[wxWidgets.git] / wxPython / BUILD.win32.txt

Building wxPython on Win32
--------------------------


Building wxPython for use on win32 systems is a fairly simple process
consisting of just a few steps.  However depending on where you get
your sources from and what your desired end result is, there are
several permutations of those steps.  At a high level the basic steps
are:

     1. Get the wxWindows sources
     2. Build the wxWindows DLL
     3. Get the wxPython sources
     4. Build and Install wxPython

We'll go into more detail of each of these steps below, but first a
few bits of background information on tools.

I use a tool called SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to help generate the
C++ sources used in the wxPython extension module.  However you don't
need to have SWIG unless you want to modify the *.i files.  If you do
you'll want to have version 1.1-883 of SWIG and you'll need to apply
the patches and updates in wxPython/SWIG and rebuild it.  Then you'll
need to change a flag in the setup.py script as described below so the
wxPython build process will use SWIG if needed.

I use the new Python Distutils tool to build wxPython.  It is included
with Python 2.0, but if you want to use Python 1.5.2 or 1.6 then
you'll need to download and install Distutils 1.0 from
http://www.python.org/sigs/distutils-sig/

I use Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 (5.0 with the service packs should work
also) to compile the wxPython C++ sources.  Since I am using Distutils
it should be easier now to build with other win32 compilers such as
the free mingw32 or Borland compilers, but I havn't tried them yet.
If anybody wants to try it I'll take any required patches for the
setup script and for these instructions.

And now on to the fun stuff...


1. Get the wxWindows sources
----------------------------

A. There are a few possible ways to get sources for wxWindows.  You
   can download a released version from http://wxwindows.org/ or you
   can get current development sources from the CVS server.  (Some
   information about annonymous CVS access is at
   http://wxwindows.org/cvs.htm.)  The advantage of using CVS is that
   you can easily update as soon as the developers check in new
   sources or fixes.  The advantage of using a released version is
   that it usually has had more testing done.  You can decide which
   method is best for you.

B. You'll usually want to use wxWindows sources that have the same
   version number as the wxPython sources you are using.  (Another
   advantage of using CVS is that you'll get both at the same time.)

C. Once you get the sources be sure to put them in a path without a
   space in it (i.e., NOT c:\Program Files\wx) and set an environment
   variable named WXWIN to this directory.  For example:

	 mkdir \wx2
	 cd \wx2
	 unzip wxMSW-2.2.2.zip
	 set WXWIN=c:\wx2

   You'll probably want to add that last line to your autoexec.bat or
   System Properties depending on the type of system you are on.

D. Change to the wx2\include\wx\msw directory and copy setup0.h to
   setup.h and then edit setup.h.  This is how you control which parts
   of wxWindows are compiled into or left out of the build, simply by
   turning options on or off.  At a minimum you should set the
   following:

	 wxUSE_NEW_GRID			    1
	 wxUSE_GLOBAL_MEMORY_OPERATORS	    0
	 wxUSE_LIBTIFF			    1
	 wxDIALOG_UNIT_COMPATIBILITY	    0

    I also turn off the following as they are not currently used in
    wxPython.  There are probably others that can be turned off to
    help save space, but I havn't investigated all the potential
    configurations yet.  Please note that wxPython doesn't (yet) check
    these flags for its own build, so if you turn off something that
    wxPython expects then you'll get link errors later on.

	 wxUSE_DIALUP_MANAGER		    0
	 wxUSE_DYNLIB_CLASS		    0
	 wxUSE_DOC_VIEW_ARCHITECTURE	    0
	 wxUSE_PLOT			    0
	 wxUSE_POSTSCRIPT_ARCHITECTURE_IN_MSW 0


    ** NEW **
    Be sure that wxUSE_GLCANVAS is defined to be 0 as wxPython now
    keeps its own copy of the glcanvas sources and expects that it is
    not in the main library.  This is done to reduce the number of
    dependant DLLs on the core library and therefore help reduce
    startup time.


2. Build the wxWindows DLL
---------------------------

A. Although MSVC project files are provided I always use the makefiles
   to build wxWindows because by default the flags are compatible with
   Python, (and I make sure they stay that way.)  You would have to
   edit the project files a bit to make it work otherwise.

B. There are three different types of wxWindows DLLs that can be
   produced by the VC makefile simply by providing a flag on the nmake
   command-line, I call the three types DEBUG, FINAL, and HYBRID.
   (The last one is brand new, you'll need my version of the 2.2.2
   sources to get the HYBRID capability.)  Here are some more details:

      DEBUG Specified with "FINAL=0" and produces a DLL named
	    wx[version]d.dll.  This DLL is compiled with full
	    debugging information and with the __WXDEBUG__ set which
	    enables some debugging-only code in wxWindows such as
	    assertions and failure log messages.  The /MDd flag is
	    used which means that it is linked with the debugging
	    version of the C runtime library and also that you must
	    use the debugging version of Python, (python_d.exe and
	    pythonXX_d.dll) which also means that all extensions
	    loaded by Python should also have the _d in the name.
	    With this option you can use the MSVC debugger to trace
	    though the Python interpreter, as well as the code for the
	    wxPython extension and the wxWindows DLL.

      FINAL Specified with "FINAL=1" and produces a DLL named
            wx[version].dll.  This DLL is compiled with optimizations
            turned on and without debugging information and without
            __WXDEBUG__.  The /MD flag is used which means that you
            can use this version with the standard python.exe.  This
            is the version that I use when making the binary installer
            for win32.

     HYBRID Specified with "FINAL=hybrid" and produces a DLL named
            wx[version]h.dll.  This DLL is almost the same as the
            DEBUG version except the /MD flag is used which means that
            you can use the standard python.exe but you still get the
            debugging info and the __WXDEBUG__ code enabled.  With the
            debugger you can trace through the the code for the
            wxPython extension and the wxWindows DLL, but not the
            Python interpreter.  You might use this version when you
            want to deploy a wxPython app with the __WXDEBUG__ code
            enabled.  I use this mode most of the time during
            development simply because it's easier than having to
            remember to type python_d all the time.

   Since different DLL names and object file directories are used you
   can build all three types if you like.

C. Change to the wx2\src\msw directory and type the following command,
   using the value for FINAL that you want:

	 nmake -f makefile.vc dll pch FINAL=hybrid

   Your machine will then crunch away for possibly a long time,
   depending on your hardware, and when it's done you should have a
   DLL and some library files in \wx2\lib.

D. You'll either need to add \wx2\lib to the PATH or copy the DLL file
   to a directory already on the PATH so the DLL can be found at runtime.

E. You can test your build by changing to one of the directories under
   \wx2\samples or \wx2\demos and typing (using the right FINAL flag):

	nmake -f makefile.vc FINAL=hybrid WXUSINGDLL=1

   and then executing the resulting .exe file.


3. Get the wxPython sources
---------------------------

A. You have the same options (and same advantages/disadvantages) for
   getting the wxPython source, either a released snapshot or from
   CVS.  The released version file is named wxPython-[version].tar.gz
   and is available at http://wxpython.org/download.php.  You can use
   WinZip to unpack it if you don't have tar and gzip.  If you want to
   use CVS you'll find wxPython in the wxWindows CVS tree (see above)
   in the wxWindows/wxPython directory.


4. Build and Install wxPython
-----------------------------

A. As mentioned previouslly, wxPython is built with the standard
   Python Distutils tool.  If you are using Python 2.0c1 or later you
   are all set, otherwise you need to download and install Distutils
   1.0 from http://www.python.org/sigs/distutils-sig/.

B. Change to the root wxPython directory and look at the setup.py
   file.  This is the script that configures and defines all the
   information that Distutils needs to build wxPython.  There are some
   options near the begining of the script that you may want or need
   to change based on what options you have selected up to this point,
   (type of DLL built, sources from tar.gz or from CVS, etc.)  You can
   either change these flags directly in setup.py or supply them on
   the command-line.

	BUILD_GLCANVAS Set to zero if you don't want to build the
		       Open GL canvas extension module.

	     BUILD_OGL Set to zero if you don't want to build the
		       Object Graphics Library extension module.

  	     BUILD_STC Set to zero if you don't want to build the
		       wxStyledTextCtrl (the Scintilla wrapper)
		       extension module.

  	      USE_SWIG If you have edited any of the *.i files you
		       will need to set this flag to non-zero so SWIG
		       will be executed to regenerate the wrapper C++
		       and shadow python files.

	   IN_CVS_TREE If you are using the CVS version of the
		       wxWindows and wxPython sources then you will
		       need to set this flag to non-zero.  This is
		       needed because some source files from the
		       wxWindows tree are copied to be under the
		       wxPython tree in order to keep Distutils happy.
		       With this flag set then setup.py will
		       automatically keep these copied sources up to
		       date if the original version is ever updated.
		       If you are using the tar.gz version of the
		       Python sources then these copied sources are
		       already present in your source tree.


C. To build and install wxPython you simply need to execute the
   setup.py script.  If you have more than one version of Python
   installed, be sure to execute setup.py with the version you want to
   build wxPython for.

   Depending on what kind of wxWindows DLL you built there are
   different command-line parameters you'll want to pass to setup (in
   addition to possibly one or more of the above):

	 FINAL:	    python setup.py install

	 DEBUG:	    python setup.py build --debug install

	 HYBRID:    python setup.py HYBRID=1 install


D. At this point you should be able to change into the wxPython\demo
   directory and run the demo:

	 python demo.py

E. If you would like to make a test build that doesn't overwrite the
   installed version of wxPython you can do so with one of these
   commands instead of the install command above:

	 FINAL:	    python setup.py build_ext --inplace

	 DEBUG:	    python setup.py build_ext --debug --inplace

	 HYBRID:    python setup.py HYBRID=1 build_ext --inplace

   This will build the wxPython package in the local wxPython
   directory instead of installing it under your Python installation.
   To run using this test version just add the base wxPython source
   directory to the PYTHONPATH:

         set PYTHONPATH=c:\wx2\wxPython
	 cd c:\wx2\wxPython\demo
	 python demo.py


That's all folks!


-----------------
robin@alldunn.com
Commit	Line	Data
c368d904 RD	1	Building wxPython on Win32
	2	--------------------------
	3
	4
	5	Building wxPython for use on win32 systems is a fairly simple process
	6	consisting of just a few steps. However depending on where you get
	7	your sources from and what your desired end result is, there are
	8	several permutations of those steps. At a high level the basic steps
	9	are:
	10
	11	1. Get the wxWindows sources
	12	2. Build the wxWindows DLL
	13	3. Get the wxPython sources
	14	4. Build and Install wxPython
	15
	16	We'll go into more detail of each of these steps below, but first a
	17	few bits of background information on tools.
	18
	19	I use a tool called SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to help generate the
	20	C++ sources used in the wxPython extension module. However you don't
	21	need to have SWIG unless you want to modify the *.i files. If you do
9df61a29 RD	22	you'll want to have version 1.1-883 of SWIG and you'll need to apply
	23	the patches and updates in wxPython/SWIG and rebuild it. Then you'll
	24	need to change a flag in the setup.py script as described below so the
	25	wxPython build process will use SWIG if needed.
c368d904 RD	26
	27	I use the new Python Distutils tool to build wxPython. It is included
	28	with Python 2.0, but if you want to use Python 1.5.2 or 1.6 then
	29	you'll need to download and install Distutils 1.0 from
	30	http://www.python.org/sigs/distutils-sig/
	31
	32	I use Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 (5.0 with the service packs should work
	33	also) to compile the wxPython C++ sources. Since I am using Distutils
	34	it should be easier now to build with other win32 compilers such as
	35	the free mingw32 or Borland compilers, but I havn't tried them yet.
	36	If anybody wants to try it I'll take any required patches for the
	37	setup script and for these instructions.
	38
	39	And now on to the fun stuff...
	40
	41
	42
	43	1. Get the wxWindows sources
	44	----------------------------
	45
	46	A. There are a few possible ways to get sources for wxWindows. You
	47	can download a released version from http://wxwindows.org/ or you
	48	can get current development sources from the CVS server. (Some
	49	information about annonymous CVS access is at
	50	http://wxwindows.org/cvs.htm.) The advantage of using CVS is that
	51	you can easily update as soon as the developers check in new
	52	sources or fixes. The advantage of using a released version is
	53	that it usually has had more testing done. You can decide which
	54	method is best for you.
	55
	56	B. You'll usually want to use wxWindows sources that have the same
	57	version number as the wxPython sources you are using. (Another
	58	advantage of using CVS is that you'll get both at the same time.)
	59
c368d904 RD	60	C. Once you get the sources be sure to put them in a path without a
	61	space in it (i.e., NOT c:\Program Files\wx) and set an environment
	62	variable named WXWIN to this directory. For example:
	63
	64	mkdir \wx2
	65	cd \wx2
	66	unzip wxMSW-2.2.2.zip
	67	set WXWIN=c:\wx2
	68
	69	You'll probably want to add that last line to your autoexec.bat or
	70	System Properties depending on the type of system you are on.
	71
	72	D. Change to the wx2\include\wx\msw directory and copy setup0.h to
	73	setup.h and then edit setup.h. This is how you control which parts
	74	of wxWindows are compiled into or left out of the build, simply by
	75	turning options on or off. At a minimum you should set the
	76	following:
	77
	78	wxUSE_NEW_GRID 1
	79	wxUSE_GLOBAL_MEMORY_OPERATORS 0
	80	wxUSE_LIBTIFF 1
c368d904 RD	81	wxDIALOG_UNIT_COMPATIBILITY 0
	82
	83	I also turn off the following as they are not currently used in
	84	wxPython. There are probably others that can be turned off to
	85	help save space, but I havn't investigated all the potential
	86	configurations yet. Please note that wxPython doesn't (yet) check
	87	these flags for its own build, so if you turn off something that
	88	wxPython expects then you'll get link errors later on.
	89
	90	wxUSE_DIALUP_MANAGER 0
	91	wxUSE_DYNLIB_CLASS 0
	92	wxUSE_DOC_VIEW_ARCHITECTURE 0
c368d904 RD	93	wxUSE_PLOT 0
	94	wxUSE_POSTSCRIPT_ARCHITECTURE_IN_MSW 0
	95
	96
19cf4f80 RD	97	NEW
	98	Be sure that wxUSE_GLCANVAS is defined to be 0 as wxPython now
	99	keeps its own copy of the glcanvas sources and expects that it is
926bb76c RD	100	not in the main library. This is done to reduce the number of
	101	dependant DLLs on the core library and therefore help reduce
	102	startup time.
19cf4f80	103
c368d904 RD	104
	105
	106	2. Build the wxWindows DLL
	107	---------------------------
	108
	109	A. Although MSVC project files are provided I always use the makefiles
	110	to build wxWindows because by default the flags are compatible with
	111	Python, (and I make sure they stay that way.) You would have to
	112	edit the project files a bit to make it work otherwise.
	113
	114	B. There are three different types of wxWindows DLLs that can be
	115	produced by the VC makefile simply by providing a flag on the nmake
	116	command-line, I call the three types DEBUG, FINAL, and HYBRID.
	117	(The last one is brand new, you'll need my version of the 2.2.2
	118	sources to get the HYBRID capability.) Here are some more details:
	119
	120	DEBUG Specified with "FINAL=0" and produces a DLL named
	121	wx[version]d.dll. This DLL is compiled with full
	122	debugging information and with the __WXDEBUG__ set which
	123	enables some debugging-only code in wxWindows such as
	124	assertions and failure log messages. The /MDd flag is
	125	used which means that it is linked with the debugging
	126	version of the C runtime library and also that you must
	127	use the debugging version of Python, (python_d.exe and
	128	pythonXX_d.dll) which also means that all extensions
	129	loaded by Python should also have the _d in the name.
	130	With this option you can use the MSVC debugger to trace
	131	though the Python interpreter, as well as the code for the
	132	wxPython extension and the wxWindows DLL.
	133
	134	FINAL Specified with "FINAL=1" and produces a DLL named
	135	wx[version].dll. This DLL is compiled with optimizations
	136	turned on and without debugging information and without
	137	__WXDEBUG__. The /MD flag is used which means that you
	138	can use this version with the standard python.exe. This
	139	is the version that I use when making the binary installer
	140	for win32.
	141
	142	HYBRID Specified with "FINAL=hybrid" and produces a DLL named
	143	wx[version]h.dll. This DLL is almost the same as the
	144	DEBUG version except the /MD flag is used which means that
	145	you can use the standard python.exe but you still get the
	146	debugging info and the __WXDEBUG__ code enabled. With the
	147	debugger you can trace through the the code for the
	148	wxPython extension and the wxWindows DLL, but not the
	149	Python interpreter. You might use this version when you
	150	want to deploy a wxPython app with the __WXDEBUG__ code
	151	enabled. I use this mode most of the time during
	152	development simply because it's easier than having to
	153	remember to type python_d all the time.
	154
	155	Since different DLL names and object file directories are used you
	156	can build all three types if you like.
	157
	158	C. Change to the wx2\src\msw directory and type the following command,
	159	using the value for FINAL that you want:
	160
f3d9dc1d	161	nmake -f makefile.vc dll pch FINAL=hybrid
c368d904 RD	162
	163	Your machine will then crunch away for possibly a long time,
	164	depending on your hardware, and when it's done you should have a
	165	DLL and some library files in \wx2\lib.
	166
	167	D. You'll either need to add \wx2\lib to the PATH or copy the DLL file
	168	to a directory already on the PATH so the DLL can be found at runtime.
	169
	170	E. You can test your build by changing to one of the directories under
	171	\wx2\samples or \wx2\demos and typing (using the right FINAL flag):
	172
	173	nmake -f makefile.vc FINAL=hybrid WXUSINGDLL=1
	174
	175	and then executing the resulting .exe file.
	176
	177
	178
	179	3. Get the wxPython sources
	180	---------------------------
	181
	182	A. You have the same options (and same advantages/disadvantages) for
	183	getting the wxPython source, either a released snapshot or from
	184	CVS. The released version file is named wxPython-[version].tar.gz
	185	and is available at http://wxpython.org/download.php. You can use
	186	WinZip to unpack it if you don't have tar and gzip. If you want to
	187	use CVS you'll find wxPython in the wxWindows CVS tree (see above)
	188	in the wxWindows/wxPython directory.
	189
	190
	191
	192	4. Build and Install wxPython
	193	-----------------------------
	194
	195	A. As mentioned previouslly, wxPython is built with the standard
	196	Python Distutils tool. If you are using Python 2.0c1 or later you
	197	are all set, otherwise you need to download and install Distutils
	198	1.0 from http://www.python.org/sigs/distutils-sig/.
	199
	200	B. Change to the root wxPython directory and look at the setup.py
	201	file. This is the script that configures and defines all the
	202	information that Distutils needs to build wxPython. There are some
	203	options near the begining of the script that you may want or need
	204	to change based on what options you have selected up to this point,
	205	(type of DLL built, sources from tar.gz or from CVS, etc.) You can
	206	either change these flags directly in setup.py or supply them on
	207	the command-line.
	208
	209	BUILD_GLCANVAS Set to zero if you don't want to build the
	210	Open GL canvas extension module.
	211
	212	BUILD_OGL Set to zero if you don't want to build the
	213	Object Graphics Library extension module.
	214
	215	BUILD_STC Set to zero if you don't want to build the
	216	wxStyledTextCtrl (the Scintilla wrapper)
	217	extension module.
	218
	219	USE_SWIG If you have edited any of the *.i files you
	220	will need to set this flag to non-zero so SWIG
	221	will be executed to regenerate the wrapper C++
	222	and shadow python files.
	223
	224	IN_CVS_TREE If you are using the CVS version of the
	225	wxWindows and wxPython sources then you will
226	need to set this flag to non-zero. This is
227	needed because some source files from the
228	wxWindows tree are copied to be under the
229	wxPython tree in order to keep Distutils happy.
230	With this flag set then setup.py will
231	automatically keep these copied sources up to
232	date if the original version is ever updated.
233	If you are using the tar.gz version of the
234	Python sources then these copied sources are
235	already present in your source tree.
236
237
238	C. To build and install wxPython you simply need to execute the
239	setup.py script. If you have more than one version of Python
240	installed, be sure to execute setup.py with the version you want to
241	build wxPython for.
242
243	Depending on what kind of wxWindows DLL you built there are
244	different command-line parameters you'll want to pass to setup (in
245	addition to possibly one or more of the above):
246
247	FINAL: python setup.py install
248
249	DEBUG: python setup.py build --debug install
250
251	HYBRID: python setup.py HYBRID=1 install
252
253
254	D. At this point you should be able to change into the wxPython\demo
255	directory and run the demo:
256
257	python demo.py
258
259	E. If you would like to make a test build that doesn't overwrite the
260	installed version of wxPython you can do so with one of these
261	commands instead of the install command above:
262
263	FINAL: python setup.py build_ext --inplace
264
265	DEBUG: python setup.py build_ext --debug --inplace
266
267	HYBRID: python setup.py HYBRID=1 build_ext --inplace
268
269	This will build the wxPython package in the local wxPython
270	directory instead of installing it under your Python installation.
271	To run using this test version just add the base wxPython source
272	directory to the PYTHONPATH:
273
274	set PYTHONPATH=c:\wx2\wxPython
275	cd c:\wx2\wxPython\demo
276	python demo.py
277
278
279	That's all folks!
280
281
282	-----------------
283	robin@alldunn.com
284