wxPython/BUILD.win32.txt

   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.  I've made
  22 several modifications to SWIG specific to wxPython's needs and so the
  23 modified sources are included in the wx CVS at .../wxPython/wxSWIG.
  24 If you need to modify the *.i files for wxPython then change to this
  25 directory and run:
  26
  27       nmake -f makefile.vc
  28
  29 Then you'll need to change a flag in the setup.py script as described
  30 below so the wxPython build process will use SWIG if needed.
  31
  32 I use the new Python Distutils tool to build wxPython.  It is included
  33 with Python 2.0, but if you want to use Python 1.5.2 or 1.6 then
  34 you'll need to download and install Distutils 1.0 from
  35 http://www.python.org/sigs/distutils-sig/
  36
  37 I use Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 (5.0 with the service packs should work
  38 also) to compile the wxPython C++ sources.  Since I am using Distutils
  39 it should be easier now to build with other win32 compilers such as
  40 the free mingw32 or Borland compilers, but I havn't tried them yet.
  41 If anybody wants to try it I'll take any required patches for the
  42 setup script and for these instructions.
  43
  44
  45 UNICODE
  46 -------
  47
  48 To build the version of wxWindows/wxPython that uses the unicode
  49 version of the Win32 APIs, just follow the steps below with these
  50 changes:
  51
  52     a. You'll need the MSLU runtime DLL and import lib. The former can
  53        be downloaded from Microsoft, the latter is part of the latest
  54        Platform SDK from Microsoft (see msdn.microsoft.com for
  55        details).  An alternative implementation of import lib can be
  56        downloaded from http://libunicows.sourceforge.net
  57
  58     b. Add "UNICODE=1 MSLU=1" to the nmake command line when building
  59        wxWindows.
  60
  61     c. Add "UNICODE=1" to the setup.py commandline when building
  62        wxPython.
  63
  64     d. See the notes in CHANGES.txt about unicode.
  65
  66
  67 And now on to the fun stuff...
  68
  69
  70
  71
  72 1. Get the wxWindows sources
  73 ----------------------------
  74
  75 A. There are a few possible ways to get sources for wxWindows.  You
  76    can download a released version from http://wxwindows.org/ or you
  77    can get current development sources from the CVS server.  (Some
  78    information about annonymous CVS access is at the
  79    http://wxwindows.org/cvs.htm site.)  The advantage of using CVS is
  80    that you can easily update as soon as the developers check in new
  81    sources or fixes.  The advantage of using a released version is
  82    that it usually has had more thorough testing done.  You can decide
  83    which method is best for you.
  84
  85 B. You'll usually want to use wxWindows sources that have the same
  86    version number as the wxPython sources you are using.  (Another
  87    advantage of using CVS is that you'll get both at the same time.)
  88
  89 C. Once you get the sources be sure to put them in a path without a
  90    space in it (i.e., NOT c:\Program Files\wx) and set an environment
  91    variable named WXWIN to this directory.  For example:
  92
  93          mkdir \wx2
  94          cd \wx2
  95          unzip wxMSW-2.2.2.zip
  96          set WXWIN=c:\wx2
  97
  98    You'll probably want to add that last line to your autoexec.bat or
  99    System Properties depending on the type of system you are on.
 100
 101 D. Change to the wx2\include\wx\msw directory and copy setup0.h to
 102    setup.h and then edit setup.h.  This is how you control which parts
 103    of wxWindows are compiled into or left out of the build, simply by
 104    turning options on or off.  I have the following differences from
 105    the default setup0.h in my setup.h, but you can experiment with
 106    other settings if you like:
 107
 108          WXWIN_COMPATIBILITY_2_2        0
 109          wxDIALOG_UNIT_COMPATIBILITY    0
 110          wxUSE_MEMORY_TRACING           1
 111          wxUSE_CMDLINE_PARSER           0
 112          wxUSE_FSVOLUME                 0
 113          wxUSE_DIALUP_MANAGER           0
 114          wxUSE_DYNAMIC_LOADER           0
 115          wxUSE_TREELAYOUT               0
 116          wxUSE_MS_HTML_HELP             0
 117          wxUSE_POSTSCRIPT               1
 118
 119
 120     ** NEW **
 121     Be sure that wxUSE_GLCANVAS is defined to be 0 as wxPython now
 122     keeps its own copy of the glcanvas sources and expects that it is
 123     not in the main library.  This is done to reduce the number of
 124     dependant DLLs on the core library and therefore help reduce
 125     startup time.
 126
 127
 128
 129 2. Build the wxWindows DLL
 130 ---------------------------
 131
 132 A. Although MSVC project files are provided I always use the makefiles
 133    to build wxWindows because by default the flags are compatible with
 134    Python, (and I make sure they stay that way.)  You would have to
 135    edit the project files a bit to make it work otherwise.
 136
 137 B. There are three different types of wxWindows DLLs that can be
 138    produced by the VC makefile simply by providing a flag on the nmake
 139    command-line, I call the three types DEBUG, FINAL, and HYBRID.
 140    Here are some more details:
 141
 142       DEBUG Specified with "FINAL=0" and produces a DLL named
 143             wxmsw[version]d.dll.  This DLL is compiled with full
 144             debugging information and with the __WXDEBUG__ macro set,
 145             which enables some debugging-only code in wxWindows such
 146             as assertions and failure log messages.  The /MDd flag is
 147             used which means that it is linked with the debugging
 148             version of the C runtime library and also that you must
 149             use the debugging version of Python, (python_d.exe and
 150             pythonXX_d.dll) which also means that all extensions
 151             loaded by Python should also have the _d in the name.
 152             With this option you can use the MSVC debugger to trace
 153             though the Python interpreter, as well as the code for the
 154             wxPython extension and the wxWindows DLL.
 155
 156       FINAL Specified with "FINAL=1" and produces a DLL named
 157             wxmsw[version].dll.  This DLL is compiled with optimizations
 158             turned on and without debugging information and without
 159             __WXDEBUG__.  The /MD flag is used which means that you
 160             can use this version with the standard python.exe.  This
 161             is the version that I use when making the binary installer
 162             for win32.
 163
 164      HYBRID Specified with "FINAL=hybrid" and produces a DLL named
 165             wxmsw[version]h.dll.  This DLL is almost the same as the
 166             DEBUG version except the /MD flag is used which means that
 167             you can use the standard python.exe but you still get the
 168             debugging info and the __WXDEBUG__ code enabled.  With the
 169             debugger you can trace through the the code for the
 170             wxPython extension and the wxWindows DLL, but not the
 171             Python interpreter.  You might use this version when you
 172             want to deploy a wxPython app with the __WXDEBUG__ code
 173             enabled.  I use this mode most of the time during
 174             development simply because it's easier than having to
 175             remember to type python_d all the time.
 176
 177    Since different DLL names and object file directories are used you
 178    can build all three types if you like.
 179
 180 C. Change to the wx2\src\msw directory and type the following command,
 181    using the value for FINAL that you want:
 182
 183          nmake -f makefile.vc dll pch FINAL=hybrid
 184
 185    Your machine will then crunch away for possibly a long time,
 186    depending on your hardware, and when it's done you should have a
 187    DLL and some library files in \wx2\lib.
 188
 189 D. You'll either need to add \wx2\lib to the PATH or copy the DLL file
 190    to a directory already on the PATH so the DLL can be found at
 191    runtime.  Another option is to copy the DLL to the directory that
 192    the wxPython pacakge is installed to, for example,
 193    c:\Python22\lib\site-packages\wxPython.
 194
 195 E. You can test your build by changing to one of the directories under
 196    \wx2\samples or \wx2\demos and typing (using the right FINAL flag):
 197
 198         nmake -f makefile.vc FINAL=hybrid WXUSINGDLL=1
 199
 200    and then executing the resulting .exe file.
 201
 202
 203
 204 3. Get the wxPython sources
 205 ---------------------------
 206
 207 A. You have the same options (and same advantages/disadvantages) for
 208    getting the wxPython source, either a released snapshot or from
 209    CVS.  The released version file is named wxPython-[version].tar.gz
 210    and is available at http://wxpython.org/download.php.  You can use
 211    WinZip to unpack it if you don't have tar and gzip.  If you want to
 212    use CVS you'll find wxPython in the wxWindows CVS tree (see above)
 213    in the wxWindows/wxPython directory.
 214
 215
 216
 217 4. Build and Install wxPython
 218 -----------------------------
 219
 220 A. As mentioned previouslly, wxPython is built with the standard
 221    Python Distutils tool.  If you are using Python 2.0 or later you
 222    are all set, otherwise you need to download and install Distutils
 223    1.0 from http://www.python.org/sigs/distutils-sig/.
 224
 225 B. Change to the root wxPython directory and look at the setup.py
 226    file.  This is the script that configures and defines all the
 227    information that Distutils needs to build wxPython.  There are some
 228    options near the begining of the script that you may want or need
 229    to change based on what options you have selected up to this point,
 230    (type of DLL built, sources from tar.gz or from CVS, etc.)  You can
 231    either change these flags directly in setup.py or supply them on
 232    the command-line.
 233
 234         BUILD_GLCANVAS Set to zero if you don't want to build the
 235                        Open GL canvas extension module.
 236
 237              BUILD_OGL Set to zero if you don't want to build the
 238                        Object Graphics Library extension module.
 239
 240              BUILD_STC Set to zero if you don't want to build the
 241                        wxStyledTextCtrl (the Scintilla wrapper)
 242                        extension module.
 243
 244               USE_SWIG If you have edited any of the *.i files you
 245                        will need to set this flag to non-zero so SWIG
 246                        will be executed to regenerate the wrapper C++
 247                        and shadow python files.
 248
 249            IN_CVS_TREE If you are using the CVS version of the
 250                        wxWindows and wxPython sources then you will
 251                        need to set this flag to non-zero.  This is
 252                        needed because some source files from the
 253                        wxWindows tree are copied to be under the
 254                        wxPython tree in order to keep Distutils happy.
 255                        With this flag set then setup.py will
 256                        automatically keep these copied sources up to
 257                        date if the original version is ever updated.
 258                        If you are using the tar.gz version of the
 259                        Python sources then these copied sources are
 260                        already present in your source tree.
 261
 262
 263 C. To build and install wxPython you simply need to execute the
 264    setup.py script.  If you have more than one version of Python
 265    installed, be sure to execute setup.py with the version you want to
 266    build wxPython for.
 267
 268    Depending on what kind of wxWindows DLL you built there are
 269    different command-line parameters you'll want to pass to setup (in
 270    addition to possibly one or more of the above):
 271
 272          FINAL:     python setup.py install
 273
 274          DEBUG:     python setup.py build --debug install
 275
 276          HYBRID:    python setup.py HYBRID=1 install
 277
 278    NOTE:  If you get an internal compiler error from MSVC then you
 279    need to edit setup.py and add in the /GX- flag that is normally
 280    commented out.  Just search for "GX-" and uncomment it so it is put
 281    into the cflags list.
 282
 283
 284 D. At this point you should be able to change into the wxPython\demo
 285    directory and run the demo:
 286
 287          python demo.py
 288
 289 E. If you would like to make a test build that doesn't overwrite the
 290    installed version of wxPython you can do so with one of these
 291    commands instead of the install command above:
 292
 293          FINAL:     python setup.py build_ext --inplace
 294
 295          DEBUG:     python setup.py build_ext --debug --inplace
 296
 297          HYBRID:    python setup.py HYBRID=1 build_ext --inplace
 298
 299    This will build the wxPython package in the local wxPython
 300    directory instead of installing it under your Python installation.
 301    To run using this test version just add the base wxPython source
 302    directory to the PYTHONPATH:
 303
 304          set PYTHONPATH=c:\wx2\wxPython
 305          cd c:\wx2\wxPython\demo
 306          python demo.py
 307
 308
 309 That's all folks!
 310
 311
 312 -----------------
 313 robin@alldunn.com
 314