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
31 You may also want to install following extensions:
32 - Qt Visual Studio Tools: enables preview of some Qt variables, like QString, while debugging
33 - Concurrency Visualizer for Visual Studio: graphically shows which thread does what and when
37 Download the latest Qt online installer for Open Source development on Windows
38 from https://qt.io/download-open-source/
39 Qt 5.12.x is recommended, but 5.9.x or later versions should work as well.
40 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
41 MSVC 2017 64-bit, depending on which versions of LyX you want to build.
42 Note, you dont need to Install the "old" 2017 build tools in Visual Studio installer,
43 the 2019 ones are compatible with MSVC 2017 kits installed with Qt.
44 Qt should install in C:\Qt.
48 Install the latest Python 3.x version from
49 https://www.python.org/downloads/
50 Assure that you use the installer option "Add Python 3.x to PATH"
51 If you install Python through Visual Studio installer, just find it under Settings > Apps,
52 select "Change" and enable the "Add to PATH" option; or add the path, in which the python.exe
53 is located manually to the PATH environment variable, should be something like:
54 C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Shared\Python37_64
58 Install the latest CMake from http://www.cmake.org
60 5 Download dependencies
62 Download the LyX for Windows build dependencies from
63 ftp.lyx.de/LyXWinInstaller/lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017.zip
64 and extract it e.g. to
65 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017
66 This is the later needed GNUWIN32 directory
72 - Set the source code path to C:\LyX\repo
73 Set the build path to e.g. C:\LyX\build
74 Click Configure and set the generator to "Visual Studio 16 2019".
75 Select the platform (Win32 or x64) you wish to compile for.
79 - You will now get an error about missing GNUWIN32 directory.
81 - Set GNUWIN32_DIR to the folder that contains the dependencies.
82 (This alternative does currently not work:
83 Enable LYX_DEPENDENCIES_DOWNLOAD and click Configure.
84 Pre-compiled dependencies will automatically be downloaded.)
86 - Set LYX_USE_QT to QT5.
88 - set CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH to the path of a Qt-kit
89 e.g. to C:\Qt\5.12.6\msvc2017_64 or C:\Qt\5.12.6\msvc2017 depending on which platform you have chosen
90 If you cant find this option, simply add a new entry of type "path" manually
92 - Enable the LYX_INSTALL option and click Configure.
98 A Microsoft Visual C++ solution should has been generated at
100 - Open the lyx.sln by double-clicking on it
101 - This solution file contains multiple projects in different folders.
102 - In solution explorer find the project "INSTALL" in the "CMakeTargets" folder, rightlick > Build
103 - If you get an error, that something has failed, try going Build > Build solution at the top menu bar
104 and then rebuild the INSTALL project
109 - Compiling the INSTALL project creates the folder C:\LyX\build\LYX_INSTALLED containing the files
112 - Copy these folders:
113 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017\bin
114 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017\imagemagick
115 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017\Python
116 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017\ghostscript
117 C:\LyX\lyx-windows-deps-msvc2017\Resources
118 to C:\LyX\build\LYX_INSTALLED
119 (allow the request to overwrite)
121 - Go to the Qt-kit directory, which you have specified as CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH, enter the bin folder
128 Qt5Cored.dll (if compiling Debug version)
129 Qt5Guid.dll (if compiling Debug version)
130 Qt5Svgd.dll (if compiling Debug version)
131 Qt5Widgetsd.dll (if compiling Debug version)
132 Qt5WinExtrasd.dll (if compiling Debug version)
133 to C:\LyX\build\LYX_INSTALLED\bin
135 - Go to the Qt-kit directory, which you have specified as CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH, enter the plugins folder
136 Copy these subdirectories:
141 to C:\LyX\build\LYX_INSTALLED\bin
145 C:\LyX\build\LYX_INSTALLED\bin\lyx.exe
147 10 Define path prefix
149 In LyX use the menu Tools->Preferences
150 There input the the following the the field "Path prefix":
152 "$LyXDir\bin;$LyXDir\Python;$LyXDir\imagemagick;$LyXDir\ghostscript"
154 You may also add the location of your LaTeX installation if it's not on the
155 system PATH, and the location of JabRef.
163 - In Solution Explorer open applications\LyX\LyX\main.cpp, the main function is the entry point,
164 you can e.g. place breakpoints in there.
166 - On the menu bar in Solution Explorer there is a button "Switch Views", click on that and choose "Folder view"
167 (to go back to normal view, click Switch Views again and choose "LyX.sln")
169 - In folder view find "LyX.exe" in "LYX_INSTALLED\bin" folder, rightclick > Set as Startup Item
171 - Start debugging with F5, clicking the Debug button (it shows now "LyX.exe") or rigchtlicking on LyX.exe in
172 Solution Explorer - Folder View and choosing "Debug".
173 (Starting debugging will have to be always with active Folder View. Attempting to start debugging with
174 normal view active will start LyX.exe located in e.g. C:\LyX\build\bin\Debug, it won't find the dependencies
175 and will therefore fail. Once debugging has started you can switch back to normal view of the Solution Explorer)
177 - Don't forget to build the INSTALL project each time you change the source code.
180 Creating a patch file containing a bugfix
181 =========================================
183 If you managed to fix a bug but dont have the rights to push your commits, you will want to create a patch file
184 and share it with other developers. To do so you will have to do following:
186 - Make sure you are working on the newest versions, pull from git before you start bugfixing.
188 - 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
189 put the Ticket nr. as description.
191 - Use this command in git bash:
192 git format-patch -1 HEAD
193 it will create a patch file in your repository folder, this is what you share.
196 Creating the Installer
197 ======================
199 - The installer is done with NSIS from http://nsis.sourceforge.net
200 - In the LyX source directory, go to development\Win32\packaging\installer
201 - Follow the steps in the file Readme.txt
204 Compiling with GCC with MinGW64 + MSYS2 Environment using autotools
205 ===================================================================
206 1 Install MSYS2, MINGW64, Qt5+
207 https://wiki.qt.io/MSYS2
208 2 Install bc (Bench calculater), which autotools uses for some reason to compile LyX
210 3 Run the standard autotools install (Adapt paths and arguments accordingly)
212 ./configure --without-x --enable-qt5 --disable-debug --enable-optimization --prefix=/mingw64
217 Cross-Compiling on unix with MXE using autotools
218 =================================================
219 1 Install MXE: http://mxe.cc
220 You can either install from sources, the generic .tar binaries or debian .deb packages.
221 Installing the following .deb packages will drag in all needed dependencies:
222 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-file
223 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-gcc
224 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-libiconv
225 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-qtimageformats
226 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-qtsvg
227 mxe-x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared-qtwinextras
228 Of course you can also use the static and/or 32bit versions.
229 2 Run the standard autotools install (Adapt paths and arguments accordingly)
233 PATH="/usr/lib/mxe/usr/bin:$PATH" ../configure --host=x86-64-w64-mingw32.shared --with-qt-dir=/usr/lib/mxe/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32.shared/qt5 --enable-qt5 --with-included-boost --with-included-hunspell --with-included-mythes --disable-debug --enable-optimization --prefix=/mingw64
234 PATH="/usr/lib/mxe/usr/bin:$PATH" make
235 PATH="/usr/lib/mxe/usr/bin:$PATH" DESTDIR=/tmp/lyxinstall make install
236 This uses the paths from the 64bit shared MXE version installed from .deb packages.
237 3 If you want to run the resulting lyx.exe from the build directory using wine,
238 create symlinks for all needed .dlls:
239 cd builddir-mingw/src
240 ln -s /usr/lib/mxe/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32.shared/bin/*.dll .
241 ln -s /usr/lib/mxe/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32.shared/qt5/bin/*.dll .