Installing OpenCV 4 on Linux is difficult, but can be done. On Windows it took me hours to get it working.

Download

• VS Code
• mingw-w64
• OpenCV 4.1.1 (mingw edition)
• set_env.bat

Installation

1. install opencv
   • extract opencv[…].zip
   • copy to D:\OpenCV\
2. install vscode
   • VSCodeUserSetup-[...].exe
3. install cpp-tools in vscode
   • ctrl + shift + x
   • search for: “c++”
   • install “c/c++” from Microsoft
4. install mingw
   • mingw-w64-install.exe – install to D:\mingw\ (IMPORTANT: don’t use spaces in name)
   • options: (version: 8.1.0, arch: x86_64, threads: posix, exception: seh, build rev: 0)
5. set envoirment variables
   • change any paths in set_env.bat if you haven’t used mine
   • right click set_env.bat
   • select run as admin
6. Finished 😉

Important notes

• compiling: add “411” or corresponding opencv version to linker g++ ... -lopencv_core411
• don’t use spaces in folder names

Compile OpenCV code

g++ -g test.cpp -o test.exe -I"%OPENCV_DIR%include" -L"%OPENCV_DIR%x64\mingw\bin" -lopencv_stitching411 -lopencv_objdetect411 -lopencv_calib3d411 -lopencv_features2d411 -lopencv_highgui411 -lopencv_videoio411 -lopencv_imgcodecs411 -lopencv_video411 -lopencv_photo411 -lopencv_ml411 -lopencv_imgproc411 -lopencv_flann411 -lopencv_core411

Credits

Big thanks to @huihut for providing pre-compiled OpenCV + mingw Windows builds. Building this myself would have been an additional nightmare.

Sources

• https://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary/files/4.1.1/
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51622111/opencv-c-mingw-vscode-fatal-error-to-compile/51801863#51801863
• https://github.com/huihut/OpenCV-MinGW-Build