1 Compiling LyX 2.4 for Win32 and creating Windows installer
2 ==========================================================
4 It's recommended to compile LyX using Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 and CMake.
7 Compiling with Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC)
8 ===================================
10 The easiest way to install LyX with MSVC is to follow this Wiki page:
12 http://wiki.lyx.org/Windows/Compilation
14 If you find there any errors please write a mail to the lyx-devel mailing list.
16 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
18 The following instructions assume the LyX source code is in C:\LyX\repo
19 You can also use another directory if you prefer.
20 For repository cloning and version control you can use Git https://git-scm.com/download/win
21 or the Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019
25 If you don't have Visual C++ 2019 installed, get the free Community edition
26 from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/thank-you-downloading-visual-studio/?sku=Community&rel=16
27 You will need the Workload "Desktopdevelopment with C++" and you can also install Python 3
28 (either selecting Python-Development workload or just Python 3 in the individual components tab)
29 in the Visual Studio installer, so that you don't have to install it separately
33 Download the latest Qt online installer for Open Source development on Windows
34 from https://qt.io/download-open-source/
35 Qt 5.12.x is recommended, but 5.9.x or later versions should work as well.
36 The newest Qt is 5.12.6, in the installer you will need to expand that category and mark MSVC 2017 32-bit and/or
37 MSVC 2017 64-bit, depending on which versions of LyX you want to build.
38 Note, you dont need to Install the "old" 2017 build tools in Visual Studio installer,
39 the 2019 ones are compatible with MSVC 2017 kits installed with Qt.
40 Qt should install in C:\Qt.
44 Install the latest Python 3.x version from
45 https://www.python.org/downloads/
46 Assure that you use the installer option "Add Python 3.x to PATH"
47 If you install Python through Visual Studio installer, just find it under Settings > Apps,
48 select "Change" and enable the "Add to PATH" option; or add the path, in which the python.exe
49 is located manually to the PATH environment variable, should be something like:
50 C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Shared\Python37_64
54 Install the latest CMake from http://www.cmake.org
56 5 Download dependencies
58 Download the LyX for Windows build dependencies from
59 ftp.lyx.de/LyXWinInstaller/lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017.zip
60 and extract it e.g. to
61 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017
62 This is the later needed GNUWIN32 directory
68 - Set the source code path to C:\LyX\repo
69 Set the build path to e.g. C:\LyX\build
70 Click Configure and set the generator to "Visual Studio 16 2019".
71 Select the platform (Win32 or x64) you wish to compile for.
75 - You will now get an error about missing GNUWIN32 directory.
77 - Set GNUWIN32_DIR to the folder that contains the dependencies.
78 (This alternative does currently not work:
79 Enable LYX_DEPENDENCIES_DOWNLOAD and click Configure.
80 Pre-compiled dependencies will automatically be downloaded.)
82 - Set LYX_USE_QT to QT5.
84 - set CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH to the path of a Qt-kit
85 e.g. to C:\Qt\5.12.6\msvc2017_64 or C:\Qt\5.12.6\msvc2017 depending on which platform you have chosen
86 If you cant find this option, simply add a new entry of type "path" manually
88 - Enable the LYX_INSTALL option and click Configure.
94 A Microsoft Visual C++ solution should has been generated at
96 - Open the lyx.sln by double-clicking on it
97 - This solution file contains multiple projects in different folders.
98 - In solution explorer find the project "INSTALL" in the "CMakeTargets" folder, rightlick > Build
99 - If you get an error, that something has failed, try going Build > Build solution at the top menu bar
100 and then rebuild the INSTALL project
105 - Compiling the INSTALL project creates the folder C:\LyX\build\LYX_INSTALLED containing the files
108 - Copy these folders:
109 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017\bin
110 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017\imagemagick
111 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017\Python
112 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017\ghostscript
113 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017\Resources
114 to C:\LyX\build\LYX_INSTALLED
115 (allow the request to overwrite)
117 - Go to the Qt-kit directory, which you have specified as CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH, enter the bin folder
124 Qt5Cored.dll (if compiling Debug version)
125 Qt5Guid.dll (if compiling Debug version)
126 Qt5Svgd.dll (if compiling Debug version)
127 Qt5Widgetsd.dll (if compiling Debug version)
128 Qt5WinExtrasd.dll (if compiling Debug version)
129 to C:\LyX\build\LYX_INSTALLED\bin
131 - Go to the Qt-kit directory, which you have specified as CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH, enter the plugins folder
132 Copy these subdirectories:
137 to C:\LyX\build\LYX_INSTALLED\bin
141 C:\LyX\build\LYX_INSTALLED\bin\lyx.exe
143 10 Define path prefix
145 In LyX use the menu Tools->Preferences
146 There input the the following the the field "Path prefix":
148 "$LyXDir\bin;$LyXDir\Python;$LyXDir\imagemagick;$LyXDir\ghostscript"
150 You may also add the location of your LaTeX installation if it's not on the
151 system PATH, and the location of JabRef.
159 - In Solution Explorer open applications\LyX\LyX\main.cpp, the main function is the entry point,
160 you can e.g. place breakpoints in there.
162 - On the menu bar in Solution Explorer there is a button "Switch Views", click on that and choose "Folder view"
163 (to go back to normal view, click Switch Views again and choose "LyX.sln")
165 - In folder view find "LyX.exe" in "LYX_INSTALLED\bin" folder, rightclick > Set as Startup Item
167 - Start debugging with F5, clicking the Debug button (it shows now "LyX.exe") or rigchtlicking on LyX.exe in
168 Solution Explorer - Folder View and choosing "Debug".
169 (Starting debugging will have to be always with active Folder View. Attempting to start debugging with
170 normal view active will start LyX.exe located in e.g. C:\LyX\build\bin\Debug, it won't find the dependencies
171 and will therefore fail. Once debugging has started you can switch back to normal view of the Solution Explorer)
174 Creating a patch file containing a bugfix
175 =========================================
177 If you managed to fix a bug but dont have the rights to push your commits, you will want to create a patch file
178 and share it with other developers. To do so you will have to do following:
180 - Make sure you are working on the newest versions, pull from git before you start bugfixing.
182 - After fixing a bug create a commit (it will be on your local repo and not on server), if there is a bugreport for it
183 put the Ticket nr. as description.
185 - Use this command in git bash:
186 git format-patch -1 HEAD
187 it will create a patch file in your repository folder, this is what you share.
190 Creating the Installer
191 ======================
193 - Get NSIS from http://nsis.sourceforge.net
194 - In the LyX source directory, go to development\Win32\packaging\installer
195 - Follow the steps in the file Readme.txt
198 Compiling with GCC with MinGW64 + MSYS2 Environment using autotools
199 ===================================================================
200 1 Install MSYS2, MINGW64, Qt5+
201 https://wiki.qt.io/MSYS2
202 2 Install bc (Bench calculater), which autotools uses for some reason to compile LyX
204 3 Run the standard autotools install (Adapt paths and arguments accordingly)
206 ./configure --without-x --enable-qt5 --disable-debug --enable-optimization --prefix=/mingw64
211 Cross-Compiling on unix with MXE using autotools
212 =================================================
213 1 Install MXE: http://mxe.cc
214 You can either install from sources, the generic .tar binaries or debian .deb packages.
215 Installing the following .deb packages will drag in all needed dependencies:
216 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-file
217 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-gcc
218 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-libiconv
219 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-qtimageformats
220 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-qtsvg
221 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-qtwinextras
222 Of course you can also use the static and/or 32bit versions.
223 2 Run the standard autotools install (Adapt paths and arguments accordingly)
227 PATH="/usr/lib/mxe/usr/bin:$PATH" ../configure --host=x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared --with-qt-dir=/usr/lib/mxe/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32.shared/qt5 --enable-qt5 --with-included-boost --with-included-hunspell --with-included-mythes --disable-debug --enable-optimization --prefix=/mingw64
228 PATH="/usr/lib/mxe/usr/bin:$PATH" make
229 PATH="/usr/lib/mxe/usr/bin:$PATH" DESTDIR=/tmp/lyxinstall make install
230 This uses the paths from the 64bit shared MXE version installed from .deb packages.
231 3 If you want to run the resulting lyx.exe from the build directory using wine,
232 create symlinks for all needed .dlls:
233 cd builddir-mingw/src
234 ln -s /usr/lib/mxe/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32.shared/bin/*.dll .
235 ln -s /usr/lib/mxe/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32.shared/qt5/bin/*.dll .