2 !!! When sending bug reports tell us what version of wxWindows you are
3 using (including the beta) and what compiler on what system. One
4 example: wxMotif 2.1 beta 6, egcs 1.1.1, Redhat 5.0 !!!
7 -----------------------
9 If you compile wxWindows on Linux for the first time and don't like to read
10 install instructions just do (in the base dir):
12 > ./configure --with-motif
14 > su <type root password>
19 Afterwards you can continue with
22 > su <type root password>
27 If you want to remove wxWindows on Unix you can do this:
29 > su <type root password>
37 If you want to do some more serious cross-platform programming with wxWindows,
38 such as for GTK and Motif, you can now build two complete libraries and use
39 them concurretly. For this end, you have to create a directory for each build
40 of wxWindows - you may also want to create different versions of wxWindows
41 and test them concurrently. Most typically, this would be a version configured
42 with --enable-debug_flag and one without. Note, that only one build can currently
43 be installed, so you'd have to use local version of the library for that purpose.
44 For building three versions (one GTK, one Motif and a debug version of the GTK
45 source) you'd do this:
49 ../configure --with-motif
55 ../configure --with-gtk
61 ../configure --with-gtk --enable-debug_flag
65 * The most simple errors
66 ------------------------
68 You get errors during compilation: The reason is that you probably have a broken
69 compiler, which includes almost everything that is called gcc. If you use gcc 2.8
70 you have to disable optimsation as the compiler will give up with an internal
73 If there is just any way for you to use egcs, use egcs. We cannot fix gcc.
75 You get immediate segfault when starting any sample or application: This is either
76 due to having compiled the library with different flags or options than your program -
77 typically you might have the __WXDEBUG__ option set for the library but not for your
78 program - or due to using a broken compiler (and its optimisation) such as GCC 2.8.
80 * The most simple program
81 -------------------------
83 Now create your super-application myfoo.app and compile anywhere with
85 g++ myfoo.cpp `wx-config --libs --cflags` -o myfoo
88 -----------------------
90 The Unix variants of wxWindows use GNU configure. If you have problems with your
91 make use GNU make instead.
93 If you have general problems with installation, read my homepage at
95 http://wesley.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~wxxt
97 for newest information. If you still don't have any success, please send a bug
98 report to one of our mailing lists (see my homepage) INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF
99 YOUR SYSTEM AND YOUR PROBLEM, SUCH AS YOUR VERSION OF GTK, WXGTK, WHAT DISTRIBUTION
100 YOU USE AND WHAT ERROR WAS REPORTED. I know this has no effect, but I tried...
103 -----------------------
105 wxWindows/Motif requires the Motif library to be installed on your system. As
106 an alternative, you may also use the free library "lesstif" which implements
107 most of the Motif API without the licence restrictions of Motif.
109 You can get the newest version of the Lesstif from the lesstif homepage at:
111 http://www.lesstif.org
113 * Additional libraries
114 -----------------------
116 wxWindows/Motif requires a thread library and X libraries known to work with threads.
117 This is the case on all commercial Unix-Variants and all Linux-Versions that are
118 based on glibc 2 except RedHat 5.0 which is broken in many aspects. As of writing
119 this, these Linux distributions have correct glibc 2 support:
127 You can disable thread support by running
129 ./configure "--disable-threads"
131 su <type root password>
136 NB: DO NOT COMPILE WXGTK WITH GCC AND THREADS, SINCE ALL PROGRAMS WILL CRASH UPON
137 START-UP! Just always use egcs and be happy.
139 * Building wxMotif on SGI
140 --------------------------
142 Using the SGI native compilers, it is recommended that you
143 also set CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS before running configure. These
147 CXXFLAGS="-mips3 -n32"
149 This is essential if you want to use the resultant binaries
150 on any other machine than the one it was compiled on. If you
151 have a 64bit machine (Octane) you should also do this to ensure
152 you don't accidently build the libraries as 64bit (which is
155 The SGI native compiler support has only been tested on Irix 6.5.
157 * Create your configuration
158 -----------------------------
163 If you want to use system's C and C++ compiler,
164 set environment variables CC and CCC as
168 % ./configure options
170 to see all the options please use:
174 The basic philosophy is that if you want to use different
175 configurations, like a debug and a release version,
176 or use the same source tree on different systems,
177 you have only to change the environment variable OSTYPE.
178 (Sadly this variable is not set by default on some systems
179 in some shells - on SGI's for example). So you will have to
180 set it there. This variable HAS to be set before starting
181 configure, so that it knows which system it tries to
184 Configure will complain if the system variable OSTYPE has
185 not been defined. And Make in some circumstances as well...
191 Given below are the commands to change the default behaviour,
192 i.e. if it says "--disable-threads" it means that threads
193 are enabled by default.
195 Many of the confiugre options have been thoroughly tested
196 in wxWindows snapshot 6, but not yet all (ODBC not).
198 You have to add --with-motif on platforms, where Motif is
199 not the default (on Linux, configure will deafult to GTK).
201 --without-gtk Don't use the GIMP ToolKit (GTK)
203 --with-motif Use either Motif or Lesstif
204 Configure will look for both.
206 The following options handle the kind of library you want to build.
208 --disable-threads Compile without thread support. Threads
209 support is also required for the
212 --disable-shared Do not create shared libraries.
214 --disable-optimise Do not optimise the code. Can
215 sometimes be useful for debugging
216 and is required on some architectures
217 such as Sun with gcc 2.8.X which
218 would otherwise produce segvs.
220 --enable-profile Add profiling info to the object
221 files. Currently broken, I think.
223 --enable-no_rtti Enable compilation without creation of
224 C++ RTTI information in object files.
225 This will speed-up compilation and reduce
228 --enable-no_exceptions Enable compilation without creation of
229 C++ exception information in object files.
230 This will speed-up compilation and reduce
231 binary size. Also fewer crashes during the
232 actual compilation...
234 --enable-no_deps Enable compilation without creation of
235 dependency information.
237 --enable-permissive Enable compilation without creation of
238 giving erros as soon as you compile with
239 Solaris ANSI-defying headers...
241 --enable-mem_tracing Add built-in memory tracing.
243 --enable-dmalloc Use the dmalloc memory debugger.
244 Read more at www.letters.com/dmalloc/
246 --enable-debug_info Add debug info to object files and
247 executables for use with debuggers
248 such as gdb (or its many frontends).
250 --enable-debug_flag Define __DEBUG__ and __WXDEBUG__ when
251 compiling. This enable wxWindows' very
252 useful internal debugging tricks (such
253 as automatically reporting illegal calls)
254 to work. Note that program and library
255 must be compiled with the same debug
261 Many of the confiugre options have been thoroughly tested
262 in wxWindows snapshot 6, but not yet all (ODBC not).
264 When producing an executable that is linked statically with wxGTK
265 you'll be surprised at its immense size. This can sometimes be
266 drastically reduced by removing features from wxWindows that
267 are not used in your program. The most relevant such features
270 --without-libpng Disables PNG image format code.
272 --without-libjpeg Disables JPEG image format code.
274 { --without-odbc Disables ODBC code. Not yet. }
276 --disable-resources Disables the use of *.wxr type
279 --disable-threads Disables threads. Will also
282 --disable-sockets Disables sockets.
284 --disable-dnd Disables Drag'n'Drop.
286 --disable-clipboard Disables Clipboard.
288 --disable-serial Disables object instance serialiasation.
290 --disable-streams Disables the wxStream classes.
292 --disable-file Disables the wxFile class.
294 --disable-textfile Disables the wxTextFile class.
296 --disable-intl Disables the internationalisation.
298 --disable-validators Disables validators.
300 --disable-accel Disables accel.
302 Apart from disabling certain features you can very often "strip"
303 the program of its debugging information resulting in a significant
309 The following must be done in the base directory (e.g. ~/wxGTK
310 or ~/wxWin or whatever)
312 Now the makefiles are created (by configure) and you can compile
313 the library by typing:
317 make yourself some coffee, as it will take some time. On an old
318 386SX possibly two weeks. During compilation, you'll get a few
319 warning messages depending in your compiler.
321 If you want to be more selective, you can change into a specific
322 directiry and type "make" there.
324 Then you may install the library and it's header files under
325 /usr/local/include/wx and /usr/local/lib respectively. You
326 have to log in as root (i.e. run "su" and enter the root
331 You can remove any traces of wxWindows by typing
335 If you want to save disk space by removing unnecessary
340 in the various directories will do the work for you.
342 * Creating a new Project
343 --------------------------
345 1) The first way uses the installed libraries and header files
346 automatically using wx-config
348 g++ myfoo.cpp `wx-config --libs` `wx-config --cflags` -o myfoo
350 Using this way, a make file for the minimal sample would look
356 $(CC) -o minimal minimal.o `wx-config --libs`
358 minimal.o: minimal.cpp mondrian.xpm
359 $(CC) `wx-config --cflags` -c minimal.cpp -o minimal.o
364 This is certain to become the standard way unless we decide
367 2) The other way creates a project within the source code
368 directories of wxWindows. For this endeavour, you'll need
369 the usual number of GNU tools, at least
371 GNU automake version 1.4
372 GNU autoheader version 2.14
373 GNU autoconf version 2.14
374 GNU libtool version 1.2 (1.3 seems broken)
381 and if you have all this then you probably know enough to
382 go ahead yourself :-)
384 ----------------------
386 In the hope that it will be useful,
388 Robert Roebling <roebling@sun2.ruf.uni-freiburg.de>