The format is: [-Version]--[-Cygwin Version]_[_personal tag].[extension] "mingw-w32" or "mingw-w64" The target is the binary format the tool chain will generate. "mingw-w64" means the toolchain will generate 64bit binaries that will run on windows natively (64bit windows required) "mingw-w32" means the toolchain will generate 32bit binaries that will run on windows natively