2 There are several ways to build the FreeType library, depending on
3 your system and the level of customization you need. Here is a short
4 overview of the documentation available:
7 I. Prerequisites and dependencies
8 =================================
10 FreeType is a low level C library that only depends on the standard
11 C library with very few platform-dependent optimizations utilized at
12 build time. Any C99-compliant compiler should be able to compile
13 FreeType. System libraries, such as zlib, Gzip, bzip2, Brotli,
14 and libpng, might be used to handle compressed fonts or decode
17 FreeType auto-configuration scripts should be able to detect the
18 prerequisites if the necessary headers are available at the default
19 locations. Otherwise, modify `include/freetype/config/ftoption.h`
20 to control how the FreeType library gets built. Normally, you don't
21 need to change anything.
23 Applications have very limited control over FreeType's behaviour at
24 run-time; look at the documentation of function `FT_Property_Set`.
27 II. Normal installation and upgrades
28 ====================================
30 1. Unix and Unix-like systems
32 This also includes MacOS, Cygwin, MinGW + MSYS, Mingw-w64 + MSYS2,
33 and possibly other, similar environments.
35 Please read `INSTALL.UNIX` to install or upgrade FreeType 2 on a
36 Unix system. Note that you *need* GNU Make for automatic
37 compilation, since other make tools won't work (this includes BSD
40 GNU Make VERSION 3.81 OR NEWER IS NEEDED!
43 2. Other systems using GNU Make
45 On some non-Unix platforms, it is possible to build the library
46 using only the GNU Make utility. Note that *NO OTHER MAKE TOOL
47 WILL WORK*[1]! This methods supports several compilers on
48 Windows, OS/2, and BeOS, including MinGW* (without MSYS*), Visual
49 C++, Borland C++, and more.
51 Instructions are provided in the file `INSTALL.GNU`.
54 3. Other build tools and platforms.
56 A few other tools can be used to build FreeType. You can find
57 the corresponding instruction files in the FreeType root folder
58 or the builds/ sub-folder.
60 CMake :: see `CMakeLists.txt` for more information
61 Meson :: see `meson.build` for more information
62 MSBuild :: see `builds/windows/vc2010/freetype.vcxproj`
63 MMS :: see `vms_make.com` and `docs/INSTALL.VMS`
66 4. With an IDE Project File (e.g., for Visual Studio or CodeWarrior)
68 We provide a small number of 'project files' for various IDEs to
69 automatically build the library as well. Note that these files
70 are not actively supported by FreeType developers, they can break
73 To find them, have a look at the content of the `builds/<system>`
74 directory, where <system> stands for your OS or environment.
77 5. From you own IDE, or own Makefiles
79 If you want to create your own project file, follow the
80 instructions given in the `INSTALL.ANY` document of this
84 III. Custom builds of the library
85 =================================
87 Customizing the compilation of FreeType is easy, and allows you to
88 select only the components of the font engine that you really need.
89 For more details read the file `CUSTOMIZE`.
92 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
94 [1] make++, a make tool written in Perl, has sufficient support of GNU
95 make extensions to build FreeType. See
97 https://makepp.sourceforge.net
99 for more information; you need version 2.0 or newer, and you must
100 pass option `--norc-substitution`.
102 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
104 Copyright (C) 2000-2023 by
105 David Turner, Robert Wilhelm, and Werner Lemberg.
107 This file is part of the FreeType project, and may only be used,
108 modified, and distributed under the terms of the FreeType project
109 license, LICENSE.TXT. By continuing to use, modify, or distribute
110 this file you indicate that you have read the license and understand
114 --- end of INSTALL ---