Make wxMSW wxSpinCtrl "not enough space" messages more helpful.

[wxWidgets.git] / docs / msw / install.txt

Installing wxWidgets for Windows
-----------------------------------------------------------

This is wxWidgets for Microsoft Windows 9x/ME, Windows NT
and later (2000, XP, Vista, 7, etc) and Windows CE.

These installation notes can be found in docs/msw/install.txt
in your wxWidgets distribution.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you experience problems installing, please
re-read these instructions and other related files (changes.txt,
readme.txt, FAQ) carefully before posting to wx-users list.

If you are sure that you found a bug, please report it at
wxWidgets Trac:

  http://trac.wxwidgets.org/newticket

Please notice that often trying to correct the bug yourself is the
quickest way to fix it. Even if you fail to do it, you may
discover valuable information allowing us to fix it while doing
it. We also give much higher priority to bug reports with patches
fixing the problems so this ensures that your report will be
addressed sooner.


Table of Contents:
 - Installation
 - Building wxWidgets
 - Configuring the Build
 - Building Applications Using wxWidgets


Installation
============

Please simply uncompress the .zip file manually into any directory.
However we advise avoiding using directories with spaces in their
names (notably "C:\Program Files") as this risks creating problems
with makefiles and other command-line tools.


In the majority of cases, you don't need to change the default
library build configuration. If you wish to change some of the build
options you need to edit the include/wx/msw/setup.h file enabling or
disabling the features you would like to compile wxWidgets with[out].

NB: If you checked your sources from version control repository and
    didn't obtain them from a release file, the file above doesn't
    exist and you will need to copy include/wx/msw/setup0.h to
    include/wx/msw/setup.h.

Notice that this file is later copied into a directory under lib for
each of the build configurations which allows to have different
build options for different configurations too.

See "Configuring the Build" section for more information.


Building wxWidgets
==================

The following sections explain how to compile wxWidgets with each supported
compiler, see the "Building Applications" section about the instructions for
building your application using wxWidgets.

Search for one of Microsoft/Borland/Watcom/Symantec/Cygwin/Mingw32 keywords
to quickly locate the instructions for your compiler. Notice that the primary
compilers for wxWidgets under MSW are Microsoft Visual C++ and GNU g++, other
compilers are more rarely tested and might not work so please consider using
one of these two if possible.

All makefiles and project are located in build\msw directory.

Where Compiled Files are Stored
-------------------------------

After successful compilation you'll find the libraries in a subdirectory
of lib directory named after the compiler and DLL/static settings.
A couple of examples:

  lib\vc_lib                    VC++ compiled static libraries
  lib\vc_dll                    VC++ DLLs
  lib\bcc_lib                   Static libraries for Borland C++
  lib\wat_dll                   Watcom C++ DLLs

Names of compiled wxWidgets libraries follow this scheme: libraries that don't
depend on GUI components begin with "wxbase" followed by a version number and,
optionally, letters indicating Unicode compilation ('u') and a debug build ('d').
The last component is the name of the wxWidgets component (unless you build the
library as single monolithic library; look for "Configuring the Build" below).
This is a typical set of release ANSI build libraries (release versions on
left, debug on right side):

  wxbase29.lib              wxbase29d.lib
  wxbase29_net.lib          wxbase29d_net.lib
  wxbase29_xml.lib          wxbase29d_xml.lib
  wxmsw29_core.lib          wxmsw29d_core.lib
  wxmsw29_html.lib          wxmsw29d_html.lib
  wxmsw29_adv.lib           wxmsw29d_adv.lib

Their Unicode debug counterparts in wxUniversal build would be

  wxbase29ud.lib
  wxbase29ud_net.lib
  wxbase29ud_xml.lib        (notice these libs are same for wxUniv and wxMSW)
  wxmswuniv29ud_core.lib
  wxmswuniv29ud_html.lib
  wxmswuniv29ud_adv.lib

These directories also contain a subdirectory with the wx/setup.h header. This
subdirectory is named after the port, Unicode, wxUniv and debug settings and
you must add it to the include paths when compiling your application. Some
examples:

  lib\vc_lib\msw\wx\setup.h          VC++ static, wxMSW
  lib\vc_lib\mswud\wx\setup.h        VC++ static, wxMSW, Unicode, debug
  lib\vc_lib\mswunivd\wx\setup.h     VC++ static, wxUniversal, debug

Below are compiler specific notes followed by customizing instructions that
apply to all compilers (search for "Configuring the Build").

Microsoft Visual C++ Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------

You may wish to visit http://wiki.wxwidgets.org/Microsoft_Visual_C%2B%2B_Guide
for a more informal and detailed description of the process summarized below.

Please note that currently ready to use projeect files are provided for VC++
versions 6 through to 9 (also known as 6, 2003, 2005 and 2008). For VC++ 10 and
11 (2010 and 2012, respectively), you will need to import the existing VC9
project files.

Using project files (VC++ 6 and later):

1. Unarchive wxWidgets-x.y.z-vc.zip, the VC++ 6 project
   makefiles (already included in wxMSW-x.y.z.zip and the setup version).
2. Open build\msw\wx.dsw, which has configurations for static
   compilation or DLL compilation, and each of these available in
   Unicode/ANSI, Debug/Release and wxUniversal or native variations.
   Choose the Win32 Debug or Win32 Release configuration (or any other that
   suits your needs) and use Batch Build to compile _all_ projects. If you
   know you won't need some of the libraries (e.g. the HTML part), you don't have
   to compile it.  It will also produce similar variations on jpeg.lib,
   png.lib, tiff.lib, zlib.lib, and regex.lib.

   If you want to build DLL configurations in wx.dsw project you unfortunately
   need to build them in the proper order (jpeg, png, tiff, zlib, regex, expat,
   base, net, core, gl, html, media, qa, adv, xrc, aui, richtext,
   propgrid) manually because VC6 doesn't always respect the correct build order.

   Alternatively, use the special wx_dll.dsw project which adds the
   dependencies to force the correct order (but, because of this, doesn't work
   for the static libraries) or simply redo the build several times until all
   DLLs are linked correctly.
3. Open a sample project file, choose a configuration such as
   Win32 Debug using Build | Set Active Configuration..., and compile.
   The project files don't use precompiled headers, to save disk
   space, but you can switch PCH compiling on for greater speed.
   NOTE: you may also use samples/samples.dsw to access all
   sample projects without opening each workspace individually.
   You can use the Batch Build facility to make several samples
   at a time.

Using makefiles:

1. Change directory to build\msw. Type:

  'nmake -f makefile.vc'

   to make the wxWidgets core library as release DLL.
   See "Configuring the Build" for instruction how to build debug or static
   libraries.

2. Change directory to samples and type 'nmake -f makefile.vc'
   to make all the samples. You can also make them individually.

Makefile notes:

  Use the 'clean' target to clean all objects, libraries and
  executables.

Note (1): if you wish to use templates, please edit
include\wx\msw\setup.h and set wxUSE_DEBUG_NEW_ALWAYS to 0.
Without this, the redefinition of 'new' will cause problems in
the headers. Alternatively, #undef new before including template headers.
You will also need to set wxUSE_IOSTREAMH to 0 if you will be
using templates, to avoid the non-template stream files being included
within wxWidgets.

Note (2): libraries and applications generated with makefiles and
project files are now (hopefully) compatible where static libraries
are concerned, but please exercise caution nevertheless and if
possible, use one method or the other.

Note (3): some crash problems can be due to inconsistent compiler
options. If strange/weird/impossible things start to happen please
check (dumping IDE project file as makefile and doing text comparison
if necessary) that the project settings, especially the list of defined
symbols, struct packing, etc. are exactly the same for all items in
the project. After this, delete everything (including PCH) and recompile.

Note (4): to create your own IDE files, copy .dsp and .dsw
files from an existing wxWidgets sample and adapt them, or
visit http://wiki.wxwidgets.org/Microsoft_Visual_C%2B%2B_Guide.

Microsoft Visual C++ Compilation for 64-bit Windows
----------------------------------------------------------------

Visual Studio 2005 includes 64-bit compilers, though they are not installed by
default; you need to select them during the installation. Both native 64-bit
compilers and 32-bit hosted cross compilers are included, so you do not need a
64-bit machine to use them (though you do to run the created executables).
Visual C++ Express Edition does not include 64-bit compilers.

64-bit compilers are also available in various SDKs, for example
the .NET Framework SDK:
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/programming/64bit/devtools/

Using project files:

1. Open the solution file for the version you use: build\msw\wx_vc8.sln or
   wx_vc9.sln.

2. To add 64-bit targets, go to the 'Build' menu and choose 'Configuration
   Manager...'.  In the 'Active solution platform' drop down choose '<new>',
   then you can choose either 'Itanium' or 'x64'.

   For more detailed instructions see:
    http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/9yb4317s(en-us,vs.80).aspx

   Note: 64-bit targets created this way will use the build directory of the
         corresponding 32-bit target for some files. Therefore after building
         for one CPU it is necessary to clean the build before building the
         equivalent target for another CPU. We've reported the problem to MS
         but they say it is not possible to fix it.

3. To build, go to the 'Build' menu and choose 'Batch Build...'. Tick all the
   all the 'x64|Debug' or all the 'Itanium|Debug' projects, and click 'Build'.

   This will build a debug version of the static libs. The section above on
   Visual C++ in general has more information about adjusting the settings to
   build other configurations.

4. To compile one of the samples open one of the sample projects, such as
   samples\minimal\minimal_vc7.vcproj. Visual Studio will convert the project as in
   step 1, then add a 64-bit target as in step 2, and build.

Using makefiles:

1. Open a 64-bit build command prompt, for either x64 or Itanium. Change
   directory to build\msw. Then for x64 type:

    nmake -f makefile.vc TARGET_CPU=X64

   or for Itanium:

    nmake -f makefile.vc TARGET_CPU=IA64

   This will build a debug version of wxWidgets DLLs. See "Configuring the
   build" for instruction how to build other configurations such as a release
   build or static libraries.

2. Change to the directory of one of the samples such as samples\minimal. Type
   the same command used to build the main library, for example for x64:

    nmake -f makefile.vc TARGET_CPU=X64

Notes:

The versions of the VC++ 8 compiler included with some SDKs requires an
additional library to be linked or the following error is received.

    LNK2001 unresolved external symbol __security_check_cookie

If you receive this error add bufferoverflowu.lib to link, e.g.:

    nmake -f makefile.vc TARGET_CPU=X64 LDFLAGS=bufferoverflowu.lib

See http://support.microsoft.com/?id=894573 for more information.

Borland C++ Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------

The minimum version required is 5.5 (last version supported by BC++ 5.0 was
2.4.2), which can be downloaded for free from:
http://www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_cbuilder.html

We have found that the free Turbo Explorer and commercial BDS work fine; the
debugger is very good. To avoid linker errors you will need to add
-DSHARED=1 to the makefile line for the library

The version 5.6 included in Borland C++ Builder 2006 works as well after the
following small change: please remove the test for __WINDOWS__ from line 88
of the file BCCDIR\include\stl\_threads.h.

Compiling using the makefiles:

1. Change directory to build\msw. Type 'make -f makefile.bcc' to
   make the wxWidgets core library. Ignore the compiler warnings.
   This produces a couple of libraries in the lib\bcc_lib directory.

2. Change directory to a sample or demo such as samples\minimal, and type
  'make -f makefile.bcc'. This produces a windows exe file - by default
   in the bcc_mswd subdirectory.

Note (1): the wxWidgets makefiles assume dword structure alignment. Please
make sure that your own project or makefile settings use the
same alignment, or you could experience mysterious crashes. To
change the alignment, change CPPFLAGS in build\msw\config.bcc.

Note (2): If you wish debug messages to be sent to the console in
debug mode, edit makefile.bcc and change /aa to /Tpe in link commands.

Using the Debugger and IDE in BDS or Turbo Explorer
---------------------------------------------------

Doubleclick / open samples\minimal\borland.bdsproj. The current version
is to be used with a dynamic build of wxWidgets-made by running
make -f Makefile.bcc -DBUILD=debug -DSHARED=1
in wxWidgets\build\msw. You also need the wxWidgets\lib\bcc_dll
directory in your PATH. The debugger tracks your source and also
traces into the wxWidgets sources.

To use this to debug other samples, copy the borland_ide.cpp
and borland.bdsproj files, then replace all occurrences of
"minimal" with the name of the new project files

Compilation succeeds with CBuilderX personal edition and CBuilder6, but
you may have to copy make.exe from the 5.5 download to the new bin directory.

Compiling using the IDE files for Borland C++ 5.0 and using CBuilder IDE
(v1-v6): not supported


** REMEMBER **
In all of your wxWidgets applications, your source code should include
the following preprocessor directive:

#ifdef __BORLANDC__
#pragma hdrstop
#endif

(check the samples -- e.g., \wx2\samples\minimal\minimal.cpp -- for
more details)

Watcom C++ 10.6/11 and OpenWatcom Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------

1. Change directory to build\msw. Type 'wmake -f makefile.wat' to
   make the wxWidgets core library.

2. Change directory to samples\minimal and type 'wmake -f makefile.wat'
   to make this sample. Repeat for other samples of interest.

Note (1): if variant.cpp is compiled with date/time class options, the linker
          gives up. So the date/time option is switched off for Watcom C++.
          Also, wxAutomationObject is not compiled with Watcom C++ 10.

Note (2): RawBitmaps won't work at present because they use unsupported template
          classes

Note (3): if Watcom can't read the precompiled header when building a sample,
          try deleting .pch files in build\msw\wat_* and compiling
          the sample again.

Note (4): wxUSE_STD_STRING is disabled in wx/string.h for Watcom as this
          compiler doesn't come with standard C++ library headers by default.
          If you install STLPort or another STL implementation, you'll need to
          edit wx/string.h and remove the check for Digital Mars in it (search
          for __WATCOM__).


Cygwin/MinGW Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------

wxWidgets supports Cygwin (formerly GnuWin32) betas and
releases, and MinGW. Cygwin can be downloaded from:

    http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/

and MinGW from:

    http://www.mingw.org/

Both Cygwin and MinGW can be used with configure (assuming you have MSYS
installed in case of MinGW). You will need new enough MinGW version, preferably
MinGW 3.4.2+ (ships with gcc3).

NOTE: some notes specific to old Cygwin (< 1.1.x) are at the end of this
      section (see OLD VERSIONS)

There are two methods of compiling wxWidgets, by using the
makefiles provided or by using 'configure'.

Retrieve and install the latest version of Cygwin, or MinGW, as per
the instructions with either of these packages.

If using MinGW, you can download the add-on MSYS package to
provide Unix-like tools that you'll need to build wxWidgets using configure.

Using makefiles Directly
----------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: The makefile.gcc makefiles are for compilation under MinGW using
      Windows command interpreter (command.com/cmd.exe), they won't work in
      other environments (such as UNIX or Unix-like, e.g. MSYS where you have
      to use configure instead, see the section below)

Use the makefile.gcc files for compiling wxWidgets and samples,
e.g. to compile a debugging version of wxWidgets:
  > cd c:\wx\build\msw
  > mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc BUILD=debug
  > cd c:\wx\samples\minimal
  > mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc BUILD=debug
  (See below for more options.)

Notice that Windows command interpreter (cmd.exe) and mingw32-make must be
used, using Bash (sh.exe) and make.exe from MSYS will only work when using
configure-based build procedure described below!

You can also use the 'strip' command to reduce executable/dll size (note that
stripping an executable/dll will remove debug information!).

All targets have 'clean' targets to allow removal of object files
and other intermediate compiler files.

Using configure
----------------------------------------------------------------

Instead of using the makefiles, you can use the configure
system to generate appropriate makefiles, as used on Unix
and Mac OS X systems.

Change directory to the root of the wxWidgets distribution,
make a build directory, and run configure and make in this directory.

For example:

  cd $WXWIN
  mkdir build-debug
  cd build-debug
  ../configure --with-msw --enable-debug --enable-debug_gdb --disable-shared
  make
  make install % This step is optional, see note (6) below.
  cd samples/minimal
  make
  ./minimal.exe

Notes:

1. See also the Cygwin/MinGW on the web site or CD-ROM for
   further information about using wxWidgets with these compilers.

2. libwx.a is 100 MB or more - but much less if compiled with no
   debug info (-g0) and level 4 optimization (-O4).

3. There's a bug in MinGW headers for some early distributions.

   in include/windows32/defines.h, where it says:

   #define LPSTR_TEXTCALLBACKA (LPSTR)-1L)

   it should say:

   #define LPSTR_TEXTCALLBACKA ((LPSTR)-1L)

   (a missing bracket).

4. OpenGL support should work with MinGW as-is. However,
   if you wish to generate import libraries appropriate either for
   the MS OpenGL libraries or the SGI OpenGL libraries, go to
   include/wx/msw/gl and use:

     dlltool -k -d opengl.def -llibopengl.a

   for the SGI DLLs, or

     dlltool -k -d opengl32.def -llibopengl32.a

   and similarly for glu[32].def.

5. The 'make install' step is optional, and copies files
   as follows:

   /usr/local/lib - wxmswXYZd.dll.a and wxmswXYZd.dll
   /usr/local/include/wx - wxWidgets header files
   /usr/local/bin - wx-config

   You may need to do this if using wx-config with the
   default root path.

6. With Cygwin, you can invoke gdb --nw myfile.exe to
   debug an executable. If there are memory leaks, they will be
   flagged when the program quits. You can use Cygwin gdb
   to debug MinGW executables.

7. Note that gcc's precompiled headers do not work on current versions of
   Cygwin. If your version of Cygwin is affected you will need to use the
   --disable-precomp-headers configure option.

OLD VERSIONS:

- Modify the file wx/src/cygnus.bat (or mingw32.bat or mingegcs.bat)
  to set up appropriate variables, if necessary mounting drives.
  Run it before compiling.

- For Cygwin, make sure there's a \tmp directory on your
  Windows drive or bison will crash (actually you don't need
  bison for ordinary wxWidgets compilation: a pre-generated .c file is
  supplied).

- If using GnuWin32 b18, you will need to copy windres.exe
  from e.g. the MinGW distribution, to a directory in your path.


DigitalMars C++ Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------

Digital Mars compiler is no longer updated as the project is discontinued.
wxWidgets 2.8 was the last version to compile with this compiler.


Configuring the Build
================================================================

So far the instructions only explain how to build release DLLs of wxWidgets
and did not cover any configuration. It is possible to change many aspects of
the build, including debug/release and static/dynamic settings.

Notice that in the previous versions of wxWidgets it was possible to build the
library in either ANSI or Unicode mode but in wxWidgets 2.9 and later only a
single, combined, build mode exists. It is still possible to set UNICODE=0 to
disable Unicode support entirely but it is strongly not recommended and should
be never necessary.


Changing the Settings
----------------------------------------------------------------

There are two ways to modify the settings: either by passing the values as
arguments when invoking make or by editing build\msw\config.$(compiler) file
where $(compiler) is same extension as the makefile you use has (see below).
The latter is good for setting options that never change in your development
process (e.g. GCC_VERSION or VENDOR). If you want to build several versions of
wxWidgets and use them side by side, the former method is better. Settings in
config.* files are shared by all makefiles (samples, contrib, main library),
but if you pass the options as arguments, you must use same arguments you used
for the library when building samples or contrib libraries!

Examples of invoking make in Unicode debug build (other options described
below are set analogically):

Visual C++:
  > nmake -f makefile.vc BUILD=debug

Borland C++:
  > make -f makefile.bcc -DBUILD=debug
  (Note that you have to use -D to set the variable, unlike in other make
  tools!)

Watcom C/C++:
  > wmake -f makefile.wat BUILD=debug

MinGW using native makefiles:
  > mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc BUILD=debug

MinGW using configure:
  > ./configure --enable-debug
  (see ./configure --help on details; configure is not covered in this
  section)

Cygwin using configure:
  > ./configure --disable-precomp-headers --enable-debug
  (use --disable-precomp-headers if Cygwin doesn't support precompiled
  headers)

Brief explanation of options and possible values is in every
build\msw\config.* file; more detailed description follows.

Basic Options
----------------------------------------------------------------

BUILD=release
  Builds release version of the library. It differs from default 'debug' in
  lack of appended 'd' in name of library and uses the release CRT libraries
  instead of debug ones. Notice that even release builds do include debug
  information by default, see DEBUG_FLAG for more information about it.

SHARED=1
  Build shared libraries (DLLs). By default, DLLs are not built
  (SHARED=0).

UNICODE=0
  To completely disable Unicode support (default is UNICODE=1). It should not
  be necessary to do this unless, perhaps, you still wish to target Win9x
  systems and can't use MSLU (which requires MSLU=1) for some reason.

  This option affect name of the library ('u' is appended in the default
  Unicode build) and the directory where the library and setup.h are store
  (ditto).

WXUNIV=1
  Build wxUniversal instead of native wxMSW (see
  http://www.wxwidgets.org/wxuniv.htm for more information).

Advanced Options
----------------------------------------------------------------

MONOLITHIC=1
  Starting with version 2.5.1, wxWidgets has the ability to be built as
  several smaller libraries instead of single big one as used to be the case
  in 2.4 and older versions. This is called "multilib build" and is the
  default behaviour of makefiles. You can still build single library
  ("monolithic build") by setting MONOLITHIC variable to 1.

USE_GUI=0
  Disable building GUI parts of the library, build only wxBase components used
  by console applications. Note that if you leave USE_GUI=1 then both wxBase
  and GUI libraries are built. If you are building monolithic library, then
  you should set wxUSE_GUI to 1 in setup.h.

USE_OPENGL=1
  Build wxmsw29_gl.lib library with OpenGL integration class wxGLCanvas.
  You must also modify your setup.h to #define wxUSE_GLCANVAS 1. Note that
  OpenGL library is always built as additional library, even in monolithic
  build!

USE_HTML=0
  Do not build wxHTML library. If MONOLITHIC=1, then you must also
  #define wxUSE_HTML 1 in setup.h.

USE_XRC=0
  Do not build XRC resources library. If MONOLITHIC=1, then you must also
  #define wxUSE_HTML 1 in setup.h.

RUNTIME_LIBS=static
  Links static version of C and C++ runtime libraries into the executable, so
  that the program does not depend on DLLs provided with the compiler (e.g.
  Visual C++'s msvcrt.dll or Borland's cc3250mt.dll).
  Caution: Do not use static runtime libraries when building DLL (SHARED=1)!

MSLU=1
  Enables MSLU (Microsoft Layer for Unicode). This setting makes sense only if
  used together with UNICODE=1. If you want to be able to use Unicode version
  on Windows9x, you will need MSLU (Microsoft Layer for Unicode) runtime DLL
  and import lib.  The former can be downloaded from Microsoft, the latter is
  part of the latest Platform SDK from Microsoft (see msdn.microsoft.com for
  details). An alternative implementation of import library can be downloaded
  from http://libunicows.sourceforge.net - unlike the official one, this one
  works with other compilers and does not require 300+ MB Platform SDK update.

DEBUG_FLAG=0
DEBUG_FLAG=1
DEBUG_FLAG=2
  Specifies the level of debug support in wxWidgets. Notice that
  this is independent from both BUILD and DEBUG_INFO options. By default
  always set to 1 meaning that debug support is enabled: asserts are compiled
  into the code (they are inactive by default in release builds of the
  application but can be enabled), wxLogDebug() and wxLogTrace() are available
  and __WXDEBUG__ is defined. Setting it to 0 completely disables all
  debugging code in wxWidgets while setting it to 2 enables even the time
  consuming assertions and checks which are deemed to be unsuitable for
  production environment.

DEBUG_INFO=0
DEBUG_INFO=1
  This option affects whether debugging information is generated. If
  omitted or set to 'default' its value is determined the value of
  the BUILD option.

TARGET_CPU=X64|IA64
  (VC++ only.) Set this variable to build for x86_64 systems. If unset, x86
  build is performed.

VENDOR=<your company name>
  Set this to a short string identifying your company if you are planning to
  distribute wxWidgets DLLs with your application. Default value is 'custom'.
  This string is included as part of DLL name. wxWidgets DLLs contain compiler
  name, version information and vendor name in them. For example
  wxmsw290_core_bcc_custom.dll is one of DLLs build using Borland C++ with
  default settings. If you set VENDOR=mycorp, the name will change to
  wxmsw290_core_bcc_mycorp.dll.

CFG=<configuration name>
  Sets configuration name so that you can have multiple wxWidgets builds with
  different setup.h settings coexisting in same tree. See "Object and library
  directories" below for more information.

COMPILER_PREFIX=<string>
  If you build with multiple versions of the same compiler, you can put
  their outputs into directories like "vc6_lib", "vc8_lib" etc. instead of
  "vc_lib" by setting this variable to e.g. "vc6". This is merely a
  convenience variable, you can achieve the same effect (but different 
  directory names) with the CFG option.


Compiler-Specific Options
----------------------------------------------------------------

* MinGW

If you are using gcc-2.95 instead of gcc3, you must set GCC_VERSION to
2.95. In build\msw\config.gcc, change
> GCC_VERSION = 3
to
> GCC_VERSION = 2.95

* Visual C++

DEBUG_RUNTIME_LIBS=0
DEBUG_RUNTIME_LIBS=1
  If set to 1, msvcrtd.dll is used, if to 0, msvcrt.dll is used. By default
  msvcrtd.dll is used only if the executable contains debug info and
  msvcrt.dll if it doesn't. It is sometimes desirable to build with debug info
  and still link against msvcrt.dll (e.g. when you want to ship the app to
  customers and still have usable .pdb files with debug information) and this
  setting makes it possible.

Fine-tuning the Compiler
----------------------------------------------------------------

All makefiles have variables that you can use to specify additional options
passed to the compiler or linker. You won't need this in most cases, but if you
do, simply add desired flags to CFLAGS (for C compiler), CXXFLAGS (for C++
compiler), CPPFLAGS (for both C and C++ compiler) and LDFLAGS (the linker).

Object and Library Directories
----------------------------------------------------------------

All object files produced during a library build are stored in a directory under
build\msw. Its name is derived from the build settings and CFG variable and from
the compiler name. Examples of directory names:

  build\msw\bcc_msw            SHARED=0
  build\msw\bcc_mswdll         SHARED=1
  build\msw\bcc_mswunivd       SHARED=0, WXUNIV=1, BUILD=debug
  build\msw\vc_mswunivd        ditto, with Visual C++

Libraries and DLLs are copied into a subdirectory of the lib directory with a
name derived from the compiler and a static/DLL setting and setup.h into a
directory with a name that contains other settings:

  lib\bcc_msw
  lib\bcc_lib\msw\wx\setup.h
  lib\bcc_dll
  lib\bcc_dll\msw\wx\setup.h
  lib\bcc_lib
  lib\bcc_lib\mswunivd\wx\setup.h
  lib\vc_lib
  lib\vc_lib\mswunivd\wx\setup.h

Each lib\ subdirectory has wx subdirectory with setup.h as seen above.
This file is copied there from include\wx\msw\setup.h (and if it doesn't exist,
from include\wx\msw\setup0.h) and this is the copy of setup.h that is used by
all samples and should be used by your apps as well. If you are doing changes
to setup.h, you should do them in this file, _not_ in include\wx\msw\setup.h.

If you set CFG to something, the value is appended to directory names. E.g.
for CFG=MyBuild, you'll have object files in

  build\msw\bcc_mswMyBuild
  build\msw\bcc_mswdllMyBuild
  etc.

and libraries in

  lib\bcc_libMyBuild
  lib\bcc_dllMyBuild
  etc.

By now it is clear what CFG is for: builds with different CFG settings don't
share any files and they use different setup.h files. For example, this allows
you to have two static debug builds, one with wxUSE_SOCKETS=0 and one with sockets
enabled (without CFG, both of them would be put into same directory and there
would be conflicts between the files).


Building Applications Using wxWidgets
=====================================

NB: The makefiles and project files provided with wxWidgets samples show which
    flags should be used when building applications using wxWidgets so in case
    of a problem, e.g. if the instructions here are out of date, you can always
    simply copy a makefile or project file from samples\minimal or some other
    sample and adapt it to your application.

Independently of the compiler and make/IDE you are using you must do the
following to use wxWidgets:

* Add $WXWIN/include to the
  - compiler
  - resource compiler
  include paths.
* Define the following symbols for the preprocessor:
  - __WXMSW__ to ensure you use the correct wxWidgets port.
  - _UNICODE unless you want to use deprecated ANSI build of wxWidgets.
  - NDEBUG if you want to build in release mode, i.e. disable asserts.
  - WXUSINGDLL if you are using DLL build of wxWidgets.
* If using MSVC 6 or 7 only (i.e. not for later versions), also define
  wxUSE_RC_MANIFEST=1 and WX_CPU_X86.
* Add $WXWIN/lib/prefix_lib-or-dll to the libraries path. The prefix depends
  on the compiler, by default it is "vc" for MSVC, "gcc" for g++ and so on.
* Add the list of libraries to link with to the linker input. The exact list
  depends on which libraries you use and whether you built wxWidgets in
  monolithic or default multlib mode and basically should include all the
  relevant libraries from the directory above, e.g. "wxmsw29ud_core.lib
  wxbase29ud.lib wxtiffd.lib wxjpegd.lib wxpngd.lib wxzlibd.lib wxregexud.lib
  wxexpatd.lib" for a debug build of an application using the core library only
  (all wxWidgets applications use the base library).


Microsoft Visual C++ users can simplify the linker setup by prepending the
directory $WXWIN/msvc to the include path (it must come before $WXWIN/include
directory!) and omitting the last step: the required libraries will be linked
in automatically using the "#pragma comment(lib)" feature of this compiler.