Cross-compile Rust Applications

The following steps were required to cross-compile a Rust application on a Debian host targeting 64-bit Microsoft Windows.

1. Install gcc cross-compiler

$ sudo apt-get install gcc-mingw-w64

2. Add rust toolchain

$ rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

Note: To see the list of available toolchain targets, use the command rustup target list. Typically, the each value in the list will be a triplet containing architecture, vendor, system and optionally ABI.

3. Configure the target linker ~./cargo/config

[target.x86_64-pc-windows-gnu]
linker = "x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc"

4. Build the application by providing the appropriate target triplet.

$ cargo build --target=x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

5. Verify build output

$ file target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/debug/<app>.exe
target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/debug/<app>.exe: PE32+ executable (console) x86-64, for MS Windows

References

• https://github.com/japaric/rust-cross