I'm trying to to a static link so I dont have to use the dll's. I used this tutorial - Allegro.cc

I'm pretty sure I followed everything right, but when i compile and run it get this during the linking exe: collect2: ld returned 5 exit status. what does this mean?

It means you didn't post enough of the error for us to figure out what went wrong .

I've attached a screenshot.

Try Re-running the MinGW installer.

didn't seem to do anything.

It looks like you are using Code::Blocks - post the build log it creates (there should be a file named PROJECTNAME_build_log.html in the same folder as your project). That will show the commands used to link your program. Which version of MinGW are you using?

I'm not sure on my mingw version it says gcc 4.4.1 on the code blocks welcome screen. heres the log

Build started on: 20-04-2011 at 15:01.29
Build ended on: 20-04-2011 at 15:01.31
-------------- Build: Debug in MTG DeckBuilder ---------------
mingw32-g++.exe -LC:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.0-mingw-4.5.0\lib -L"C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\lib" -o "bin\Debug\MTG DeckBuilder.exe" obj\Debug\Main.o

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro_acodec-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro_audio-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\libvorbisfile-1.3.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\libvorbis-1.3.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro_color-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro_dialog-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro_font-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro_image-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro_memfile-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro_physfs-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro_primitives-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\liballegro_ttf-5.0.2-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\libdumb-0.9.3-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\libFLAC-1.2.1-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\libfreetype-2.4.4-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\libogg-1.2.1-static-mt.a

C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\allegro-5.0.2-1-mingw-4.5.0\lib\libzlib-1.2.5-static-mt.a

C:\MinGW\lib\libgdiplus.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libuuid.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libkernel32.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libwinmm.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libpsapi.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libopengl32.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libglu32.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libuser32.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libcomdlg32.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libgdi32.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libshell32.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libole32.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libadvapi32.a
C:\MinGW\lib\libws2_32.a -mwindows

collect2: ld returned 5 exit status
Process terminated with status 1 (0 minutes, 1 seconds)
0 errors, 0 warnings

EDIT: I changed the mingw directory to the one i downloaded and it seemed to work. but now i get 73 warnings saying i cant use null like this:

warning: passing NULL to non-pointer argument 6 of 'int al_show_native_message_box(ALLEGRO_DISPLAY*, const char*, const char*, const char*, const char*, int)'

why does it say this now and not before? Does this mean I have to use 0 instead of null now?

That path has a space in it. MinGW is notorious for not liking spaces in paths. Move the libraries that you have there to another folder. Also make sure MinGW is not installed to a path that has spaces in it. If it is, you'll need to reinstall MinGW, to a folder like 'c:\mingw'.

Second, you can get the exact version of mingw installed by cd'ing to the mingw\bin directory and typing 'mingw32-gcc --v'. Some versions of MinGW earlier than 4.5.0 could not statically compile Allegro 5, and so they may have trouble statically compiling programs that depend on Allegro 5 as well.

Third, version 4.4.1 may not be compatible with the binary download package for version 4.5.0. Install MinGW 4.5.0.

Edit for your edit

NULL is a pointer, and is therefore, not an int. The manual page for al_show_native_message_box is not very clear, but the last parameter should be one of the flags there, like ALLEGRO_MESSAGE_BOX_OK_CANCEL.

Not even when it's enclosed by double quotes as in the post?

Well its saying that for all null parameters and if i change null to 0 the warning goes away. I thought null was 0?

No, NULL is usually defined as (void*)0, which is not an integer. In C++ you have to make an explicit cast to go between an integer and a pointer.

IIRC, NULL is usually "(void *) 0" and not just an int 0.

Is there a way to remove the dependency for libgcc_s_dw2-1 and libstdc++-6? I can run the exe with no dlls on my computer but when I run the program on another computer it wants those dlls(maybe others im not sure)

In C++ NULL is defined as just 0.

C++0x introduces nullptr.