Compile on Windows: Difference between revisions

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[[Category:Developer Documentation]]
[[Category:Developer Documentation]]

Revision as of 22:21, 22 August 2011

This article explains step by step how to compile FreeCAD on Windows.

Prerequisites

What you need is mainly the compiler. On Windows we use the M$ VisualStudio 8 Compiler with the highest service pack. Although it's probably possible to use Cygwin or MingW gcc it's not tested or ported so far. We have also ported to use VC8 Express Edition. You need to download the Windows Platform SDK to get e.g. the Windows.h. Also you need all the Third Party Libraries to successfully compile FreeCAD.

If you use the M$ compilers you want most likely download the FreeCAD LibPack which provides you with all needed libs to build FreeCAD on Windows.

Building with cMake

First of all, you have to download cMake and install it on your build machine.

The switch to cMake

Since version 0.9 we use the cMake build system to generate the build/make files for various compilers. We do not longer deliver .vcproj files. If you want build former versions of FreeCAD (0.8 and older) see "Building older versions" later in this article.

We switched because it became more and more painful to maintain project files for 30+ build targets and x compilers. cMake gives us the posibility to support alternative IDEs, like Code::Blocks, Qt Creator and Eclipse CDT the main compiler we use is still M$ VC9 Express, though. But we plan for the future a build process on Windows without proprietary compiler software.

Configure the build process

The first step to build FreeCAD with cMake is to configure the environment. There are basically two ways to go:

  • Using the LibPack
  • Installing all needed libs and let cMake find them

In the first case you only need to give cMake the path to the LibPack and all the rest should be done automatically and you see such a screen:

You see the LibPack path inserted into the FREECAD_LIBPACK_DIR variable. Starting from that all includes and paths are set. You just need to press the Generate button and the project files get generated.

If you switch the FREECAD_LIBPACK_USE options off, the configuration tries to find each and every library needed on your system. Depending on the libs that works well more or less. So you have to do often define some paths by hand. cMake will show you what is not found and need to be specified.

Options for the Build Process

The cMake build system gives us a lot more flexibility over the build process. That means we can switch on and off some features or modules. It's in a way like the Linux kernel build. You have a lot switches to determine the build process.

Here is the description of these switches. They will most likely change a lot in the future because we want to increase the build flexibility a lot more.

Link table
Variable name Description Default
FREECAD_LIBPACK_USE Switch the usage of the FreeCAD LibPack on or off On Win32 on, otherwishe off
FREECAD_LIBPACK_DIR Directory where the LibPack is FreeCAD SOURCE dir
FREECAD_BUILD_GUI Build FreeCAD with all Gui related modules ON
FREECAD_BUILD_CAM Build the CAM module, experimental! OFF
FREECAD_BUILD_INSTALLER Create the project files for the Windows installer. OFF
FREECAD_BUILD_DOXYGEN_DOCU Create the project files for source code documentation. OFF
FREECAD_MAINTAINERS_BUILD Switch on stuff needed only when you do a Release build. OFF

command line build

Here an example how to build FreeCAD from the Command line:

rem @echo off
rem   Build script, uses vcbuild to completetly build FreeCAD

rem update trunc
d:
cd "D:\_Projekte\FreeCAD\FreeCAD_0.9"
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Subversion\bin\svn.exe" update 

rem  set the aprobiated Variables here or outside in the system

set PATH=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem
set INCLUDE=
set LIB=

rem Register VS Build programms
call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"

rem Set Standard include paths
set INCLUDE=%INCLUDE%;%FrameworkSDKDir%\include
set INCLUDE=%INCLUDE%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Include

rem Set lib Pathes
set LIB=%LIB%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Lib
set LIB=%LIB%;%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\Lib

rem Start the Visuall Studio build process
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\vcpackages\vcbuild.exe" "D:\_Projekte\FreeCAD FreeCAD_0.9_build\FreeCAD_trunk.sln" /useenv

Building older versions

Using LibPack

To make it easier to get FreeCAD compiled, we provide a collection of all needed libraries. It's called the LibPack. You can find it on the download page on sourceforge.

You need to set the following environment variables:

FREECADLIB = "D:\Wherever\LIBPACK"
QTDIR = "%FREECADLIB%"

Add "%FREECADLIB%\bin" and "%FREECADLIB%\dll" to the system PATH variable. Keep in mind that you have to replace "%FREECADLIB%" with the path name, since Windows does not recursively replace environment variables.

Directory setup in Visual Studio

Some search path of Visual Studio need to be set. To change them, use the menu Tools→Options→Directory

Includes

Add the following search path to the include path search list:

  • %FREECADLIB%\include
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\Python
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\boost
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\xercesc
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\OpenCascade
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\OpenCV
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\Coin
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\SoQt
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\QT
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\QT\Qt3Support
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\QT\QtCore
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\QT\QtGui
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\QT\QtNetwork
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\QT\QtOpenGL
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\QT\QtSvg
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\QT\QtUiTools
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\QT\QtXml
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\Gts
  • %FREECADLIB%\include\zlib
Libs

Add the following search path to the lib path search list:

  • %FREECADLIB%\lib
Executables

Add the following search path to the executable path search list:

  • %FREECADLIB%\bin
  • TortoiseSVN binary installation directory, usually "C:\Programm Files\TortoiseSVN\bin", this is needed for a distribution build when SubWVRev.exe is used to extract the version number from Subversion.
Python needed

During the compilation some Python scripts get executed. So the Python interpreter has to function on the OS. Use a command box to check it. If the Python library is not properly installed you will get an error message like Cannot find python.exe. If you use the LibPack you can also use the python.exe in the bin directory.

Special for VC8

When building the project with VC8, you have to change the link information for the WildMagic library, since you need a different version for VC6 and VC8. Both versions are supplied in LIBPACK/dll. In the project properties for AppMesh change the library name for the wm.dll to the VC8 version. Take care to change it in Debug and Release configuration.

Compile

After you conform to all prerequisites the compilation is - hopefully - only a mouse click in VC ;-)

After Compiling

To get FreeCAD up and running from the compiler environment you need to copy a few files from the LibPack to the bin folder where FreeCAD.exe is installed after a successful build:

  • python.exe and python_d.exe from LIBPACK/bin
  • python25.dll and python25_d.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • python25.zip from LIBPACK/bin
  • make a copy of Python25.zip and rename it to Python25_d.zip
  • QtCore4.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • QtGui4.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • boost_signals-vc80-mt-1_34_1.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • boost_program_options-vc80-mt-1_34_1.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • xerces-c_2_8.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • zlib1.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • coin2.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • soqt1.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • QtOpenGL4.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • QtNetwork4.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • QtSvg4.dll from LIBPACK/bin
  • QtXml4.dll from LIBPACK/bin

When using a LibPack with a Python version older than 2.5 you have to copy two further files:

  • zlib.pyd and zlib_d.pyd from LIBPACK/bin/lib. This is needed by python to open the zipped python library.
  • _sre.pyd and _sre_d.pyd from LIBPACK/bin/lib. This is needed by python for the built in help system.

If you don't get it running due to a Python error it is very likely that one of the zlib*.pyd files is missing.

Additional stuff

If you whant to build the source code documentation you need DoxyGen.

To create an intstaller package you need WIX.


During the compilation some Python scripts get executed. So the Python interpreter has to work properly.

For more details have also a look to README.Linux in your sources.

First of all you should build the Qt plugin that provides all custom widgets of FreeCAD we need for the Qt Designer. The sources are located under

//src/Tools/plugins/widget//.

So far we don't provide a makefile -- but calling

qmake plugin.pro

creates it. Once that's done, calling make will create the library

//libFreeCAD_widgets.so//.

To make this library known to your Qt Designer you have to copy the file to

//$QTDIR/plugin/designer//.
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