Threaded C programs in minGW

Question

I am creating a program that intercepts all packets when a certain link is down. I would need to implement the sniffer and the link-checker as threads. But

Answer 1

MinGW doesn't provide a full POSIX model. If you want threads in the standard package, you'll have to use the Windows variety.

It states on the MinGW main page:

MinGW compilers provide access to the functionality of the Microsoft C runtime and some language-specific runtimes. MinGW, being Minimalist, does not, and never will, attempt to provide a POSIX runtime environment for POSIX application deployment on MS-Windows. If you want POSIX application deployment on this platform, please consider Cygwin instead.

Cygwin does have pthreads support because it provides the Cygwin DLL, an emulation layer, whereas MinGW is more gcc for use with the Windows way of doing things.

Alternatively, if Cygwin isn't an option, you can look into Pthreads/Win32 which claims to work with MinGW.