Couldn't execute "gcc": The system cannot find the file specified

I am running SBCL on Windows, I have MSYS2 and their UCRT64 GCC installed. Raylib was installed using the raylib installer from their website. I can use GCC from the command line. Yet when I load cl-raylib (git cloned into local projects and loaded via (ql:quickload :cl-raylib)) the following error message appears:

Couldn't execute "gcc": The system cannot find the file specified.
   [Condition of type CFFI-GROVEL:GROVEL-ERROR]

Restarts:
 0: [RETRY] Retry #<PROCESS-OP > on #<GROVEL-FILE "cffi-libffi" "libffi" "libffi-types">.
 1: [ACCEPT] Continue, treating #<PROCESS-OP > on #<GROVEL-FILE "cffi-libffi" "libffi" "libffi-types"> as having been successful.
 2: [RETRY] Retry ASDF operation.
 3: [CLEAR-CONFIGURATION-AND-RETRY] Retry ASDF operation after resetting the configuration.
 4: [RETRY] Retry ASDF operation.
 5: [CLEAR-CONFIGURATION-AND-RETRY] Retry ASDF operation after resetting the configuration.
 6: [ABORT] Give up on "cl-raylib"
 7: [REGISTER-LOCAL-PROJECTS] Register local projects and try again.
 8: [RETRY] Retry SLIME REPL evaluation request.
 9: [*ABORT] Return to SLIME's top level.
 10: [ABORT] abort thread (#<THREAD "repl-thread" RUNNING {1001940143}>)

Backtrace:
  0: (CFFI-GROVEL:GROVEL-ERROR "~a" #<SIMPLE-ERROR "Couldn't execute ~S: ~A" {1001E49153}>)
  1: ((FLET "THUNK" :IN CFFI-GROVEL:PROCESS-GROVEL-FILE))
  2: (SB-IMPL::%WITH-STANDARD-IO-SYNTAX #<FUNCTION (FLET "THUNK" :IN CFFI-GROVEL:PROCESS-GROVEL-FILE) {5B9DABB}>)
  3: (CFFI-GROVEL:PROCESS-GROVEL-FILE #P"C:/Users/david/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cffi-20231021-git/libffi/libffi-types.lisp" #P"C:/Users/david/AppData/Local/cache/common-lisp/sbcl-2.3.2-win-x64/C..
  4: ((:METHOD ASDF/ACTION:PERFORM (CFFI-GROVEL::PROCESS-OP CFFI-GROVEL:GROVEL-FILE)) #<CFFI-GROVEL::PROCESS-OP > #<CFFI-GROVEL:GROVEL-FILE "cffi-libffi" "libffi" "libffi-types">) [fast-method]
  5: ((SB-PCL::EMF ASDF/ACTION:PERFORM) #<unused argument> #<unused argument> #<CFFI-GROVEL::PROCESS-OP > #<CFFI-GROVEL:GROVEL-FILE "cffi-libffi" "libffi" "libffi-types">)
  6: ((LAMBDA NIL :IN ASDF/ACTION:CALL-WHILE-VISITING-ACTION))
  7: ((:METHOD ASDF/ACTION:PERFORM :AROUND (CFFI-GROVEL::PROCESS-OP CFFI-GROVEL::CC-FLAGS-MIXIN)) #<CFFI-GROVEL::PROCESS-OP > #<CFFI-GROVEL:GROVEL-FILE "cffi-libffi" "libffi" "libffi-types">) [fast-method]
  8: ((:METHOD ASDF/ACTION:PERFORM-WITH-RESTARTS :AROUND (T T)) #<CFFI-GROVEL::PROCESS-OP > #<CFFI-GROVEL:GROVEL-FILE "cffi-libffi" "libffi" "libffi-types">) [fast-method]
  9: ((:METHOD ASDF/PLAN:PERFORM-PLAN (T)) #<ASDF/PLAN:SEQUENTIAL-PLAN {1001BB3823}>) [fast-method]
 10: ((FLET SB-C::WITH-IT :IN SB-C::%WITH-COMPILATION-UNIT))
 11: ((:METHOD ASDF/PLAN:PERFORM-PLAN :AROUND (T)) #<ASDF/PLAN:SEQUENTIAL-PLAN {1001BB3823}>) [fast-method]
 12: ((:METHOD ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE (ASDF/OPERATION:OPERATION ASDF/COMPONENT:COMPONENT)) #<ASDF/LISP-ACTION:LOAD-OP > #<ASDF/SYSTEM:SYSTEM "cl-raylib"> :PLAN-CLASS NIL :PLAN-OPTIONS NIL) [fast-method]
 13: ((SB-PCL::EMF ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE) #<unused argument> #<unused argument> #<ASDF/LISP-ACTION:LOAD-OP > #<ASDF/SYSTEM:SYSTEM "cl-raylib"> :VERBOSE NIL)
 14: ((LAMBDA NIL :IN ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE))
 15: ((:METHOD ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE :AROUND (T T)) #<ASDF/LISP-ACTION:LOAD-OP > #<ASDF/SYSTEM:SYSTEM "cl-raylib"> :VERBOSE NIL) [fast-method]
 16: ((SB-PCL::EMF ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE) #<unused argument> #<unused argument> ASDF/LISP-ACTION:LOAD-OP "cl-raylib" :VERBOSE NIL)
 17: ((LAMBDA NIL :IN ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE))
 18: ((:METHOD ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE :AROUND (T T)) ASDF/LISP-ACTION:LOAD-OP "cl-raylib" :VERBOSE NIL) [fast-method]
 19: (ASDF/SESSION:CALL-WITH-ASDF-SESSION #<FUNCTION (LAMBDA NIL :IN ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE) {1001B9EA3B}> :OVERRIDE T :KEY NIL :OVERRIDE-CACHE T :OVERRIDE-FORCING NIL)
 20: ((LAMBDA NIL :IN ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE))
 21: (ASDF/SESSION:CALL-WITH-ASDF-SESSION #<FUNCTION (LAMBDA NIL :IN ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE) {1001B99BAB}> :OVERRIDE NIL :KEY NIL :OVERRIDE-CACHE NIL :OVERRIDE-FORCING NIL)
 22: ((:METHOD ASDF/OPERATE:OPERATE :AROUND (T T)) ASDF/LISP-ACTION:LOAD-OP "cl-raylib" :VERBOSE NIL) [fast-method]
 23: (ASDF/OPERATE:LOAD-SYSTEM "cl-raylib" :VERBOSE NIL)
 24: (QUICKLISP-CLIENT::CALL-WITH-MACROEXPAND-PROGRESS #<FUNCTION (LAMBDA NIL :IN QUICKLISP-CLIENT::APPLY-LOAD-STRATEGY) {1001B9973B}>)
 25: (QUICKLISP-CLIENT::AUTOLOAD-SYSTEM-AND-DEPENDENCIES "cl-raylib" :PROMPT NIL)
 26: ((:METHOD QL-IMPL-UTIL::%CALL-WITH-QUIET-COMPILATION (T T)) #<unused argument> #<FUNCTION (FLET QUICKLISP-CLIENT::QL :IN QUICKLISP-CLIENT:QUICKLOAD) {100196C91B}>) [fast-method]
 27: ((:METHOD QL-IMPL-UTIL::%CALL-WITH-QUIET-COMPILATION :AROUND (QL-IMPL:SBCL T)) #<QL-IMPL:SBCL {1004C68FD3}> #<FUNCTION (FLET QUICKLISP-CLIENT::QL :IN QUICKLISP-CLIENT:QUICKLOAD) {100196C91B}>) [fast-m..
 28: ((:METHOD QUICKLISP-CLIENT:QUICKLOAD (T)) :CL-RAYLIB :PROMPT NIL :SILENT NIL :VERBOSE NIL) [fast-method]
 29: (QL-DIST::CALL-WITH-CONSISTENT-DISTS #<FUNCTION (LAMBDA NIL :IN QUICKLISP-CLIENT:QUICKLOAD) {10019685CB}>)
 30: (SB-INT:SIMPLE-EVAL-IN-LEXENV (QUICKLISP-CLIENT:QUICKLOAD :CL-RAYLIB) #<NULL-LEXENV>)
 31: (EVAL (QUICKLISP-CLIENT:QUICKLOAD :CL-RAYLIB))
 32: (SWANK::EVAL-REGION "(ql:quickload :cl-raylib) ..)
 33: ((LAMBDA NIL :IN SWANK-REPL::REPL-EVAL))
 34: (SWANK-REPL::TRACK-PACKAGE #<FUNCTION (LAMBDA NIL :IN SWANK-REPL::REPL-EVAL) {100196852B}>)
 35: (SWANK::CALL-WITH-RETRY-RESTART "Retry SLIME REPL evaluation request." #<FUNCTION (LAMBDA NIL :IN SWANK-REPL::REPL-EVAL) {10019684CB}>)
 36: (SWANK::CALL-WITH-BUFFER-SYNTAX NIL #<FUNCTION (LAMBDA NIL :IN SWANK-REPL::REPL-EVAL) {10019684AB}>)
 37: (SWANK-REPL::REPL-EVAL "(ql:quickload :cl-raylib) ..)
 38: (SB-INT:SIMPLE-EVAL-IN-LEXENV (SWANK-REPL:LISTENER-EVAL "(ql:quickload :cl-raylib) ..)
 39: (EVAL (SWANK-REPL:LISTENER-EVAL "(ql:quickload :cl-raylib) ..)
 40: (SWANK:EVAL-FOR-EMACS (SWANK-REPL:LISTENER-EVAL "(ql:quickload :cl-raylib) ..)
 41: (SWANK::PROCESS-REQUESTS NIL)
 42: ((LAMBDA NIL :IN SWANK::HANDLE-REQUESTS))
 43: ((LAMBDA NIL :IN SWANK::HANDLE-REQUESTS))
 44: (SWANK/SBCL::CALL-WITH-BREAK-HOOK #<FUNCTION SWANK:SWANK-DEBUGGER-HOOK> #<FUNCTION (LAMBDA NIL :IN SWANK::HANDLE-REQUESTS) {100196802B}>)
 45: ((FLET SWANK/BACKEND:CALL-WITH-DEBUGGER-HOOK :IN "c:/Users/david/.emacs.d/.local/straight/build-29.2/slime/swank/sbcl.lisp") #<FUNCTION SWANK:SWANK-DEBUGGER-HOOK> #<FUNCTION (LAMBDA NIL :IN SWANK::HAN..
 46: (SWANK::CALL-WITH-BINDINGS ((*STANDARD-INPUT* . #<SWANK/GRAY::SLIME-INPUT-STREAM {1001750D73}>)) #<FUNCTION (LAMBDA NIL :IN SWANK::HANDLE-REQUESTS) {100196804B}>)
 47: (SWANK::HANDLE-REQUESTS #<SWANK::MULTITHREADED-CONNECTION {100403CC43}> NIL)
 48: ((FLET SB-UNIX::BODY :IN SB-THREAD::RUN))
 49: ((FLET "WITHOUT-INTERRUPTS-BODY-138" :IN SB-THREAD::RUN))
 50: ((FLET SB-UNIX::BODY :IN SB-THREAD::RUN))
 51: ((FLET "WITHOUT-INTERRUPTS-BODY-131" :IN SB-THREAD::RUN))
 52: (SB-THREAD::RUN)
 53: ("foreign function: #x14003EBE5")
 54: ("foreign function: #x14000685A")

I had the same problem. I found the solution by going through the cffi code. What you need is to modify c-toolchain.lisp. You will also need to install mingw tools on your WSL (I know there's MSYS2 but i thought it makes more sense to try to use WSL2).

check this patch and see if it makes sense in terms of hardcoded paths i.e. C:/, and /mnt/c/. Change those according to your paths c-toolchain.patch

on WSL2 you will need to install mingw tools. This should be the starting point before anything else. sudo apt install mingw-w64

You will then need to download libffi sources and compile them libffi-v3.4.6

wget https://github.com/libffi/libffi/releases/download/v3.4.6/libffi-3.4.6.tar.gz
gzip -d libffi-3.4.6.tar.gz
tar -xf libffi-3.4.6.tar

# the following will not compile (no clue as to why yet. I'm only interested in ffi.h header file)
sh ./configure --build=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --disable-dependency-tracking -host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 
# you will find the ffi.h header in the following location
libffi-3.4.6/x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/

From your REPL do the following:

(ql:quickload "str")
(ql:quickload "cffi")
(setf (uiop:getenv "CC") "x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc")
(ql:quickload "cffi-libffi") <- this will fail. But it has downloaded the files we need.

With the cffi-libffi downloaded, we need to copy some files from libffi compilation to where cffi was downloaded (cffi-libffi is part of that dir)

# copy all contents to c:/Users/your-name/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cffi-20231021-git/
cp -r ~/libffi-3.4.6/x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/* /mnt/c/Users/your-name/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cffi-20231021-git/

Locate c-toolchain.lisp (mine is in C:/Users/your-name/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cffi-20231021-git/toolchain/c-toolchain.lisp) Apply the patch on that file and attempt to run (ql:quickload "cffi-libffi") again.

Sample output:

; Dedicated output stream setup (port 60565)
; Redirecting all output to this MREPL
; SLY 1.0.43 (#<MREPL mrepl-1-1>)
CL-USER> (setf (uiop:getenv "CC") "x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc")
0 (0 bits, #x0, #o0, #b0)
CL-USER> (ql:quickload "str")
To load "str":
  Load 1 ASDF system:
    str
; Loading "str"
...
("str")
CL-USER> (ql:quickload "cffi")
To load "cffi":
  Load 1 ASDF system:
    cffi
; Loading "cffi"
.............
("cffi")
CL-USER> (ql:quickload "cffi-libffi")
To load "cffi-libffi":
  Load 1 ASDF system:
    cffi-libffi
; Loading "cffi-libffi"
; pkg-config libffi --cflags
; ERROR: Couldn't execute "pkg-config": The system cannot find the file specified.

; Attempting to continue anyway.
;wsl -e x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -o /mnt/c/Users/your-name/AppData/Local/cache/common-lisp/sbcl-2.2.7-win-x64/C/Users/your-name/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cffi-20231021-git/libffi/libffi-types__grovel-tmpAAURSO1.obj -c -m64 -I/mnt/c/Users/your-name/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cffi-20231021-git/ /mnt/c/Users/your-name/AppData/Local/cache/common-lisp/sbcl-2.2.7-win-x64/C/Users/your-name/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cffi-20231021-git/libffi/libffi-types__grovel.c
.;wsl -e x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -o /mnt/c/Users/your-name/AppData/Local/cache/common-lisp/sbcl-2.2.7-win-x64/C/Users/your-name/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cffi-20231021-git/libffi/libffi-types__grovel-tmpAR3FSGEY.exe -m64 -Wl,--export-dynamic /mnt/c/Users/your-name/AppData/Local/cache/common-lisp/sbcl-2.2.7-win-x64/C/Users/your-name/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cffi-20231021-git/libffi/libffi-types__grovel.obj
;"C:\Users\your-name\AppData\Local\cache\common-lisp\sbcl-2.2.7-win-x64\C\Users\your-name\quicklisp\dists\quicklisp\software\cffi-20231021-git\libffi\libffi-types__grovel.exe" C:/Users/your-name/AppData/Local/cache/common-lisp/sbcl-2.2.7-win-x64/C/Users/your-name/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cffi-20231021-git/libffi/libffi-types__grovel.grovel-tmp.lisp
...
("cffi-libffi")
CL-USER>

You can now (ql:quickload "cl-raylib").

longlene / cl-raylib

Couldn't execute "gcc": The system cannot find the file specified #55