+Tor Lillqvist <tml@iki.fi>
+Hans Breuer <hans@breuer.org>
+
+The general parts, and the stuff about gcc and autoconfiscated build
+are by Tor Lillqvist. The stuff about MSVC build is by Hans Breuer.
+
General
=======
-For more information about the port or GLib, GTk+ and the GIMP to
-native Windows, and pre-built binaries (DLLs), surf to
-http://www.gimp.org/win32/ . "Native" means that we use the Win32 API
-only, and no POSIX (Unix) emulation layer except that provided by the
-Microsoft runtime C library.
+For prebuilt binaries (DLLs and EXEs) and developer packages (headers,
+import libraries) of GLib, GTK+, GIMP etc for Windows, surf to
+http://www.gimp.org/win32/ . They are for "native" Windows meaning
+they use the Win32 API and Microsoft C runtime library only, no POSIX
+(Unix) emulation layer (like Cygwin).
To build GLib on Win32, you can use either gcc or the Microsoft
compiler and tools. Both the compiler from MSVC 5.0 and from MSVC 6.0
have been used successfully.
But note that to just *use* GLib on Windows, there is no need to build
-it, prebuilt DLLs are available from the webiste above.
+it yourself. Prepackaged runtime and developer packages are available
+from the webiste above. On Unix, it is quite normal that system admins
+build and install libraries like GLib themselves. But on Windows
+setting up a correct build environment can be quite a task, especially
+if you are used to just type "./configure; make" on Unix, and expect
+things to work as smoothly on Windows.
-The following preprocessor macros are used for conditional compilation
-related to Win32:
+The following preprocessor macros can be used for conditional
+compilation related to Win32 in GLib-using code:
-- G_OS_WIN32 is defined when compiling for Win32, *and* without
- any POSIX emulation, other that to the extent provided by the
- bundled Microsoft C library (msvcrt.dll) and the pthreads-win32
- library. For instance, pathnames are in the native Windows syntax.
+- G_OS_WIN32 is defined when compiling for native Win32, without
+ any POSIX emulation, other than to the extent provided by the
+ bundled Microsoft C library (msvcrt.dll).
- G_WITH_CYGWIN is defined if compiling for the Cygwin
environment. Note that G_OS_WIN32 is *not* defined in that case, as
- G_PLATFORM_WIN32 is defined when either G_OS_WIN32 or G_WITH_CYGWIN
is defined.
-The Win32 port of GLib and related software uses only G_OS_WIN32. As
-G_OS_WIN32 is defined in glibconfig.h, it is available to all source
-files that use GLib (or GTk+, which uses GLib).
+These macros are defined in glibconfig.h, and are thus (indirectly)
+available in all source files that include <glib.h> or GTK+ headers.
Additionally, there are the compiler-specific macros:
-- __GNUC__ is defined when using GCC
+- __GNUC__ is defined when using gcc
- _MSC_VER is defined when using the Microsoft compiler
G_OS_WIN32 implies using the Microsoft C runtime MSVCRT.DLL. GLib is
not known to work with the older CRTDLL.DLL runtime, or the static
-Microsoft C runtime libraries.
+Microsoft C runtime libraries LIBC.LIB and LIBCMT.LIB. It apparently
+does work with the debugging version of MSVCRT.DLL, MSVCRTD.DLL.
-Building software that use GLib or GTk+
+Building software that use GLib or GTK+
=======================================
-Even building software that just *use* GLib or GTk+ also require to
+Even building software that just *uses* GLib or GTK+ also require to
have the right compiler set up the right way, so if you intend to use
gcc, follow the relevant instructions below in that case, too.
-Dependent libraries
-===================
+Tor uses gcc with the -mms-bitfields flag (used to be called
+-fnative-struct in gcc 2.x), which means that in order to use the
+prebuilt DLLs (especially of GTK+), if you compile your code with gcc,
+you *must* also use that flag. (This flag means that the struct layout
+rules are identical to those used by MSVC. This is essential if the
+same DLLs are to be usable both from gcc- and MSVC-compiled code. This
+definitely is something one wants.)
+
+Building GLib
+=============
+
+Again, first decide whether you really want to do this.
Before building GLib you must also have the libiconv library, either
from the same website mentioned above, or from it's homepage at
========================
If you are building from a CVS snapshot, you will not have any
-makefile.mingw or makefile.msc file. You should copy the corresponding
-makefile.mingw.in or makefile.msc.in file to that name, and replace
-any @...@ strings with the correct value.
+makefile.mingw or makefile.msc files. You should copy the
+corresponding makefile.mingw.in or makefile.msc.in file to that name,
+and replace any @...@ strings with the correct value.
This is done automatically when an official GLib source distribution
-package is built.
+package is built, so if you get GLib from a source distribution
+package, there should be makefile.mingw and makefile.msc files ready
+to use (after some editing).
Building GLib with gcc
======================
-I use gcc-2.95.3. Version 2.95.2 will most probably also work.
+Tor uses gcc 3.2. Version 2.95.3 also works.
You can either use gcc running on Cygwin, or the "pure" mingw
gcc. Using the latter might work better, or at least did at some
Then run make -f makefile.mingw. Install the resulting DLLs somewhere
in your PATH. You can either keep the headers and import libraries
where they are, or install them somewhere else. There are no rules in
-the makefile.mingws for installing, it is up to you where to put
-stuff.
+the makefile.mingws for installing, it is up to you where to put them.
-I use the -fnative-struct flag, which means that in order to use the
-prebuilt DLLs (especially of GTK+), you *must* also use that flag.
-(This flag means that the struct layout is identical to that used by
-MSVC. This is essential if the same DLLs are to be usable both from
-gcc- and MSVC-compiled code, which definitely is a good thing.)
+Autoconfiscated build
+=====================
It is also possible to use the auto*, ./configure and libtool
-mechanism when building for mingw. You should be running Cygwin, or
+mechanism when building with gcc. You should be running Cygwin, or
maybe cross-compiling from real Unix, for the configure script to
-work, obviously. You most probably should have very new auto* and
-libtool. Personally, I invoke configure using:
+work, obviously. It is also possible to use MSYS.
+
+When building from an official source distribution, to be able to
+build DLLs without problems, it might well be necessary to have a
+relatively new version of libtool installed. If so, replace the
+libtool parts included with GLib sources with newer versions by
+running libtoolize --force. After that you want to run aclocal-1.4 and
+autoconf before running configure.
-CC='gcc -mpentium -fnative-struct'
- CPPFLAGS='-I/src/libiconv-1.7/include -I/target/include'
- LDFLAGS='-L/src/libiconv-1.7/lib -L/target/lib' ./configure
- --with-libiconv --disable-static --prefix=/target
- --host=i386-pc-mingw32 --enable-maintainer-mode
+Tor invokes configure using:
-(on a single line)
+CC='gcc -mcpu=pentium3' CPPFLAGS='-I/target/include'
+ CFLAGS=-O3 LDFLAGS='-L/target/lib' ./configure --with-libiconv
+ --disable-static --prefix=/target --host=i386-pc-mingw32
-But please note that the ./configure mechanism should not blindly be
-used to build a GLib to be distributed to potential developers because
-it produces a compiler-dependent glibconfig.h (and config.h, but that
+(on a single line). The /target/include mentioned contains the header
+files for libintl and libiconv, and the (import) libraries are in
+/target/lib. This happens to be in the same tree where he configures
+GLib to be installed, but doesn't have to be.
+
+Please note that the ./configure mechanism should not blindly be used
+to build a GLib to be distributed to other developers because it
+produces a compiler-dependent glibconfig.h (and config.h, but that
shouldn't matter, as it isn't seen by GLib-using applications). For
instance, the typedef for gint64 is long long with gcc, but __int64
with MSVC.
Except for this and a few other minor issues, there really shouldn't
-be any reason to distribute separate GLib DLLs for gcc and MSVC users,
-as both compiler+tools generate code that uses the same C runtime
-library. Thus one either has to manually edit glibconfig.h afterwards,
-or use the supplied config.h.win32 and glibconfig.h.win32. These have
-been produced by running configure twice, once using gcc and once
-using MSVC, and merging the resulting files with diff -D.
-
-There are probably also other hickups when using auto* and configure
-to build for mingw, sigh. Every now and then I try to get rid of the
-hand-written makefiles and configuration headers for Win32, and start
-fooling around with auto* etc, but after a while give up and fall
-back. At least, it used to be like that. Lately I have again been
-working on using auto*/configure/libtool on Win32, and it now seems to
-work well enough (with some patches applied to the current CVS
-libtool...).
+be any reason to distribute separate GLib headers and DLLs for gcc and
+MSVC users, as the compilers generate code that uses the same C
+runtime library, and is mutually binary compatible. Thus one either
+has to manually edit glibconfig.h afterwards, or use the supplied
+glibconfig.h.win32. This has been produced by running configure twice,
+once using gcc and once using MSVC, and merging the resulting files
+with diff -D.
The hand-written makefile.{mingw,msc} files, and the stuff in the
-"build" subdirectory, has been updated to produce DLLs and import
-libraries that match what Makefile.am and libtool produces. For GLib,
-the DLL is called libglib-1.3-10.dll (at GLib 1.3.10), and the import
-libraries libglib-1.3.a and glib-1.3.lib. Note that the "1.3" is part
-of the "basename" of the library, it is not something that libtool
-would tuck on. The -10 suffix is the value of "LT_CURRENT -
-LT_AGE". The 10 is *not* the micro version number of GLib, although,
-for GLib 1.3.10, it happens to be the same. For the gory details, see
+"build" subdirectory, produce DLLs and import libraries that match
+what Makefile.am and libtool produces. For GLib, the DLL is called
+libglib-2.0-0.dll, and the import libraries libglib-2.0.dll.a and
+glib-2.0.lib. Note that the "2.0" is part of the "basename" of the
+library, it is not something that libtool has tucked on. The -0 suffix
+is the value of "LT_CURRENT - LT_AGE". The 0 is *not* simply the micro
+version number of GLib, although, for GLib 2.2.0, it happens to be the
+same. The LT_CURRENT - LT_AGE value will on purpose be kept as zero as
+long as binary compatibility is maintained. For the gory details, see
configure.in and libtool documentation.
If you want to run the Cygwin-hosted gcc, and still want to produce
code that does not use Cygwin, but the msvcrt runtime, in theory it
-should work to use the -no-cygwin flag, but I haven't tested that
+should work to use the -no-cygwin flag, but Tor hasn't tested that
lately.
If you would want to use the Cygwin tools to generate a GLib that
should work as if on Unix. Note that successfully producing shared
libraries (DLLs) for Cygwin most probably requires you to have a very
new libtool. (And a new libtool probably requires rather new autoconf
-and automake.) I haven't personally tested this in a while.
+and automake.) Tor hasn't tested this in a while, either.
Building with MSVC
==================
-If using the Microsoft toolchain, build with `nmake -f
-makefile.msc`.
+All the MSVC makefiles are for the command line build with nmake. If
+you want to use the VC-UI you can simply create wrapper .dsp makefiles
+(read the VC docs how to do so).
+
+Some modules may require Perl to auto-generate files. The goal (at
+least Hans's) is to not require any more tools.
+
+Build with:
+
+nmake -f makefile.msc
+ or
+nmake -f makefile.msc DEBUG=1
+
+[
+ The former will create 'release' versions of the DLLs. If you
+ plan to distribute you DLLs please use this command. The latter
+ will create DLLs with debug information _and_ link them with
+ msvcrtd.dll instead of msvcrt.dll.
+ Beware: There are known problems with mixing DLLs in one
+ application, which are build against different runtimes.
+ Especially the index-to-file mapping used by 'unix-style' file
+ operation - _open() _pipe() etc. - breaks sometimes in strange
+ ways (for example the Gimp plug-in communication).
+]
+
+Required libraries (not build from cvs)
+==================
+ libintl (gnu-intl), libiconv
+ libtiff, libpng, zlib, libjpeg
+
+are available pre-built from the website mentioned above.
+
+Versioning
+==========
+Instead of the Unix and auto* way of tracking versions and resolving
+dependencies (configure; make; make install) involving autoconf,
+automake, libtool and friends the MSVC build uses a different
+approach.
+
+The core of it's versioning is the file build/win32/module.defs.
+It contains entries of the form MODULE_VER, e.g.:
+
+ GLIB_VER = 2.0
+ LIBICONV_VER = 1.3
+
+and the placement of these modules defined as MODULE, e.g.:
+
+ GLIB = $(TOP)/glib
+ LIBICONV = $(TOP)/libiconv-$(LIBICONV_VER)
+
+whereas TOP is defined as the relative path from the respective
+module directory to your top build directory. Every makefile.msc
+needs to define TOP before including the common make file part
+make.msc, which than includes module.defs, like:
+
+TOP = ../..
+!INCLUDE $(TOP)/glib/build/win32/make.msc
+
+(Taken from gtk+/gdk/makefile.msc)
+
+With this provision it is possible to create almost placement
+independent makefiles without requiring to 'install' the libraries and
+headers into a common place (as it is done on Unix, and as Tor does
+when producing his zipfiles with prebuilt GLib, GTK+ etc).
+
+Special Files
+=============
+ config.h.win32.in : @XXX_MAJOR_VERSION@ needs to be replaced by
+the current version/build number. The resulting file is to be saved
+as 'config.h.win32'. This should be automatically done if a package
+gets build on the Unix platform.
+
+ makefile.msc.in : @XXX_MAJOR_VERSION@ to be replaced. Save as
+makefile.msc.
+
+ <module>.def : every function which should be used from the outside of
+a dll needs to be marked for 'export'. It is common that one needs to change
+these files after some api changes occured. If there are variables to be
+exported another mechanism is needed, like :
+
+ #ifdef G_OS_WIN32
+ # ifdef GDK_COMPILATION
+ # define GDKVAR __declspec(dllexport)
+ # else
+ # define GDKVAR extern __declspec(dllimport)
+ # endif
+ #else
+ # define GDKVAR extern
+ #endif
+
+
+
+Directory Structure
+===================
+all modules should be build in a common directory tree otherwise you
+need to adapt the file 'module.defs'. They are listed here in increasing
+dependencies order.
+
+<common rootdir without spaces>
+ |
+ +- glib
+ | |
+ | +- build : [this module lives in the cvs root dir]
+ | | +- win32
+ | | .\module.defs : defines (relative) locations of the headers
+ | | and libs and version numbers to be include
+ | | in dll names
+ | | .\make.msc : include by almost every 'makefile.msc'
+ | |
+ | | .\README.WIN32 : more information how to build
+ | | .\glibconfig.h.win32.in : similar to config.h.win32.in
+ | | .\makefile.msc : master makefile, sub dir makefiles should work
+ | |
+ | +- glib
+ | +- gmodule
+ | +- gthread : does _not_ depend on pthread anymore
+ | +- gobject
+ |
+ +- pango
+ | +- pango : 'native' build does not require extra libs and
+ | | includes the minimal required text renderer
+ | | (there is also a currently slightly broken FreeType2
+ | | based implementation for win32)
+ | +- modules (not yet build)
+ |
+ +- atk
+ | +- atk
+ | .\makefile.msc : build here
+ |
+ +- gtk+
+ | | .\config.h.win32 : for all the below
+ | |
+ | +- gdk-pixbuf
+ | | .\gdk_pixbuf.rc.in : version resource for the DLLs. Needs
+ | | to be converted (filled with version info)
+ | | as described above.
+ | |
+ | +- gdk
+ | | | .\makefile.msc : some auto-generation is needed to build in the
+ | | | in the subdirectory
+ | | +- win32
+ | |
+ | +- gtk
+
+ |
+ +- gimp
+ | .\makefile.msc : master makefile to build The Gimp. The makefiles
+ | from the sub dirs should work stand alone, but than
+ | the user needs to know the build order
+
+ |
+ +- dia : additionally depends on libart_lgpl (in cvs)
+ | and libxml2 ( see http://www.xmlsoft.org/ )
+ +- lib
+ +- app
+ +- objects
+ +- plug-ins
+ +- python
---Tor Lillqvist <tml@iki.fi>
projects / platform / upstream / glib.git / blobdiff