1 =========================
2 Building LyX with SCons
3 =========================
8 The GNU Build System (autoconf, automake and make) has been used to build
9 and distribute lyx. These de facto *nix tools are readily available and
10 widely supported on the *nix systems, but not so under windows. They are
11 not necessarily easy to use and maintain (at least to non-m4 experts)
12 either. Because of these, a scons (http://www.scons.org) build system has
13 been set up as an alternative way to build lyx. As of writing, this system
14 only supports qt3 and qt4 frontends.
16 This file is organized as follows:
17 1. General usage of scons
18 2. *nix systems (Linux, Solaris and Mac OSX)
26 1. General usage of scons
27 =========================
33 Python >= 1.5.2 is required to run scons, but Python >= 2.3 is used by
34 lyx itself so the newer version is needed. Python is widely
35 available on non-windows systems. Windows users can download and install
36 python from http://www.python.org.
39 scons >= 0.96.92 is needed. You can either use a full system-wide scons
40 distribution or a light-weight one (called scons-local) installed along
41 with the lyx source tree. Both variants of scons are freely available
42 from http://www.scons.org. Note that LyX source may ship with scons-base
46 These include zlib (required), qt3 or qt4 (required), gettext
47 (optional), boost (optional), aspell (optional) and Aiksaurus
48 (optional). Please refer to the system-specific sections regarding the
49 availability and installation of them.
55 The scons system resides under development/scons. You can invoke it from
56 either development/scons by, for example:
57 > cd development/scons
58 > scons frontend=qt4 qt_dir=d:/qt4 -j3 lyx
59 or from top source directory by:
60 > scons -f development/scons/SConstruct frontend=qt4 all
62 There are three types of command line options:
63 * key=value are user options. They are used to tell scons which
64 frontend to use, whether or not use included boost libraries etc.
65 You can use 'scons -h' to list all of the options.
66 * parameters start with - or -- are scons options. Useful ones include
67 -j3 (with three threads) and --config=force (force reconfiguration).
68 * others options are targets, which are lyx objects to build.
74 Here I only list important options that you will likely use. Full option
75 list with detailed description and default value can be displayed using
78 Components to use/build:
80 * frontend=qt3/qt4: qt3 is the default for all *nix systems including
81 windows cygwin. qt4 is the default for windows/mingw and windows/
82 msvc. gtk is not currently supported.
83 * mode=debug/release: lyx will be built under the debug or release
84 directory, with different default build options.
85 * boost=included/system/auto: whether or not use included boost, system
86 boost, or try to detect system boost first. Note that boost=included
87 is safer if system boost has a different version from the included
89 * gettext=included/system/auto
90 * nls=yes/no whether or not enable natural language support.
91 * spell=aspell/pspell/ispell/auto: spell engine
94 Paths: Most of them will be probed if not specified.
96 * qt_dir: top level directory of qt (with at least subdirectory bin
97 containing commands uic and moc)
98 * qt_lib_path: path to the qt library, use only if there is no
100 * qt_inc_path: path to qt include directory, use only if there is no
102 * extra_inc_path, extra_inc_path1, extra_lib_path, extra_lib_path1:
103 additional paths to other libraries
104 * extra_bin_path: a convenient way to add an extra path to $PATH
109 * fast_start=yes/no: if true, bypass initial configuration step and use
110 existing src/config.h
111 * load_option=yes/no/opt1,opt2/-opt1,opt2: if true, load previously saved
112 command line options so you can run 'scons install' directly after a
113 long 'scons all' building command. You can load selected options using
114 load_option=opt1,opt2,... or exclude options using the - version of it.
115 * rebuild=target1,target2... By default, scons will exam all components
116 when you build lyx. You can free scons from some hard work and save
117 yourself some time by telling scons to rebuild only specified
118 component(s). rebuild=no, none, yes or all can be used as well.
119 * log_file: a log file of executed commands, default to scons_lyx.log
122 Installation options:
124 * prefix: directory where lyx will be installed
125 * exec_dir: directory where lyx binaries will be installed.
126 Default to $prefix/bin
127 * dest_dir: if specified, install to this directory instead of $prefix.
128 * version_suffix=yes/no/something : if specified, this suffix will be
129 appended to the user data directory.
132 Compiler choice and flags:
133 * use_vc: use msvc instead of mingw g++ under windows
134 * optimization: optimization flag to use (e.g. -O2)
135 * CC, LINK, CPP, CXX, CCFLAGS, LINKFLAGS etc: compiler commands and
136 flags. Setting CCFLAGS etc will replace default flags. These variables
137 can be set as environment variables as well.
143 You can specify one or more of the following targets:
145 Static libraries (names correspond to their directories):
146 boost, intl, support, mathed, insets, frontends, graphics,
147 controllers, client, qt3, qt4, lyxbase
149 tex2lyx, client, lyx, all = tex2lyx + client + lyx
151 po, install = all + po
155 Your built targets are put into $build_dir, which is debug (mode=debug),
156 release (mode=release) or any name specified via build_dir=name. The
157 directory structure is:
159 - common: most of the intermediate files, mostly object files
160 - libs: all static libraries
161 - qt3 etc: lyx executable built with the frontend
162 - executables: lyxclient, tex2lyx, lyx
164 MSVS projects will be put to development/scons (and you should invoke
165 scons from there for this target).
168 A typical working sequence:
169 ---------------------------
171 > cd development/scons
172 > scons frontend=qt4 qt_dir=/path/to/qt4
173 (build lyx, and all needed libraries...)
175 (build lyx, client and tex2lyx, options like qt_dir will be carried
177 > scons rebuild=lyxbase
178 (working on lyx_main.C, so only need to rebuild lyxbase)
180 (build again, only lyxbase will be rebuilt)
181 > scons fast_start=no --config=force
182 (need to regenerate src/config.h)
183 > scons prefix=/usr/site dest_dir=/install/dir
184 (lyx is built for /usr/site, but install to /install/dir)
187 2. *nix systems (Linux, Solaris and Mac OSX)
188 ============================================
190 Proper use of extra_inc_path, qt_dir etc should solve most of the
197 * install mingw with the following packages:
198 binutils-2.16.91-...tar.gz
199 gcc-core-3.4.5-...tar.gz
200 gcc-g++-3.4.5-...tar.gz
201 mingw-runtime-3.9.tar.gz
202 mingw-utils-0.3.tar.gz
207 * install the latest Qt official "open source" binary package for
208 Windows/Mingw (required)
210 * install mingw/zlib (required):
211 Download zlib binaries and developer files (zlib-1.2.3-bin.zip and
212 zlib-1.2.3-lib.zip) from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/zlib.htm .
214 * install iconv (optional):
215 Download libiconv from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/libiconv.htm
216 The complete package (without source) is recommended.
218 You may also try the windows binary (libiconv-x.x.x.bin.woe32.zip) of
219 iconv from one of the GNU mirrors listed in http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html.
221 * install gettext (optional):
222 Download gettext from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/gettext.htm
223 The complete package (without source) is recommended.
225 You may also try the windows binary (gettext-runtime-x.x.x.bin.woe32.zip
226 and gettext-tools-x.x.x.bin.woe32.zip) from one of the GNU mirrors
227 (e.g. http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/gnu/gettext/).
229 * install aspell (optional):
230 LyX uses aspell 0.60.4 and there is no, as of now, official windows
231 version. If you do not want to compile aspell from source by yourself,
232 your best bet is using Abdel's lyx 1.5.0svn experimental package located
233 at http://wiki.lyx.org/Windows/LyX150Experimental. The link to his
234 pre-built aspell package is http://younes.a.free.fr/Lyx-15-experimental
236 * install aiksaurus (optional):
237 Try to build aiksaurus from source (both mingw or msvc should work),
238 or look for pre-built package from the lyx 1.5.0svn experimental page.
240 * Open a mingw xterm, and start scons as usual.
242 Note: gettext, iconv and zlib are usually decompressed to c:/mingw so no
243 extra_inc_path etc is needed.
249 LyX should be easy to compile, but you must use the most recent cygwin
250 dll (version 1.5.20-1 as of July 2006) because the qt3 library in the
251 cygwin distribution does not work with previous versions due to broken
254 To build lyx for cygwin, you should
256 * install (using the cygwin setup program) at least the following
257 packages and all other packages pulled in by dependencies:
259 aspell gzip libiconv qt3-bin
260 aspell-dev jpeg libpng qt3-devel
262 gettext libintl1 jpeg
263 gettext-devel libintl2 python
265 * install aiksaurus (http://aiksaurus.sourceforge.net/, optional):
266 There is no cygwin package for aiksaurus, so you should build it from
267 source. However, aiksaurus builds smoothly on cygwin.
269 * run scons as you would do under linux.
271 Note: cygwin/qt does not follow the usual $qt_dir/include, $qt_dir/bin,
272 $qt_dir/lib directory structure. For example, cygwin/qt3 uses directories
273 /usr/include/qt3, /usr/lib/qt3/bin and /usr/lib/qt3/lib. If these
274 directories can not be detected automatically, use options, for example,
275 qt_dir=/usr/lib/qt3 qt_inc_path=/usr/include/qt3
281 To build lyx with msvc, you should
284 It is recommended that you use MSVC2005 Express edition which is
285 freely available from microsoft.
287 * get windows platform SDK
288 Please follow the link in the MSVC webpage to download and configure.
289 It is important that you add SDK paths to %INCLUDE% and %LIB% in, e.g.,
290 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat.
291 If you plan to use the MSVS IDE, you should also update the Visual C++
292 directories in VCProjectEngine.dll.express.config, as suggested in
293 http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/usingpsdk/.
296 - download qt3 source from Q../Free sourceforge.net website (not from
298 - compile qt3 as instructed
301 - download qt4 source from trolltech (not the binary version, which
302 only works with mingw)
303 - get q../free patch for qt4
304 - compile qt4 as instructed
306 * download and install the official zlib library from www.zlib.org.
308 * optionally install iconv, gettext, aspell, aiksaurus following
309 the mingw instructions.
311 * start from msvc command prompt, use the use_vc option to build lyx.
312 You may need to use extra_inc_path etc to point to zlib paths.
314 * you can use the msvs_projects target to obtain msvc project files
315 for each lyx component.
316 - go to development/scons (important)
318 > scons [other options] msvs_projects
320 - The resulting project files will use scons to build lyx
321 - All command line options, including rebuild, can be used as usual
322 (when msvs invoke scons).
323 - To use the msvc debugger, you have to use mode=debug (default).
329 * Using external boost libraries (install boost libraries and use
330 option boost=system) can speed up scons' starting time a lot, since
331 the boost headers will then be considered as system headers and will
332 not be included in the dependency tree.
338 When you get an error:
340 Q. Some path is not found.
341 A, Try options such as extra_inc_path, extra_lib_path.
343 Q. A test fails (failed to find zlib etc).
344 A. Have a look at config.log.
346 Q. I get a linking error.
347 A. Get the command sequence from scons_lyx.log and see what could
348 have gone wrong. You usually only need to tweak the last linking
351 Q. Still can not figure it out.
352 A. Send an email to lyx-devel mailing list.
354 Q. Feeling too impatient/adventurous to wait for list response.
355 A. Read SConstruct and SConscript and see what went wrong. Trust me, they
356 are much easier to decipher than the autoconf/m4 files.