1 Building wxPython 2.5 for Development and Testing
2 =================================================
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 wxPython-src-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! ;-)
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.
21 .. _INSTALL: INSTALL.html
24 If you want to make changes to any of the ``*.i`` files, (SWIG
25 interface definition files,) or to regenerate the extension sources or
26 renamer modules, then you will need an up to date version of SWIG,
27 plus some patches. Get the sources for version 1.3.22, and then apply
28 the patches in wxPython/SWIG and then build SWIG like normal. See the
29 README.txt in the wxPython/SWIG dir for details about each patch and
30 also info about those that may already have been applied to the SWIG
31 sources. If you install this build of SWIG to a location that is not
32 on the PATH (so it doesn't interfere with an existing SWIG install for
33 example) then you can set a setup.py command-line variable named SWIG
34 to be the full path name of the executable and the wxPython build will
35 use it. See below for an example.
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 where
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 wxPython-src 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.
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 wxPython-src tarball or the
48 CVS 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
57 Building on Unix-like Systems (e.g. Linux and OS X)
58 ---------------------------------------------------
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.
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
77 ../configure --prefix=/opt/wx/2.5 \
82 --enable-sound --with-sdl \
86 On OS X of course you'll want to use --with-mac instead of
89 **NOTE**: Due to a recent change there is currently a dependency
90 problem in the multilib builds of wxWidgets on OSX, so I have
91 switched to using a monolithic build. That means that all of the
92 core wxWidgets code is placed in in one shared library instead of
93 several. wxPython can be used with either mode, so use whatever
94 suits you on Linux and etc. but use monolithic on OSX. To switch
95 to the monolithic build of wxWidgets just add this configure flag::
99 By default GTK2 will be selected if its development pacakge is
100 installed on your build system. To force the use of GTK 1.2.x
101 instead add this flag::
105 To make the wxWidgets build be unicode enabled (strongly
106 recommended if you are building with GTK2) then add the following.
107 When wxPython is unicode enabled then all strings that are passed
108 to wx functions and methods will first be converted to unicode
109 objects, and any 'strings' returned from wx functions and methods
110 will actually be unicode objects.::
114 Notice that I used a prefix of /opt/wx/2.5. You can use whatever
115 path you want, such as a path in your HOME dir or even one of the
116 standard prefix paths such as /usr or /usr/local if you like, but
117 using /opt this way lets me easily have multiple versions and ports
118 of wxWidgets "installed" and makes it easy to switch between them,
119 without impacting any versions of wxWidgets that may have been
120 installed via an RPM or whatever. For the rest of the steps below
121 be sure to also substitute "/opt/wx/2.5" with whatever prefix you
122 choose for your build.
124 If you want to use the image and zlib libraries included with
125 wxWidgets instead of those already installed on your system, (for
126 example, to reduce dependencies on 3rd party libraries) then you
127 can add these flags to the configure command::
129 --with-libjpeg=builtin \
130 --with-libpng=builtin \
131 --with-libtiff=builtin \
132 --with-zlib=builtin \
135 2. To build and install wxWidgets you could just use the "make"
136 command but there are other libraries besides the main wxWidgets
137 libs that also need to be built so again I make a script to do it
138 all for me so I don't forget anything. This time it is called
139 ".make" (I use the leading "." so when I do ``rm -r *`` in my build
140 dir I don't lose my scripts too.) This is what it looks like::
143 && make -C contrib/src/gizmos $* \
144 && make -C contrib/src/stc $*
146 So you just use .make as if it where make, but don't forget to set
147 the execute bit on .make first!::
152 When it's done you should have an installed set of files under
153 /opt/wx/2.5 containing just wxWidgets. Now to use this version of
154 wxWidgets you just need to add /opt/wx/2.5/bin to the PATH and set
155 LD_LIBRARY_PATH (or DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH on OS X) to /opt/wx/2.5/lib.
158 3. I also have a script to help me build wxPython and it is checked in
159 to the CVS as wxWidgets/wxPython/b, but you probably don't want to
160 use it as it's very cryptic and expects that you want to run SWIG,
161 so if you don't have the latest patched up version of SWIG then
162 you'll probably get stuck. So I'll just give the raw commands
165 We're not going to install the development version of wxPython with
166 these commands, so it won't impact your already installed version
167 of the latest release. You'll be able test with this version when
168 you want to, and use the installed release version the rest of the
169 time. If you want to install the development version please read
172 If you have more than one version of Python on your system then be
173 sure to use the version of Python that you want to use when running
174 wxPython programs to run the setup.py commands below. I'll be
177 Make sure that the first wx-config found on the PATH is the one you
178 installed above, and then change to the $WXDIR/wxPython dir and
179 run the this command::
182 python2.3 setup.py build_ext --inplace --debug
184 If your new wx-config script is not on the PATH, or there is some
185 other version of it found first, then you can add this to the
186 command line to ensure your new one is used instead::
188 WX_CONFIG=/opt/wx/2.5/bin/wx-config
190 By default setup.py will assume that you built wxWidgets to use
191 GTK2. If you built wxWidgets to use GTK 1.2.x then you should add
192 this flag to the command-line::
196 If you would like to do a Unicode enabled build (all strings sent
197 to or retruned from wx functions are Unicode objects) and your
198 wxWidgets was built with unicode enabled then add this flag::
202 If you are wanting to have the source files regenerated with swig,
203 then you need to turn on the USE_SWIG flag and optionally tell it
204 where to find the new swig executable, so add these flags::
206 USE_SWIG=1 SWIG=/opt/swig/bin/swig
208 If you get errors about being unable to find libGLU, wxGLCanvas
209 being undeclared, or something similar then you can add
210 BUILD_GLCANVAS=0 to the setup.py command line to disable the
211 building of the glcanvas module.
213 When the setup.py command is done you should have fully populated
214 wxPython and wx packages locally in $WXDIR/wxPython/wxPython and
215 $WXDIR/wxPython/wx, with all the extension modules (``*.so`` files)
216 located in the wx package.
219 4. To run code with the development version of wxPython, just set the
220 PYTHONPATH to the wxPython dir located in the source tree. For
223 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/wx/2.5/lib
224 export PYTHONPATH=$WXDIR/wxPython
225 cd $WXDIR/wxPython/demo
228 OS X NOTE: You need to use "pythonw" on the command line to run
229 wxPython applications. This version of the Python executable is
230 part of the Python Framework and is allowed to interact with the
231 display. You can also double click on a .py or a .pyw file from
232 the finder (assuming that the PythonLauncher app is associated with
233 these file extensions) and it will launch the Framework version of
234 Python for you. For information about creating Applicaiton Bundles
235 of your wxPython apps please see the wiki and the mail lists.
237 SOLARIS NOTE: If you get unresolved symbol errors when importing
238 wxPython and you are running on Solaris and building with gcc, then
239 you may be able to work around the problem by uncommenting a bit of
240 code in setup.py and building again. Look for 'SunOS' in setup.py
241 and uncomment the block containing it. The problem is that Sun's ld
242 does not automatically add libgcc to the link step.
250 The Windows builds currently require the use of Microsoft Visual C++.
251 Theoretically, other compilers (such as mingw32 or the Borland
252 compilers) can also be used but I've never done the work to make that
253 happen. If you want to try that then first you'll want to find out if
254 there are any tricks that have to be done to make Python extension
255 modules using that compiler, and then make a few changes to setup.py
256 to accommodate that. (And send the patches to me.) If you plan on
257 using VisualStudio.Net (a.k.a. MSVC 7.1) keep in mind that you'll also
258 have to build Python and any other extension modules that you use with
259 that compiler because a different version of the C runtime library is
260 used. The Python executable that comes from PythonLabs and the
261 wxPython extensions that I distribute are built with MSVC 6 with all
262 the Service Packs applied. This policy will change with Python 2.4
263 and MSVC 7.1 will be used starting with that version.
265 If you want to build a debuggable version of wxWidgets and wxPython you
266 will need to have also built a debug version of Python and any other
267 extension modules you need to use. You can tell if you have them
268 already if there is a _d in the file names, for example python_d.exe
269 or python23_d.dll. If you don't need to trace through the C/C++ parts
270 of the code with the debugger then building the normal (or hybrid)
271 version is fine, and you can use the regular python executables with
274 Starting with 2.5.3.0 wxPython can be built for either the monlithic
275 or the multi-lib wxWidgets builds. (Monolithic means that all the
276 core wxWidgets code is in one DLL, and multi-lib means that the core
277 code is divided into multiple DLLs.) To select which one to use
278 specify the MONOLITHIC flag for both the wxWidgets build and the
279 wxPython build as shown below, setting it to either 0 or 1.
281 Just like the unix versions I also use some scripts to help me build
282 wxWidgets, but I use some non-standard stuff to do it. So if you have
283 bash (cygwin or probably MSYS too) or 4NT plus unix-like cat and sed
284 programs then there is a copy of my wxWidgets build scripts in
285 %WXDIR%\\wxPython\\distrib\\msw. Just copy them to
286 %WXDIR%\\build\\msw and you can use them to do your build, otherwise
287 you can do everything by hand as described below. But if you do work
288 by hand and something doesn't seem to be working correctly please
289 refer to the build scripts to see what may need to be done
292 The \*.btm files are for 4NT and the others are for bash. They are::
294 .make/.make.btm Builds the main lib and the needed contribs
295 .mymake/.mymake.btm Builds just one lib, use by .make
296 .makesetup.mk A makefile that will copy and edit setup.h
297 as needed for the different types of builds
299 Okay. Here's what you've been waiting for, the instructions! Adapt
300 accordingly if you are using the bash shell.
302 1. Set an environment variable to the root of the wxWidgets source
303 tree. This is used by the makefiles::
307 2. Copy setup0.h to setup.h::
309 cd %WXDIR%\include\wx\msw
310 copy setup0.h setup.h
313 3. Edit %WXDIR%\\include\\wx\\msw\\setup.h and change a few settings::
315 wxDIALOG_UNIT_COMPATIBILITY 0
316 wxUSE_DEBUG_CONTEXT 1
317 wxUSE_MEMORY_TRACING 1
318 wxUSE_DIALUP_MANAGER 0
321 wxUSE_AFM_FOR_POSTSCRIPT 0
324 If you are using my build scripts then a few more settings will be
325 changed and then a copy of setup.h is placed in a subdir of
326 %WXWIN%\\lib\vc_dll. If you are doing it by hand and making a
327 UNICODE build, then also change these::
332 If you are doing a "hybrid" build (which is the same as the
333 binaries that I release) then also change these::
335 wxUSE_MEMORY_TRACING 0
336 wxUSE_DEBUG_CONTEXT 0
339 4. Make sure that %WXDIR%\\lib\\vc_dll directory is on the PATH. The
340 wxWidgets DLLs will end up there as part of the build and so you'll
341 need it on the PATH for them to be found at runtime.
344 5. Change to the %WXDIR%\\build\\msw directory
346 cd %WXDIR%\\build\\msw
349 6. If using my scripts then use the .make.btm command to build
350 wxWidgets. It needs one command-line parameter which controls what
351 kind of build(s) to do. Use one of the following::
353 debug Build debug version
354 hybrid Build hybrid version
355 both Both debug and hybrid
356 debug-uni Build a debug unicode library
357 hybrid-uni Hybrid unicode (see the pattern yet? ;-)
358 both-uni and finally both unicode libraries
364 You can also pass additional command line parameters as needed and
365 they will all be passed on to the nmake commands, for example to
370 If *not* using my scripts then you can do it by hand by directly
371 executing nmake with a bunch of extra command line parameters.
374 -f makefile.vc OFFICIAL_BUILD=1 SHARED=1 MONOLITHIC=1 USE_OPENGL=1
376 If doing a debug build then add::
380 otherwise add these::
382 DEBUG_FLAG=1 CXXFLAGS=/D__NO_VC_CRTDBG__ WXDEBUGFLAG=h BUILD=release
384 If doing a Unicode build then add these flags::
388 Now, from the %WXDIR%\\build\\msw directory run nmake with your
389 selection of command-line flags as described above. Repeat this
390 same command from the following directories in order to build the
393 %WXDIR%\contrib\build\gizmos
394 %WXDIR%\contrib\build\stc
397 7. When that is all done it will have built the main wxWidgets DLLs
398 and also some of the contribs DLLs. There should be a ton of DLLs
399 and lots of lib files and other stuff in %WXDIR%\\lib\\vc_dll.
402 8. Building wxPython on Windows is very similar to doing it for the
403 unix systems. We're not going to install the development version
404 of wxPython with these commands, so it won't impact your already
405 installed version of the latest release. You'll be able to test
406 with this version when you want to, and use the installed release
407 version the rest of the time. If you ever do want to install the
408 development version please refer to INSTALL.txt.
410 Change to the %WXDIR%\\wxPython dir and run the this command,
411 making sure that you use the version of python that you want to
412 build for (if you have more than one on your system) and to match
413 the MONOLITHIC flag with how you built wxWidgets::
416 python setup.py build_ext --inplace MONOLITHIC=1
418 If you are wanting to have the source files regenerated with swig,
419 then you need to turn on the USE_SWIG flag and optionally tell it
420 where to find the new swig executable, so add these flags::
422 USE_SWIG=1 SWIG=e:\projects\SWIG-cvs\swig.exe
424 If you built a Unicode version of wxWidgets and want to also build
425 the Unicode version of wxPython then add this flag::
429 If you have a debug version of Python and wxWidgets and want to
430 build a debug version of wxPython too, add the --debug flag to the
431 command line. You should then end up with a set of ``*_d.pyd``
432 files in the wx package and you'll have to run ``python_d.exe`` to
433 use them. The debug and hybrid(release) versions can coexist.
435 When the setup.py command is done you should have fully populated
436 wxPython and wx packages locally in %WXDIR%/wxPython/wxPython and
437 %WXDIR%/wxPython/wx, with all the extension modules (``*.pyd``
438 files) located in the wx package.
441 9. To run code with the development version of wxPython, just set the
442 PYTHONPATH to the wxPython dir in the CVS tree. For example::
444 set PYTHONPATH=%WXDIR%\wxPython
445 cd %WXDIR\wxPython\demo