= MinGW/MSYS =

MinGW and msys are required to build ffmpeg under windows (actually, you can use cygwin also however this is a less well documented option). The installation of MinGW and msys is somewhat confusing, however the internet comes to the rescue.
 
 * http://arrozcru.no-ip.org/ffmpeg_wiki/tiki-index.php
   * a very good guide
 * http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2006-April/010355.html
   * the instructions here are largely correct, and work fine up until the point at which ffmpeg should be build.
   * don't forget to perform this step also:
     * http://arrozcru.no-ip.org/ffmpeg_wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Fixing+msys
 * if you have an older installation of MinGW and msys, then some things may be wrong:
   * missing pr.exe
   * bash is broken
   * to fix, install newer coreutils (for pr.exe) and bash packages.