The cygwin platform is used to build STLport with different compilers. - gcc (native compiler): Makefile : gcc.mak Notes: 1. Static builds (archive) If you use the static version of the STLport libraries you have to define the _STLP_USE_STATIC_LIB macro in order to have your executable linked correctly. 2. Link Under this platform STLport is complete replacement for libstdc++. It means that when you were linking with libstdc++ (-lstdc++) you only have to replace it with STLport (-lstlport.5.2 for instance). However default gcc behavior is to automatically link libstdc++ and a number of other system libs. To avoid this behavior you have to use the -nodefaultlibs compiler option and explicitely give all libraries by yourself. See build of unit tests to see what library you might need, here is the list when this note was written: without -mnocygwin option: -lstlportg.5.2 -lgcc -lm -lc -lpthread -lkernel32 with -mno-cygwin option: -lstlportg.5.2 -lgcc -lmingw32 -lmingwex -lmsvcrt -lm -lmoldname -lcoldname -lkernel32 3. No cygwin To build STLport libraries that do not depend on cygwin1.dll making them freely redistributable pass the following option to the configure script: ./configure --with-extra-cflags=-mno-cygwin --with-extra-cxxflags=-mno-cygwin - Borland C++ compiler