seem to be much interest. Not to put too
fine a point on it, but if you don't recognize glib.h as the 'main' header
for the Glib library, you probably also don't know what Glib is, which
hints at a programming experience level that is unlikely to be sufficient
to take on something as intricate as getting Openscad to compile on Windows
(at least with msvc, in Cygwin it may be easier).

Cheers

On Wed, Sep 17, 2025, 22:35 vulcan_--- via Discuss <
discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote:

This is a challenge across IDEs, as the IDEs own tooling isn’t necessary aware of, or using, the same build configuration as the project you’re looking at.
I have the same issue with VS Code on macOS, but I haven’t had the energy to go on a hunting expedition for the solution..

-Marius

Roel, there has been some development on the Windows front: https://github.com/openscad/openscad/issues/6123

There is still lots to do and it mostly depends on someone knowledgeable about Windows driving it forward, and those people are very hard to find.

-Marius

Roel Vanhout wrote:

indeed .. that was a bad sign. At one time I was coding extensions and utilities for Alias|wavefront, but any graphics programming i did was in the SGI Irix environment .. no Glib .. so i did not recognize it right off.

the bad sign was of failing memory .. ;-)

OK, if you don't want to actually compile the dependencies, that's more
feasible. In VS Code, after installing the C/C++ extension, you select
"C/C++: Edit Configurations (UI)" from the command palette, and then you
enter all paths where you have headers (likely one for each library
Openscad uses, which will be a lot) under "Include paths". Or you can enter
it in the corresponding .json file.

If it's just the squiggles that annoy you though, you can also turn them
off in the command palette, something like 'C/C++ disable error
squiggles'...

VS Code is OK for occasional C++ development on Windows, or a quick code
exploration where startup time of the editor is important, but using Visual
Studio proper is much more convenient (well, to me, I guess this has to do
with the amount of experience one has with one versus the other). There,
after opening the 'project directory' (as you won't have .vcxproj/.sln
files, you just use the openscad source directory), you right-click on the
project in the Solution Explorer, do 'properties', then under 'C/C++' you
add those directories to 'Additonal Include Directories'.

cheers

On Thu, Sep 18, 2025 at 1:15 AM vulcan_--- via Discuss <
discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote:

If it is on your system, this will find it, https://www.voidtools.com/ 
  'everything'

On 17/09/2025 21:12, vulcan_--- via Discuss wrote:

I use Everything ALL the time.  If you are using Windows, you really
need to try it.

Jon

On 9/18/2025 4:59 AM, Raymond West via Discuss wrote:

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