Recently, I did my first "port" of a Linux program to Win32 (it was a commandline program and it luckily required only a recompile, but I didn't expect that), and while looking for a good package of gcc I found a really nice all-in-one package including gcc and an IDE written in Delphi together with an install program. This makes setting up gcc really easy, and I didn't want to open up yet another front by fighting it out with the gcc installation and makefiles.

That IDE/compiler bundle is called Dev-C++, and it's available from http://www.bloodshed.net or the mirror at http://www.haikuzone.org. I haven't yet investigated how suited this is for quickly compiling C extensions for Perl, but I'll try this the next time a module wants to install some XS files.

Of course, the ideal solution is still to compile stuff with VC++, as it has the better code generator and is faster than gcc, but I'll take a second look at Dev-C++ when it comes to easy installation and compatibility with existing Linux sourcecode.