Request support for GCC compiler on Windows to solve app/lib deployment issues for Node and other frameworks

As you know the Node project uses gyp/node-gyp to compile non-Javascript 
modules.

The problem is that this is used as part of *npm install* for all of these C++ 
components and this means that for Windows, Node apps that use these gyp 
dependent components can only be installed by end users who happen to also be 
developers who know how to install and configure Visual Studio.  However, node 
is now being installed and used by a much wider audience and so this is 
becoming a serious limitation.  Visual Studio also cannot be installed on many 
production Windows Server installations further limiting use of Node.  

A classic case of this is Node's ws lib (WebSocket C++ API) that is also used 
by Node's socket.io lib that has prevented many Windows uses from making use of 
apps created using this important feature.

A simpler route would be for the initial NodeJS download to include the the 
MinGW GCC compiler on Windows platforms and for gyp/node-gyp to support it as 
this this would remove the need to download, install and configure visual 
studio.

http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net/

The same issue will arise for any other cross-platform frameworks or languages 
wanting to make of gyp. Allowing devs the option to use the more universal GCC 
compiler on Windows may also reduce coding effort between platforms.

Since gyp already supports GCC on other platforms I'm hoping this is not too 
big an ask. 

Thanks for GYP!

P.S.  I'm not a member of the Joyent NodeJS team or gyp-node. But I have 
proposed this solution to both of them and realised that without gyp support 
they cannot easily proceed.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by tony.oha...@gmail.com on 23 Aug 2014 at 12:27

johnhaley81 / gyp

Request support for GCC compiler on Windows to solve app/lib deployment issues for Node and other frameworks #448