[platform/upstream/glib.git] / README.win32

Tor Lillqvist <tml@iki.fi>\r
Hans Breuer <hans@breuer.org>\r
\r
Note that this document is not really maintained in a serious\r
fashion. Lots of information here might be misleading or outdated. You\r
have been warned.\r
\r
The general parts, and the section about gcc and autoconfiscated\r
build, and about a Visual Studio build are by Tor Lillqvist. The\r
sections about MSVC build with NMAKE is by Hans Breuer. \r
\r
General\r
=======\r
\r
For prebuilt binaries (DLLs and EXEs) and developer packages (headers,\r
import libraries) of GLib, Pango, GTK+ etc for Windows, go to\r
http://www.gtk.org/download-windows.html . They are for "native"\r
Windows meaning they use the Win32 API and Microsoft C runtime library\r
only. No POSIX (Unix) emulation layer like Cygwin in involved.\r
\r
To build GLib on Win32, you can use either gcc ("mingw") or the\r
Microsoft compiler and tools. For the latter, MSVC6 and later have\r
been used successfully. Also the Digital Mars C/C++ compiler has\r
reportedly been used.\r
\r
You can also cross-compile GLib for Windows from Linux using the\r
cross-compiling mingw packages for your distro.\r
\r
Note that to just *use* GLib on Windows, there is no need to build it\r
yourself.\r
\r
On Windows setting up a correct build environment can be quite a task,\r
especially if you are used to just type "./configure; make" on Linux,\r
and expect things to work as smoothly on Windows.\r
\r
The following preprocessor macros are to be used for conditional\r
compilation related to Win32 in GLib-using code:\r
\r
- G_OS_WIN32 is defined when compiling for native Win32, without\r
  any POSIX emulation, other than to the extent provided by the\r
  bundled Microsoft C library (msvcr*.dll).\r
\r
- G_WITH_CYGWIN is defined if compiling for the Cygwin\r
  environment. Note that G_OS_WIN32 is *not* defined in that case, as\r
  Cygwin is supposed to behave like Unix. G_OS_UNIX *is* defined by a GLib\r
  for Cygwin.\r
\r
- G_PLATFORM_WIN32 is defined when either G_OS_WIN32 or G_WITH_CYGWIN\r
  is defined.\r
\r
These macros are defined in glibconfig.h, and are thus available in\r
all source files that include <glib.h>.\r
\r
Additionally, there are the compiler-specific macros:\r
- __GNUC__ is defined when using gcc\r
- _MSC_VER is defined when using the Microsoft compiler\r
- __DMC__ is defined when using the Digital Mars C/C++ compiler\r
\r
G_OS_WIN32 implies using the Microsoft C runtime, normally\r
msvcrt.dll. GLib is not known to work with the older crtdll.dll\r
runtime, or the static Microsoft C runtime libraries libc.lib and\r
libcmt.lib. It apparently does work with the debugging version of\r
msvcrt.dll, msvcrtd.dll. If compiled with Microsoft compilers newer\r
than MSVC6, it also works with their compiler-specific runtimes, like\r
msvcr70.dll or msvcr80.dll. Please note that it's non totally clear if\r
you would be allowed by the license to distrubute a GLib linked to\r
msvcr70.dll or msvcr80.dll, as those are not part of the operating\r
system, but of the MSVC product. msvcrt.dll is part of Windows.\r
\r
Building software that use GLib or GTK+\r
=======================================\r
\r
Building software that just *uses* GLib or GTK+ also require to have\r
the right compiler set up the right way. If you intend to use gcc,\r
follow the relevant instructions below in that case, too.\r
\r
Tor uses gcc with the -mms-bitfields flag which means that in order to\r
use the prebuilt DLLs (especially of GTK+), if you compile your code\r
with gcc, you *must* also use that flag. This flag means that the\r
struct layout rules are identical to those used by MSVC. This is\r
essential if the same DLLs are to be usable both from gcc- and\r
MSVC-compiled code. Such compatibility is desirable.\r
\r
When using the prebuilt GLib DLLs that use msvcrt.dll from code that\r
uses other C runtimes like for example msvcr70.dll, one should note\r
that one cannot use such GLib API that take or returns file\r
descriptors. On Windows, a file descriptor (the small integer as\r
returned by open() and handled by related functions, and included in\r
the FILE struct) is an index into a table local to the C runtime\r
DLL. A file descriptor in one C runtime DLL does not have the same\r
meaning in another C runtime DLL.\r
\r
Building GLib\r
=============\r
\r
Again, first decide whether you really want to do this.\r
\r
Before building GLib you must also have a GNU gettext-runtime\r
developer package. Get prebuilt binaries of gettext-runtime from\r
http://www.gtk.org/download-windows.html .\r
\r
Autoconfiscated build (with gcc)\r
================================\r
\r
Tor uses gcc 3.4.5 and the rest of the mingw utilities, including MSYS\r
from www.mingw.org. Somewhat earlier or later versions of gcc\r
presumably also work fine.\r
\r
Using Cygwin's gcc with the -mno-cygwin switch is not recommended. In\r
theory it should work, but Tor hasn't tested that lately. It can\r
easily lead to confusing situations where one mixes headers for Cygwin\r
from /usr/include with the headers for native software one really\r
should use. Ditto for libraries.\r
\r
If you want to use mingw's gcc, install gcc, win32api, binutils and\r
MSYS from www.mingw.org.\r
\r
Tor invokes configure using:\r
\r
CC='gcc -mtune=pentium3 -mthreads' CPPFLAGS='-I/opt/gnu/include' \\r
        LDFLAGS='-L/opt/gnu/lib -Wl,--enable-auto-image-base' CFLAGS=-O2 \\r
        ./configure --disable-gtk-doc --prefix=$TARGET\r
\r
The /opt/gnu mentioned contains the header files for GNU and (import)\r
libraries for GNU libintl. The build scripts used to produce the\r
prebuilt binaries are included in the "dev" packages.\r
\r
Please note that the ./configure mechanism should not blindly be used\r
to build a GLib to be distributed to other developers because it\r
produces a compiler-dependent glibconfig.h. For instance, the typedef\r
for gint64 is long long with gcc, but __int64 with MSVC.\r
\r
Except for this and a few other minor issues, there shouldn't be any\r
reason to distribute separate GLib headers and DLLs for gcc and MSVC6\r
users, as the compilers generate code that uses the same C runtime\r
library.\r
\r
The DLL generated by either compiler is binary compatible with the\r
other one. Thus one either has to manually edit glibconfig.h\r
afterwards, or use the supplied glibconfig.h.win32 which has been\r
produced by running configure twice, once using gcc and once using\r
MSVC, and merging the resulting files with diff -D.\r
\r
For MSVC7 and later (Visual C++ .NET 2003, Visual C++ 2005, Visual C++\r
2008 etc) it is preferred to use specific builds of GLib DLLs that use\r
the same C runtime as the code that uses GLib. Such DLLs should be\r
named differently than the ones that use msvcrt.dll.\r
\r
For GLib, the DLL that uses msvcrt.dll is called libglib-2.0-0.dll,\r
and the import libraries libglib-2.0.dll.a and glib-2.0.lib. Note that\r
the "2.0" is part of the "basename" of the library, it is not\r
something that libtool has added. The -0 suffix is added by libtool\r
and is the value of "LT_CURRENT - LT_AGE". The 0 should *not* be\r
thought to be part of the version number of GLib. The LT_CURRENT -\r
LT_AGE value will on purpose be kept as zero as long as binary\r
compatibility is maintained. For the gory details, see configure.ac\r
and libtool documentation.\r
\r
Building with Visual Studio\r
===========================\r
\r
In an unpacked tarball, you will find in build\win32\vs9 a solution\r
file that can be used to build the GLib DLLs and some auxiliary\r
programs. Read the README.txt file in that folder for more\r
information. Note that you will need a libintl implementation, and\r
zlib.\r
\r
If you are building from a GIT checkout, you will first need to use some\r
Unix-like environment or run build/win32/setup.py, \r
which will expand the VS 2008/2010 project files, the DLL resouce files and\r
other miscellanious files required for the build.  Run build/win32/setup.py\r
as follows:\r
\r
$python build/win32/setup.py --perl path_to_your_perl.exe\r
\r
for more usage on this script, run\r
$python build/win32/setup.py -h/--help\r
\r
Building with MSVC and NMAKE\r
============================\r
\r
If you are building from a GIT snapshot, you will not have all\r
makefile.msc files. You should copy the corresponding makefile.msc.in\r
file to that name, and replace any @...@ strings with the correct\r
value (or use the python script de-in.py from http://hans.breuer.org/gtk/de-in.py).\r
\r
This is done automatically when an official GLib source distribution\r
package is built, so if you get GLib from a source distribution\r
package, there should be makefile.msc files ready to use (possibly after some\r
editing).\r
\r
The hand-written makefile.msc files, and the stuff in the "build"\r
subdirectory, produce DLLs and import libraries that match what the\r
so-called autoconfiscated build produces.\r
\r
All the MSVC makefiles are for the command line build with nmake.  If\r
you want to use the VC-UI you can simply create wrapper .dsp makefiles\r
(read the VC docs how to do so).\r
\r
Some modules may require Perl to auto-generate files. The goal (at\r
least Hans's) is to not require any more tools. Of course you need\r
the Microsoft Platform SDK in a recent enough - but not too recent - version.\r
The last PSDK for Visual Studio 6 is:\r
  http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/psdk-full.htm\r
At least install the Core SDK, maybe also the "Tablet PC SDK".\r
\r
\r
Build with:\r
\r
nmake -f makefile.msc\r
  or\r
nmake -f makefile.msc DEBUG=1\r
\r
[\r
 The former will create 'release' versions of the DLLs. If you\r
 plan to distribute you DLLs please use this command. The latter \r
 will create DLLs with debug information _and_ link them with\r
 msvcrtd.dll instead of msvcrt.dll. \r
 Beware: There are known problems with mixing DLLs in one \r
 application, which are build against different runtimes. \r
 Especially the index-to-file mapping used by 'unix-style' file\r
 operation - _open() _pipe() etc. - breaks sometimes in strange \r
 ways (for example the Gimp plug-in communication).\r
]\r
\r
Required libraries (not build from svn)\r
------------------\r
  libintl (gnu-intl),\r
\r
are available pre-built from the website mentioned above.\r
\r
Versioning\r
----------\r
Instead of the Unix and auto* way of tracking versions and resolving\r
dependencies (configure; make; make install) involving autoconf,\r
automake, libtool and friends the MSVC build uses a different\r
approach.\r
\r
The core of it's versioning is the file build/win32/module.defs.\r
It contains entries of the form MODULE_VER, e.g.:\r
\r
        GLIB_VER = 2.0\r
        LIBICONV_VER = 1.3\r
\r
and the placement of these modules defined as MODULE, e.g.:\r
\r
        GLIB = $(TOP)/glib\r
        LIBICONV = $(TOP)/libiconv-$(LIBICONV_VER)\r
\r
whereas TOP is defined as the relative path from the respective\r
module directory to your top build directory. Every makefile.msc\r
needs to define TOP before including the common make file part\r
make.msc, which than includes module.defs, like:\r
\r
TOP = ../..\r
!INCLUDE $(TOP)/glib/build/win32/make.msc\r
\r
(Taken from gtk+/gdk/makefile.msc)\r
\r
With this provision it is possible to create almost placement\r
independent makefiles without requiring to 'install' the libraries and\r
headers into a common place (as it is done on Unix, and as Tor does\r
when producing his zipfiles with prebuilt GLib, GTK+ etc).\r
\r
Special Files\r
-------------\r
        config.h.win32.in : @XXX_MAJOR_VERSION@ needs to be replaced by\r
the current version/build number. The resulting file is to be saved\r
as 'config.h.win32'. This should be automatically done if a package\r
gets build on the Unix platform.\r
\r
        makefile.msc.in : @XXX_MAJOR_VERSION@ to be replaced. Save as\r
makefile.msc.\r
\r
        <module>.def : every function which should be used from the outside of\r
a dll needs to be marked for 'export'. It is common that one needs to change \r
these files after some api changes occured. If there are variables to be\r
exported another mechanism is needed, like :\r
\r
        #ifdef G_OS_WIN32\r
        #  ifdef GDK_COMPILATION\r
        #    define GDKVAR __declspec(dllexport)\r
        #  else\r
        #    define GDKVAR extern __declspec(dllimport)\r
        #  endif\r
        #else\r
        #  define GDKVAR extern\r
        #endif\r
\r
\r
\r
Directory Structure\r
-------------------\r
all modules should be build in a common directory tree otherwise you \r
need to adapt the file 'module.defs'. They are listed here in increasing\r
dependencies order.\r
\r
<common rootdir without spaces>\r
  |\r
  +- glib\r
  |   |\r
  |   +- build          : [this module lives in the SVN root dir]\r
  |   |   +- win32\r
  |   |       .\module.defs : defines (relative) locations of the headers\r
  |   |                       and libs and version numbers to be include \r
  |   |                       in dll names\r
  |   |       .\make.msc    : include by almost every 'makefile.msc'\r
  |   |\r
  |   | .\README.WIN32  : more information how to build\r
  |   | .\glibconfig.h.win32.in : similar to config.h.win32.in\r
  |   | .\makefile.msc  : master makefile, sub dir makefiles should work \r
  |   |\r
  |   +- glib\r
  |   +- gmodule\r
  |   +- gthread        : does _not_ depend on pthread anymore\r
  |   +- gobject\r
  |\r
  +- pango\r
  |   +- pango          : 'native' build does not require extra libs and\r
  |   |                 includes the minimal required text renderer\r
  |   |                 (there is also a currently slightly broken FreeType2 \r
  |   |                 based implementation for win32)\r
  |   +- modules (not yet build)\r
  |\r
  +- atk\r
  |   +- atk\r
  |       .\makefile.msc : build here\r
  |\r
  +- gtk+\r
  |   | .\config.h.win32 : for all the below\r
  |   |\r
  |   +- gdk-pixbuf\r
  |   |   .\gdk_pixbuf.rc.in : version resource for the DLLs. Needs\r
  |   |                 to be converted (filled with version info)\r
  |   |                 as described above.\r
  |   |\r
  |   +- gdk\r
  |   |   | .\makefile.msc : some auto-generation is needed to build in the\r
  |   |   |             in the subdirectory \r
  |   |   +- win32\r
  |   |\r
  |   +- gtk\r
\r
  |\r
  +- gimp\r
  |   .\makefile.msc    : master makefile to build The Gimp. The makefiles\r
  |                     from the sub dirs should work stand alone, but than\r
  |                     the user needs to know the build order\r
\r
  |\r
  +- dia                : additionally depends on libart_lgpl (in SVN)\r
      |                 and libxml2 ( see http://www.xmlsoft.org/ )\r
      +- lib\r
      +- app\r
      +- objects\r
      +- plug-ins\r
          +- python\r
\r