1 wxWindows 2.1 for Motif installation
2 ------------------------------------
6 If you experience problems installing, please re-read these
7 instructions and other related files (todo.txt, bugs.txt and
8 osname.txt for your platform if it exists) carefully before
9 mailing wxwin-users or the author. Preferably, try to fix the
10 problem first and then send a patch to the author.
12 When sending bug reports tell us what version of wxWindows you are
13 using (including the beta) and what compiler on what system. One
14 example: wxMotif 2.1 beta 6, egcs 1.1.1, Redhat 5.0
19 - Prerequisites: Motif 1.2 or above, or Lesstif
20 (not yet tested). Motif 2.0 and above may also be suitable.
22 - Download the appropriate .tgz archive, or alternatively the files
23 wx2_x_y_gen.zip and wx2_x_y_mot.zip. Download documentation in a
24 preferred format, such as wx2_x_y_htm.zip or wx2_x_y_pdf.zip.
26 - Make a directory such as ~/wx and unarchive the files into this
27 directory. If using the zip archives, use the -a option if available
28 to convert the ASCII files to Unix format. Don't worry about files being
29 overwritten: they should be identical anyway.
31 (See http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/ if you don't have zip/unzip
32 already installed. Zip isn't the same as gzip!)
34 - It is recommended that you install bison and flex; using yacc
35 and lex may require tweaking of the makefiles. You also need
36 libXpm (see comments in the Notes section below) if you want to have
37 XPM support in wxWindows (recommended).
39 - You now have the option of using the configure-based system, or the simple
42 Using configure is the recommended way to build the library. If it doesn't
43 work for you for whatever reason, please report it (together with detailed
44 information about your platform and the (relevant part of) contents of
45 config.log file) to wxwin-developers@wx.dent.med.uni-muenchen.de.
47 COMPILING USING CONFIGURE
48 =========================
50 * The most simple case
51 -----------------------
53 If you compile wxWindows on Linux for the first time and don't like to read
54 install instructions just do (in the base dir):
56 > ./configure --with-motif
58 > su <type root password>
63 Afterwards you can continue with
66 > su <type root password>
71 If you want to remove wxWindows on Unix you can do this:
73 > su <type root password>
81 If you want to do some more serious cross-platform programming with wxWindows,
82 such as for GTK and Motif, you can now build two complete libraries and use
83 them concurretly. For this end, you have to create a directory for each build
84 of wxWindows - you may also want to create different versions of wxWindows
85 and test them concurrently. Most typically, this would be a version configured
86 with --enable-debug_flag and one without. Note, that only one build can currently
87 be installed, so you'd have to use local version of the library for that purpose.
88 For building three versions (one GTK, one Motif and a debug version of the GTK
89 source) you'd do this:
93 ../configure --with-motif
99 ../configure --with-gtk
105 ../configure --with-gtk --enable-debug_flag
109 * The most simple errors
110 ------------------------
112 You get errors during compilation: The reason is that you probably have a broken
113 compiler, which includes almost everything that is called gcc. If you use gcc 2.8
114 you have to disable optimsation as the compiler will give up with an internal
117 If there is just any way for you to use egcs, use egcs. We cannot fix gcc.
119 You get immediate segfault when starting any sample or application: This is either
120 due to having compiled the library with different flags or options than your program -
121 typically you might have the __WXDEBUG__ option set for the library but not for your
122 program - or due to using a broken compiler (and its optimisation) such as GCC 2.8.
124 * The most simple program
125 -------------------------
127 Now create your super-application myfoo.app and compile anywhere with
129 g++ myfoo.cpp `wx-config --libs --cflags` -o myfoo
132 -----------------------
134 The Unix variants of wxWindows use GNU configure. If you have problems with your
135 make use GNU make instead.
137 If you have general problems with installation, read my homepage at
139 http://wesley.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~wxxt
141 for newest information. If you still don't have any success, please send a bug
142 report to one of our mailing lists (see my homepage) INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF
143 YOUR SYSTEM AND YOUR PROBLEM, SUCH AS YOUR VERSION OF GTK, WXGTK, WHAT DISTRIBUTION
144 YOU USE AND WHAT ERROR WAS REPORTED. I know this has no effect, but I tried...
147 -----------------------
149 wxWindows/Motif requires the Motif library to be installed on your system. As
150 an alternative, you may also use the free library "lesstif" which implements
151 most of the Motif API without the licence restrictions of Motif.
153 You can get the newest version of the Lesstif from the lesstif homepage at:
155 http://www.lesstif.org
157 * Additional libraries
158 -----------------------
160 wxWindows/Motif requires a thread library and X libraries known to work with threads.
161 This is the case on all commercial Unix-Variants and all Linux-Versions that are
162 based on glibc 2 except RedHat 5.0 which is broken in many aspects. As of writing
163 this, these Linux distributions have correct glibc 2 support:
171 You can disable thread support by running
173 ./configure "--disable-threads"
175 su <type root password>
180 NB: DO NOT COMPILE WXGTK WITH GCC AND THREADS, SINCE ALL PROGRAMS WILL
181 CRASH UPON START-UP! Just always use egcs and be happy.
183 * Building wxMotif on SGI
184 --------------------------
186 Using the SGI native compilers, it is recommended that you
187 also set CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS before running configure. These
191 CXXFLAGS="-mips3 -n32"
193 This is essential if you want to use the resultant binaries
194 on any other machine than the one it was compiled on. If you
195 have a 64bit machine (Octane) you should also do this to ensure
196 you don't accidently build the libraries as 64bit (which is
199 The SGI native compiler support has only been tested on Irix 6.5.
201 * Create your configuration
202 -----------------------------
207 If you want to use system's C and C++ compiler,
208 set environment variables CC and CCC as
212 % ./configure options
214 to see all the options please use:
218 The basic philosophy is that if you want to use different
219 configurations, like a debug and a release version,
220 or use the same source tree on different systems,
221 you have only to change the environment variable OSTYPE.
222 (Sadly this variable is not set by default on some systems
223 in some shells - on SGI's for example). So you will have to
224 set it there. This variable HAS to be set before starting
225 configure, so that it knows which system it tries to
228 Configure will complain if the system variable OSTYPE has
229 not been defined. And Make in some circumstances as well...
235 Given below are the commands to change the default behaviour,
236 i.e. if it says "--disable-threads" it means that threads
237 are enabled by default.
239 Many of the confiugre options have been thoroughly tested
240 in wxWindows snapshot 6, but not yet all (ODBC not).
242 You have to add --with-motif on platforms, where Motif is
243 not the default (on Linux, configure will deafult to GTK).
245 --without-gtk Don't use the GIMP ToolKit (GTK)
247 --with-motif Use either Motif or Lesstif
248 Configure will look for both.
250 The following options handle the kind of library you want to build.
252 --disable-threads Compile without thread support. Threads
253 support is also required for the
256 --disable-shared Do not create shared libraries.
258 --disable-optimise Do not optimise the code. Can
259 sometimes be useful for debugging
260 and is required on some architectures
261 such as Sun with gcc 2.8.X which
262 would otherwise produce segvs.
264 --enable-profile Add profiling info to the object
265 files. Currently broken, I think.
267 --enable-no_rtti Enable compilation without creation of
268 C++ RTTI information in object files.
269 This will speed-up compilation and reduce
272 --enable-no_exceptions Enable compilation without creation of
273 C++ exception information in object files.
274 This will speed-up compilation and reduce
275 binary size. Also fewer crashes during the
276 actual compilation...
278 --enable-no_deps Enable compilation without creation of
279 dependency information.
281 --enable-permissive Enable compilation without creation of
282 giving erros as soon as you compile with
283 Solaris ANSI-defying headers...
285 --enable-mem_tracing Add built-in memory tracing.
287 --enable-dmalloc Use the dmalloc memory debugger.
288 Read more at www.letters.com/dmalloc/
290 --enable-debug_info Add debug info to object files and
291 executables for use with debuggers
292 such as gdb (or its many frontends).
294 --enable-debug_flag Define __DEBUG__ and __WXDEBUG__ when
295 compiling. This enable wxWindows' very
296 useful internal debugging tricks (such
297 as automatically reporting illegal calls)
298 to work. Note that program and library
299 must be compiled with the same debug
305 Many of the confiugre options have been thoroughly tested
306 in wxWindows snapshot 6, but not yet all (ODBC not).
308 When producing an executable that is linked statically with wxGTK
309 you'll be surprised at its immense size. This can sometimes be
310 drastically reduced by removing features from wxWindows that
311 are not used in your program. The most relevant such features
314 --without-libpng Disables PNG image format code.
316 --without-libjpeg Disables JPEG image format code.
318 --without-odbc Disables ODBC code.
320 --disable-resources Disables the use of *.wxr type
323 --disable-threads Disables threads. Will also
326 --disable-sockets Disables sockets.
328 --disable-dnd Disables Drag'n'Drop.
330 --disable-clipboard Disables Clipboard.
332 --disable-serial Disables object instance serialiasation.
334 --disable-streams Disables the wxStream classes.
336 --disable-file Disables the wxFile class.
338 --disable-textfile Disables the wxTextFile class.
340 --disable-intl Disables the internationalisation.
342 --disable-validators Disables validators.
344 --disable-accel Disables accel.
346 Apart from disabling certain features you can very often "strip"
347 the program of its debugging information resulting in a significant
353 The following must be done in the base directory (e.g. ~/wxGTK
354 or ~/wxWin or whatever)
356 Now the makefiles are created (by configure) and you can compile
357 the library by typing:
361 make yourself some coffee, as it will take some time. On an old
362 386SX possibly two weeks. During compilation, you'll get a few
363 warning messages depending in your compiler.
365 If you want to be more selective, you can change into a specific
366 directiry and type "make" there.
368 Then you may install the library and it's header files under
369 /usr/local/include/wx and /usr/local/lib respectively. You
370 have to log in as root (i.e. run "su" and enter the root
375 You can remove any traces of wxWindows by typing
379 If you want to save disk space by removing unnecessary
384 in the various directories will do the work for you.
386 * Creating a new Project
387 --------------------------
389 1) The first way uses the installed libraries and header files
390 automatically using wx-config
392 g++ myfoo.cpp `wx-config --libs` `wx-config --cflags` -o myfoo
394 Using this way, a make file for the minimal sample would look
400 $(CC) -o minimal minimal.o `wx-config --libs`
402 minimal.o: minimal.cpp mondrian.xpm
403 $(CC) `wx-config --cflags` -c minimal.cpp -o minimal.o
408 This is certain to become the standard way unless we decide
411 2) The other way creates a project within the source code
412 directories of wxWindows. For this endeavour, you'll need
413 GNU autoconf version 2.14 and add an entry to your Makefile.in
414 to the bottom of the configure.in script and run autoconf
415 and configure before you can type make.
417 * Further notes by Julian Smart
418 ---------------------------------
420 - You may find the following script useful for compiling wxMotif,
421 especially if installing from zips (which don't preserve file
422 permissions). Make this script executable with the command
423 chmod a+x makewxmotif.
425 -------:x-----Cut here-----:x-----
427 # Sets permissions (in case we extracted wxMotif from zip files)
429 # Call from top-level wxWindows directory.
430 # Note that this uses standard (but commonly-used) configure options;
431 # if you're feeling brave, you may wish to compile with threads:
432 # if they're not supported by the target platform, they will be disabled
435 chmod a+x configure config.sub config.guess
436 ./configure --with-shared --with-motif --without-gtk --with-debug_flag --with-debug_info --enable-debug --without-threads --without-sockets --without-odbc
438 -------:x-----Cut here-----:x-----
440 This script will build wxMotif using shared libraries. If you want to build
441 a static wxWindows library, use --disable-shared.
443 COMPILING USING MAKEFILES
444 =========================
446 - Copy the file include/wx/motif/setup0.h to include/wx/motif/setup.h and
447 edit it if you wish to enable/disable some library features
449 - Choose a .env file from src/makeenvs that matches your
450 environment, and copy it to src/make.env. These are the
451 settings read by wxWindows for Motif makefiles.
453 - Edit src/make.env to change options according to your local
454 environment. In particular, change WXDIR to where wxWindows is
455 found on your system, or set the WXWIN environment variable
456 before compilation, e.g.:
458 export WXWIN=/home/jacs/wx2
460 Please feel free to contribute settings files for your environment.
462 - Change directory to src/motif and type:
464 make -f makefile.unx motif
466 This should make the library libwx_motif.a in the lib
467 directory. Note that this makefile system does not build shared
468 libraries, only static ones (that is, the wxWindows library will be
469 linked statically; to see remaining dependencies on shared libraries,
470 type e.g. ldd minimal_motif).
472 - Make a sample, such as the minimal sample:
475 make -f makefile.unx motif
477 and run the resulting minimal_motif binary.
482 - If you have trouble compiling the file y_tab.c, or have strange
483 linking errors, check whether you're using a C or C++ compiler for this file.
484 You should specify a C compiler in the CCLEX variable in src/make.env.
485 You could also try using bison and flex instead of yacc and
488 - Solaris compilation with gcc: if the compiler has problems with the variable argument
489 functions, try putting the gcc fixinclude file paths early in the include
492 - If you operator-related compile errors or strange memory problems
493 (for example in deletion of string arrays), set wxUSE_GLOBAL_MEMORY_OPERATORS
494 and wxUSE_MEMORY_TRACING to 0 in setup.h, and recompile.
496 - If you get an internal compiler error in gcc, turn off optimisations.
498 - Problems with XtDestroyWidget crashing in ~wxWindow have been
499 reported on SGI IRIX 6.4. This has not yet been resolved, so
500 any advice here would be very welcome. See bugs.txt for a
501 possible temporary workaround (comment out the final
502 XtDestroyWidget from ~wxWindow in window.cpp).
504 - If you use flex and bison instead of yacc and lex, you may need
505 to change the relevant part of src/motif/makefile.unx to read:
507 ../common/y_tab.c: ../common/parser.y
508 $(YACC) ../common/parser.y
509 mv ../common/parser.tab.c ../common/y_tab.c
511 (the 'mv' command needs to be changed)
513 - Some compilers, such as Sun C++, may give a lot of warnings about
514 virtual functions being hidden. Please ignore these, it's correct C++ syntax.
515 If you find any incorrect instances, though, such as a
516 missing 'const' in an overridden function, please let us know.
521 - Debugging mode is switched on by default in the makefiles, but using
522 configure will create a release build of the library by default: it's
523 recommended to use --with-debug_info and --with-debug_flag configure
524 switches while developing your application. To compile in non-debug
525 mode, remove the -D__WXDEBUG__ switch in make.env (or if using the
526 configure system, change --with-debug_flag to --without_debug_flag
527 and --with-debug_info to --without-debug_info in the makewxmotif
530 - Some classes can be switched off in include/wx/motif/setup.h,
531 if you are having trouble with a particular file. However,
532 I'd prefer you to fix the problem and send the fix to me :-) or at
533 least let me know about it.
535 - Thread support is switched off by default in setup.h (wxUSE_THREADS)
536 because standard Unices often do not have the necessary thread library
537 installed. Please see ../docs/gtk/install.txt for more details on this.
538 The systems for which thread support is known to work are Linux with libc6
539 (a.k.a. glibc2), Solaris 2.5 and 2.6 (provided that X libraries are thread
540 safe) and, to some extent, FreeBSD 2.8 and 3.1 (any feedback on thread
541 support under FreeBSD as well as the systems not mentioned here would be
544 - If you run into problems with a missing X11/Xpm.h header, you
545 need to install the XPM package. It can be obtained from:
547 ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/libraries/xpm-3.4k.tar.gz
548 http://sunfreeware.com
550 You may need to modify make.env to add -I and -L options pointing to where Xpm
551 is installed and possibly change bitmap.cpp to
552 include <xpm.h> instead of <X11/xpm.h>
554 Alternatively, edit include/wx/motif/setup.h, set wxUSE_XPM
555 to 0, and recompile. You will not be able to load any XPMs,
556 though (currently the only supported colour bitmap format).
561 Please send bug reports with a description of your environment,
562 compiler and the error message(s) to the wxwin-developers mailing list at:
564 wxwin-developers@wx.dent.med.uni-muenchen.de
566 Julian Smart, Robert Roebling and Vadim Zeitlin, November 1999.