Harbour MiniGUI with 64-bit ZIG compiler

[Grigory Filatov]

Good afternoon,

Let's continue a good news.

I've successfully tested the ZIG compiler snapshot 2025-10-17 with the newest MiniGUI build (64-bit). The support of this new compiler have been recently added to the Harbour. This compiler is compatible with MinGW binary as well.

Harbour Build Info
---------------------------

Version: Harbour 3.2.0dev (r2510192048)
Compiler: LLVM/Clang C 21.1 (https://github.com/ziglang/zig-bootstrap 1b08653ddc0b2770f51
Platform: Windows 11 or newer 10.0.22000
PCode version: 0.3
ChangeLog last entry: 2025-10-19 22:48 UTC+0200 Aleksander Czajczynski (hb fki.pl)
ChangeLog ID: 2f8dcbcf6097ba02e7b1a316ba0a6991342ba96a
Built on: Oct 20 2025 13:42:43

I've attached speed test results in the MT mode for your review.

And at the end there is a screenshot:

Is this interesting to anyone?

Your comments are very welcome!

Regards,

Grigory

[Marcos Jarrin]

Hello everyone

This topic about using Zig in Harbour is quite interesting because Zig is gaining popularity as a modern and efficient language for systems programming. For those who are not familiar with Zig, here is a brief explanation in a few words:

Zig is a general-purpose programming language designed to offer a better and safer experience than C, while maintaining the control and performance of low-level languages. It has no hidden control flow or macros, making writing predictable and safe code easier. Additionally, it includes an integrated build system with native support for cross-compilation, which is ideal for developers working on multi-platform development.

Its ability to interoperate directly with C code makes it very attractive for modernization or integration projects, such as many developed in Harbour.

https://ziglang.org/

https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/

Regards,

Marcos Jarrin

[Grigory Filatov]

Hello Marcos,

Thanks for your kind feedback.

I've attached the brief explanation elaborates on what the Zig compiler is, how it works as a C compiler replacement, and the extensive advantages this brings.

What's your opinion? Can this Zig compiler be considered a replacement for MinGW C in Harbour?

Thank you for your attention.

Regards,

Grigory

среда, 22 октября 2025 г. в 15:55:17 UTC+2, marcos...@gmail.com:

[Grigory Filatov]

Hi there,

Let's continue a good news.

I've successfully compiled the useful SQLRDD library using Zig as C compiler frontend.

Here is a screenshot of the MySQL client application as an example:

Your feedback is welcome.

Regards,

Grigory

четверг, 23 октября 2025 г. в 17:39:45 UTC+2, Grigory Filatov:

[Marcos Jarrin]

Hello everyone,

Interesting.

But I would need more information to give an opinion. I haven't programmed in ZIG, but I have in C and C++.
I would need to see how long it takes to compile, and I'm not referring to a single-file program with a few lines, but to projects with many PRGs and thousands of lines. How large are the resulting executables?
How efficient is it?
Other technical details.
How well do libraries written in C compile, for example, like LetoDBf, SQLite, etc.
On paper, ZIG looks excellent, but it needs to be tested.

A test, for example, would be:

Create a table with at least 1 million records with 10 indexes and observe the following details:

    A table with 50 fields: how long does it take to populate it with 1 million records.

    The time it takes to create simple and composite unique indexes.

    Simple: a numeric field. Complex: two or more fields with functions like ALLTRIM, formatting dates, etc.

    How long it takes for sequential and index-based searches.

    How efficient are the RDDs in ZIG.

Only after that could I give my opinion on whether ZIG is a good choice or not.
On paper, it says it's excellent, but real-world work shows if it's true.

Regards,

Marcos Jarrin

[Grigory Filatov]

Hello Marcos,

Many thanks for your kind feedback.

I have already compiled the "SuperChef Pizza" app (45 .prg files) with the following build log using 4 compilation threads:

hbmk2: Processing environment options: -plat=win -comp=zig
hbmk2: Using Harbour: c:\project\harbour\bin c:\project\harbour\include
       c:\project\harbour\lib\win\zig c:\project\harbour\bin
       c:\project\harbour\contrib c:\project\harbour\addons
hbmk2: Processing local make script: hbmk.hbm
hbmk2: Processing: ..\..\harbour\bin\zig.hbc
hbmk2: Compiling Harbour sources...
Harbour 3.2.0dev (r2510211120)
Copyright (c) 1999-2025, https://harbour.github.io/
Harbour 3.2.0dev (r2510211120)
Copyright (c) 1999-2025, https://harbour.github.io/
Harbour 3.2.0dev (r2510211120)
Copyright (c) 1999-2025, https://harbour.github.io/
Harbour 3.2.0dev (r2510211120)
Copyright (c) 1999-2025, https://harbour.github.io/
hbmk2: Compiling...
hbmk2: Linking... ..\..\bin\super.exe
hbmk2: Running time: 73s

The 64-bit executable size is 4,06 MB.

Everything works fine (see picture below).

I would like to clarify that we are not using the zig language, but rather using zig as a Clang backend compiler.

Thank you for your attention.

Regards,

Grigory

воскресенье, 2 ноября 2025 г. в 01:05:13 UTC+1, marcos...@gmail.com:

[José Quintas]

Is it easy to setup for zig ?

May be I could include a test on github machines.

The default, used to build harbour.

And about compatibility ?

There are commercial libraries that can't be compiled by zig.

José M. C. Quintas

[Grigory Filatov]

Good evening,

Let's continue a good news.

I've compiled IDE by Roberto Lopez using MiniGUI and Zig compiler 0.16.0dev.

You can see the result in the picture below:

I've also compiled the repost example with this IDE as shown in this picture:

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Best regards,

Grigory

вторник, 21 октября 2025 г. в 16:03:54 UTC+2, Grigory Filatov:

[Grigory Filatov]

Hi,

I have a small addendum: 'About' dialog and build.log file for this IDE.

Regards,

Grigory

четверг, 13 ноября 2025 г. в 19:22:54 UTC+1, Grigory Filatov:

[Grigory Filatov]

Good evening,

Just for your information.

I've already prepared the followng Zig64-based MiniGUI package:

-------------------------------------------------------------
        Minigui Zig64 Package (build date: 11/12/2025)            
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
                Components versions:
                --------------------
   
Harbour MiniGUI Extended Edition 25.11 Update 1 (PRO)  
   
Harbour 3.2.0dev (r2512102315)
   
Harbour Make (hbmk2) 3.2.0dev (r2025-12-10 23:15)
 
Zig compiler 0.16.0-dev (64-bit) https://ziglang.org/download

Your comments are welcome!

Best regards,

Grigory

пятница, 14 ноября 2025 г. в 18:03:30 UTC+1, Grigory Filatov:

[Ivanil Marcelino]

I was very excited about Zig and had planned to start 2026 by porting the designer to the language. However, I ran into two issues for which I couldn’t find a solution:

1. Function overloading.

2. RCData in resources.

Function overloading is particularly important for my work. Refactoring everything to work around this limitation would require a substantial effort, and I am not willing to take on that level of rework right now. So, for the time being, I will keep moving forward with what I already have.

Best regards,

Ivanil

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[Grigory Filatov]

Hi Ivanil,

Thank you for your feedback!

1) I confirm this issue also. AFAIR The Zig team has no plans to implement this feature.

2) The following example works fine in my environment.

procedure main()

   local cMemVar
   local cDiskFile := "image1.png"
   local nResult := -1, aXY, cMsg

   delete file cDiskFile

   cMemVar := RCDataToMem( "IMAGE1", "PNG" )

   if Len( cMemVar ) > 0
      hb_memoWrit( cDiskFile, cMemVar )

      if hb_FileExists( cDiskFile )
         aXY  := hb_GetImageSize( cDiskFile )

         cMsg := ( "IMAGE1 saved successfully as" + Chr(13) + Chr(10) )
         cMsg += ( cDiskFile + ": " + hb_ntos( aXY[1] ) + " x " + hb_ntos( aXY[2] ) + " Pixels" )

         MsgInfo( cMsg, "Congratulations!" )
      endif
   else
      MsgInfo( "Code: " + hb_ntos( nResult ), "Error" )
   endif

return

Which problem did you have?

Best regards,

Grigory

суббота, 13 декабря 2025 г. в 00:24:35 UTC+1, ivanil.m...@gmail.com: