Spin: gcc-6: unrecognized command line option

Question

I want to use SPIN model checker on Windows 10 (64bit) and I have followed the instructions on the spin website:

• I installed MinGW and gcc, updated path, and checked in the command prompt it shows version 6.3.0
• I installed ActiveTCL updated path, updated path with iSpin too, I can get iSpin to open

when I try to compile pre-included example file leader.pml I get this error:

spin: preprocessing failed gcc -std=gnu99 -Wformat-overflow=0 -E -x c "leader.pml" > "pan.pre"
gcc: error: unrecognized command line option '-Wformat-overflow=0'; did you mean '-Wstrict-overflow='?

I don't understand the error, does someone know what is missing?

Answer 1

The error says exactly what the problem is: -Wformat-overflow=0 is not a recognized command line option.

Not that you are using MinGW GCC 6.3.0, which is very old.

Consider using MinGW-w64 which is much more recent. Currently GCC 11.2.0 is the latest version. You can find a standalone build at https://winlibs.com/

So please try with a newer GCC. If it still does't work run gcc --help -v to see all command line options.