http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=48677
--- Comment #11 from ralphengels at gmail dot com <ralphengels at gmail dot com> 2011-04-21 15:45:13 UTC --- ok it seems to be related to sysroots i tried compiling without --with-sysroot and cpp.exe works then. question would then be if its an error on my part ? i use sysinternals junction to create the /mingw32/mingw directory for sysroot as a reparse point but i tried just copying the relevant lib and include dirs instead and its still the same error so im not sure.