wxPython/docs/BUILD.txt

   1 Building wxPython 2.5 for Development and Testing
   2 =================================================
   3
   4 This file describes how I build wxWidgets and wxPython while doing
   5 development and testing, and is meant to help other people that want
   6 to do the same thing.  I'll assume that you are using either a CVS
   7 snapshot from http://wxWidgets.org/snapshots/, a checkout from CVS, or
   8 one of the released wxPythonSrc-2.5.* tarballs.  I'll also assume that
   9 you know your way around your system, the compiler, etc. and most
  10 importantly, that you know what you are doing!  ;-)
  11
  12 If you want to also install the version of wxPython you build to be in
  13 your site-packages dir and be your default version of wxPython, then a
  14 few additional steps are needed, and you may want to use slightly
  15 different options.  See the INSTALL_ document for more details.  If
  16 you only use the instructions in this BUILD_ document file then you
  17 will end up with a separate installation of wxPython and you can
  18 switch back and forth between this and the release version that you
  19 may already have installed.
  20
  21 .. _INSTALL: INSTALL.html
  22 .. _BUILD: BUILD.html
  23
  24 If you want to make changes to any of the ``*.i`` files, (SWIG interface
  25 definition files,) or to regenerate the extension sources or renamer
  26 modules, then you will need an up to date version of SWIG.  Either get
  27 and build the current CVS version, or version 1.3.20, and then apply
  28 the patches in wxPython/SWIG.  See the README.txt in that dir for
  29 details about each patch and also info about those that may already
  30 have been applied to the SWIG sources.  If you install this build of
  31 SWIG to a location that is not on the PATH (so it doesn't interfere
  32 with an existing SWIG install for example) then you can set a setup.py
  33 command-line variable named SWIG to be the full path name of the
  34 executable and the wxPython build will use it.  See below for an
  35 example.
  36
  37 In the text below I'll use WXDIR with environment variable syntax
  38 (either $WXDIR or %WXDIR%) to refer to the top level directory were
  39 your wxWidgerts and wxPython sources are located.  It will equate to
  40 whereever you checked out the wxWidgets module from CVS, or untarred
  41 the wxPythonSrc tarball to.  You can either substitute the $WXDIR text
  42 below with your actual dir, or set the value in the environment and
  43 use it just like you see it below.
  44
  45 If you run into what appears to be compatibility issues between
  46 wxWidgets and wxPython while building wxPython, be sure you are using
  47 the wxWidgets sources included with the wxPythonSrc tarball or the CVS
  48 snapshot, and not a previously installed version or a version
  49 installed from one of the standard wxWidgets installers.  With the
  50 "unstable" releases (have a odd-numbered minor release value, where
  51 the APIs are allowed to change) there are often significant
  52 differences between the W.X.Y release of wxWidgets and the W.X.Y.Z
  53 release of wxPython.
  54
  55
  56
  57 Building on Unix-like Systems (e.g. Linux and OS X)
  58 ---------------------------------------------------
  59
  60 These platforms are built almost the same way while in development
  61 so I'll combine the descriptions about their build process here.
  62 First we will build wxWidgets and install it to an out of the way
  63 place, then do the same for wxPython.
  64
  65
  66 1. Create a build directory in the main wxWidgets dir, and configure
  67    wxWidgets.  If you want to have multiple builds with different
  68    configure options, just use different subdirectories.  I normally
  69    put the configure command in a script named ".configure" in each
  70    build dir so I can easily blow away everything in the build dir and
  71    rerun the script without having to remember the options I used
  72    before::
  73
  74          cd $WXDIR
  75          mkdir bld
  76          cd bld
  77          ../configure --prefix=/opt/wx/2.5 \
  78                       --with-gtk \
  79                       --with-opengl \
  80                       --enable-debug \
  81                       --enable-geometry \
  82                       --enable-sound --with-sdl \
  83                       --enable-display \
  84
  85
  86    On OS X of course you'll want to use --with-mac instead of
  87    --with-gtk.
  88
  89    **NOTE**: Due to a recent change there is a dependency problem in the
  90    multilib builds of wxWidgets on OSX, so I have switched to a
  91    monolithic build on that platform.  (IOW, all of the core code in
  92    one shared library instead of several.)  I would also expect other
  93    unix builds to do just fine with a monolithic library, but I havn't
  94    tested it in a while so your mileage may vary.  Anyway, to switch
  95    to the monolithic build of wxWidgets just add this configure flag::
  96
  97                      --enable-monolithic \
  98
  99    By default GTK2 will be selected if it is on your build system.  To
 100    force the use of GTK 1.2.x add this flag::
 101
 102                       --disable-gtk2 \
 103
 104    To make the wxWidgets build be Unicode enabled (strongly
 105    recommended if you are building with GTK2) then add::
 106
 107                       --enable-unicode \
 108
 109    Notice that I used a prefix of /opt/wx/2.5.  You can use whatever
 110    path you want, such as a path in your HOME dir or even one of the
 111    standard prefix paths such as /usr or /usr/local if you like, but
 112    using /opt this way lets me easily have multiple versions and ports
 113    of wxWidgets "installed" and makes it easy to switch between them,
 114    without impacting any versions of wxWidgets that may have been
 115    installed via an RPM or whatever.  For the rest of the steps below
 116    be sure to also substitute "/opt/wx/2.5" with whatever prefix you
 117    choose for your build.
 118
 119    If you want to use the image and zlib libraries included with
 120    wxWidgets instead of those already installed on your system, (for
 121    example, to reduce dependencies on 3rd party libraries) then you
 122    can add these flags to the configure command::
 123
 124                      --with-libjpeg=builtin \
 125                      --with-libpng=builtin \
 126                      --with-libtiff=builtin \
 127                      --with-zlib=builtin \
 128
 129
 130 2. To build and install wxWidgets you could just use the "make"
 131    command but there are other libraries besides the main wxWidgets
 132    libs that also need to be built so again I make a script to do it
 133    all for me so I don't forget anything.  This time it is called
 134    ".make" (I use the leading ".  so when I do ``rm -r *`` in my build
 135    dir I don't lose my scripts too.)  This is what it looks like::
 136
 137         make $* \
 138             && make -C contrib/src/gizmos $* \
 139             && make -C contrib/src/ogl CXXFLAGS="-DwxUSE_DEPRECATED=0" $* \
 140             && make -C contrib/src/stc $* \
 141             && make -C contrib/src/xrc $*
 142
 143    So you just use .make as if it where make, but don't forget to set
 144    the execute bit on .make first!::
 145
 146          .make
 147          .make install
 148
 149    When it's done you should have an installed set of files under
 150    /opt/wx/2.5 containing just wxWidgets.  Now to use this version of
 151    wxWidgets you just need to add /opt/wx/2.5/bin to the PATH and set
 152    LD_LIBRARY_PATH (or DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH on OS X) to /opt/wx/2.5/lib.
 153
 154
 155 3. I also have a script to help me build wxPython and it is checked in
 156    to the CVS as wxWidgets/wxPython/b, but you probably don't want to
 157    use it as it's very cryptic and expects that you want to run SWIG,
 158    so if you don't have the latest patched up version of SWIG then
 159    you'll probably get stuck.  So I'll just give the raw commands
 160    instead.
 161
 162    We're not going to install the development version of wxPython with
 163    these commands, so it won't impact your already installed version
 164    of the latest release.  You'll be able test with this version when
 165    you want to, and use the installed release version the rest of the
 166    time.  If you want to install the development version please read
 167    INSTALL.txt.
 168
 169    If you have more than one version of Python on your system then be
 170    sure to use the version of Python that you want to use when running
 171    wxPython programs to run the setup.py commands below.  I'll be
 172    using python2.3.
 173
 174    Make sure that the first wx-config found on the PATH is the one you
 175    installed above, and then change to the $WXDIR/wxPython dir and
 176    run the this command::
 177
 178          cd $WXDIR/wxPython
 179          python2.3 setup.py build_ext --inplace --debug
 180
 181    If your new wx-config script is not on the PATH, or there is some
 182    other version of it found first, then you can add this to the
 183    command line to ensure your new one is used instead::
 184
 185          WX_CONFIG=/opt/wx/2.5/bin/wx-config
 186
 187    By default setup.py will assume that you built wxWidgets to use
 188    GTK2.  If you built wxWidgets to use GTK 1.2.x then you should add
 189    this flag to the command-line::
 190
 191          WXPORT=gtk2
 192
 193    If you would like to do a Unicode enabled build (all strings sent
 194    to or retruned from wx functions are Unicode objects) and your
 195    wxWidgets was built with unicod enabled then add this flag::
 196
 197          UNICODE=1
 198
 199    If you are wanting to have the source files regenerated with swig,
 200    then you need to turn on the USE_SWIG flag and optionally tell it
 201    where to find the new swig executable, so add these flags::
 202
 203          USE_SWIG=1 SWIG=/opt/swig/bin/swig
 204
 205    If you get errors about being unable to find libGLU, wxGLCanvas
 206    being undeclared, or something similar then you can add
 207    BUILD_GLCANVAS=0 to the setup.py command line to disable the
 208    building of the glcanvas module.
 209
 210    When the setup.py command is done you should have fully populated
 211    wxPython and wx packages locally in $WXDIR/wxPython/wxPython and
 212    $WXDIR/wxPython/wx, with all the extension modules (``*.so`` files)
 213    located in the wx package.
 214
 215
 216 4. To run code with the development version of wxPython, just set the
 217    PYTHONPATH to the wxPython dir located in the source tree.  For
 218    example::
 219
 220         export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/wx/2.5/lib
 221         export PYTHONPATH=$WXDIR/wxPython
 222         cd $WXDIR/wxPython/demo
 223         python2.3 demo.py
 224
 225    OS X NOTE: You need to use "pythonw" on the command line to run
 226    wxPython applications.  This version of the Python executable is
 227    part of the Python Framework and is allowed to interact with the
 228    display.  You can also double click on a .py or a .pyw file from
 229    the finder (assuming that the PythonLauncher app is associated with
 230    these file extensions) and it will launch the Framework version of
 231    Python for you.  For information about creating Applicaiton Bundles
 232    of your wxPython apps please see the wiki and the mail lists.
 233
 234    SOLARIS NOTE: If you get unresolved symbol errors when importing
 235    wxPython and you are running on Solaris and building with gcc, then
 236    you may be able to work around the problem by uncommenting a bit of
 237    code in setup.py and building again.  Look for 'SunOS' in setup.py
 238    and uncomment the block containing it.  The problem is that Sun's ld
 239    does not automatically add libgcc to the link step.
 240
 241
 242
 243
 244 Building on Windows
 245 -------------------
 246
 247 The Windows builds currently require the use of Microsoft Visual C++.
 248 Theoretically, other compilers (such as mingw32 or the Borland
 249 compilers) can also be used but I've never done the work to make that
 250 happen.  If you want to try that then first you'll want to find out if
 251 there are any tricks that have to be done to make Python extension
 252 modules using that compiler, and then make a few changes to setup.py
 253 to accomodate that.  (And send the patches to me.)  If you plan on
 254 using VisualStudio.Net (a.k.a. MSVC 7.1) keep in mind that you'll also
 255 have to build Python and any other extension modules that you use with
 256 that compiler because a different version of the C runtime library is
 257 used.  The Python executable that comes from PythonLabs and the
 258 wxPython extensions that I distribute are built with MSVC 6 with all
 259 the Service Packs applied.  This policy will change with Python 2.4
 260 and MSVC 7.1 will be used starting with that version.
 261
 262 If you want to build a debuggable version of wxWidgets and wxPython you
 263 will need to have also built a debug version of Python and any other
 264 extension modules you need to use.  You can tell if you have them
 265 already if there is a _d in the file names, for example python_d.exe
 266 or python23_d.dll.  If you don't need to trace through the C/C++ parts
 267 of the code with the debugger then building the normal (or hybrid)
 268 version is fine, and you can use the regular python executables with
 269 it.
 270
 271 Just like the unix versions I also use some scripts to help me build
 272 wxWidgets, but I use some non-standard stuff to do it.  So if you have
 273 bash (cygwin or probably MSYS too) or 4NT plus unix-like cat and sed
 274 programs then there is a copy of my wxWidgets build scripts in
 275 %WXDIR%\\wxPython\\distrib\\msw.  Just copy them to
 276 %WXDIR%\\build\\msw and you can use them to do your build, otherwise
 277 you can do everything by hand as described below.  But if you do work
 278 by hand and something doesn't seem to be working correctly please
 279 refer to the build scripts to see what may need to be done
 280 differently.
 281
 282 The \*.btm files are for 4NT and the others are for bash.  They are::
 283
 284    .make/.make.btm        Builds the main lib and the needed contribs
 285    .mymake/.mymake.btm    Builds just one lib, use by .make
 286    .makesetup.mk          A makefile that will copy and edit setup.h
 287                           as needed for the different types of builds
 288
 289 Okay.  Here's what you've been waiting for, the instructions!  Adapt
 290 accordingly if you are using the bash shell.
 291
 292 1. Set an environment variable to the root of the wxWidgets source
 293    tree.  This is used by the makefiles::
 294
 295          set WXWIN=%WXDIR%
 296
 297 2. Copy setup0.h to setup.h::
 298
 299          cd %WXDIR%\include\wx\msw
 300          copy setup0.h setup.h
 301
 302
 303 3. Edit %WXDIR%\\include\\wx\\msw\\setup.h and change a few settings::
 304
 305          wxDIALOG_UNIT_COMPATIBILITY    0
 306          wxUSE_DEBUG_CONTEXT            1
 307          wxUSE_MEMORY_TRACING           1
 308          wxUSE_DIALUP_MANAGER           0
 309          wxUSE_GLCANVAS                 1
 310          wxUSE_POSTSCRIPT               1
 311          wxUSE_AFM_FOR_POSTSCRIPT       0
 312          wxUSE_DISPLAY                  1
 313
 314    If you are using my build scripts then a few more settings will be
 315    changed and then a copy of setup.h is placed in a subdir of
 316    %WXWIN%\\lib\vc_dll.  If you are doing it by hand and making a
 317    UNICODE build, then also change these::
 318
 319          wxUSE_UNICODE                  1
 320          wxUSE_UNICODE_MSLU             1
 321
 322    If you are doing a "hybrid" build (which is the same as the
 323    binaries that I release) then also change these::
 324
 325          wxUSE_MEMORY_TRACING           0
 326          wxUSE_DEBUG_CONTEXT            0
 327
 328
 329 4. Make sure that %WXDIR%\\lib\\vc_dll directory is on the PATH.  The
 330    wxWidgets DLLs will end up there as part of the build and so you'll
 331    need it on the PATH for them to be found at runtime.
 332
 333
 334 5. Change to the %WXDIR%\\build\\msw directory
 335
 336          cd %WXDIR%\\build\\msw
 337
 338
 339 6. If using my scripts then use the .make.btm command to build
 340    wxWidgets.  It needs one command-line parameter which controls what
 341    kind of build(s) to do.  Use one of the following::
 342
 343          debug          Build debug version
 344          hybrid         Build hybrid version
 345          both           Both debug and hybrid
 346          debug-uni      Build a debug unicode library
 347          hybrid-uni     Hybrid unicode (see the pattern yet? ;-)
 348          both-uni       and finally both unicode libraries
 349
 350    For example::
 351
 352          .make hybrid
 353
 354    You can also pass additional command line parameters as needed and
 355    they will all be passed on to the nmake commands, for example to
 356    clean up the build::
 357
 358          .make hybrid clean
 359
 360    If *not* using my scripts then you can do it by hand by directly
 361    executing nmake with a bunch of extra command line parameters.
 362    The base set are::
 363
 364         -f makefile.vc OFFICIAL_BUILD=1 SHARED=1 MONOLITHIC=0 USE_OPENGL=1
 365
 366    If doing a debug build then add::
 367
 368        BUILD=debug
 369
 370    otherwise add these::
 371
 372        DEBUG_FLAG=1 CXXFLAGS=/D__NO_VC_CRTDBG__ WXDEBUGFLAG=h BUILD=release
 373
 374    If doing a Unicode build then add these flags::
 375
 376        UNICODE=1 MSLU=1
 377
 378    Now, from the %WXDIR%\\build\\msw directory run nmake with your
 379    selection of command-line flags as described above.  Repeat this
 380    same command from the following directories in order to build the
 381    contrib libraries::
 382
 383         %WXDIR%\contrib\build\gizmos
 384         %WXDIR%\contrib\build\xrc
 385         %WXDIR%\contrib\build\stc
 386         %WXDIR%\contrib\build\ogl
 387
 388     Note, that the ogl lib build will need an additional flag::
 389
 390         CPPFLAGS="-DwxUSE_DEPRECATED=0"
 391
 392 7.  When that is all done it will have built the main wxWidgets DLLs
 393     and also some of the contribs DLLs.  There should be a ton of DLLs
 394     and lots of lib files and other stuff in %WXDIR%\\lib\\vc_dll.
 395
 396
 397 8. Building wxPython on Windows is very similar to doing it for the
 398    unix systems.  We're not going to install the development version
 399    of wxPython with these commands, so it won't impact your already
 400    installed version of the latest release.  You'll be able to test
 401    with this version when you want to, and use the installed release
 402    version the rest of the time.  If you ever do want to install the
 403    development version please refer to INSTALL.txt.
 404
 405    Change to the %WXDIR%\\wxPython dir and run the this command,
 406    making sure that you use the version of python that you want to
 407    build for (if you have more than one on your system)::
 408
 409          cd %WXDIR%\wxPython
 410          python setup.py build_ext --inplace
 411
 412    If you are wanting to have the source files regenerated with swig,
 413    then you need to turn on the USE_SWIG flag and optionally tell it
 414    where to find the new swig executable, so add these flags::
 415
 416          USE_SWIG=1 SWIG=e:\projects\SWIG-cvs\swig.exe
 417
 418    If you built a Unicode version of wxWidgets and want to also build
 419    the Unicode version of wxPython then add this flag::
 420
 421          UNICODE=1
 422
 423    If you have a debug version of Python and wxWidgets and want to
 424    build a debug version of wxPython too, add the --debug flag to the
 425    command line.  You should then end up with a set of ``*_d.pyd``
 426    files in the wx package and you'll have to run ``python_d.exe`` to
 427    use them.  The debug and hybrid(release) versions can coexist.
 428
 429    When the setup.py command is done you should have fully populated
 430    wxPython and wx packages locally in %WXDIR%/wxPython/wxPython and
 431    %WXDIR%/wxPython/wx, with all the extension modules (``*.pyd``
 432    files) located in the wx package.
 433
 434
 435 9. To run code with the development version of wxPython, just set the
 436    PYTHONPATH to the wxPython dir in the CVS tree.  For example::
 437
 438         set PYTHONPATH=%WXDIR%\wxPython
 439         cd %WXDIR\wxPython\demo
 440         python demo.py
 441
 442