I am seeing this error with Freetype 2.9.1 and I'm using binutils 2.29.1:

freetype-2.9.1/src/base/ftver.rc:19:20: fatal error: windows.h: No such file or directory
 #include<windows.h>
                    ^
compilation terminated.
windres: preprocessing failed.

I see this error reported in https://mail-index.netbsd.org/pkgsrc-users/2018/08/10/msg027329.html and https://github.com/Linuxbrew/homebrew-core/issues/7625 so I reported it to Freetype here https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/index.php?54967 . Posting this as an issue here in case anyone else runs into this error. Why does Freetype always have so many problems?

Edit: For me the solution has been to use freetype 2.7.1.