Compiling LyX 2.1 for Win32 and creating Windows installer ========================================================== It's recommended to compile LyX using Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 and CMake. Pre-compiled packages with dependencies are provided for this environment. Compiling with Microsoft Visual C++ =================================== These instructions assume the LyX source code is in C:\LyX\lyx-21 You can also use another directory if you prefer. 1 Install MSVC 2010 If you don't have Visual C++ 2010 installed, get the free Express edition from http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/ (All dependencies are linked against the MSVC 2010 runtime and won't work in combination with MSVC 2008. You'll get crashes and other unexpected issues.) 2 Install Qt Download the latest Qt for Open Source C++ development on Windows (VS2010) from http://qt-project.org/downloads 3 Install Python Install the latest Python 2.x version (not Python 3.x !) from http://www.python.org/download/ 4 Install CMake Install the latest CMake from http://www.cmake.org 5 Configure - Run the CMake GUI. - Set the source code path to C:\LyX\lyx-21 Set the build path to C:\LyX\lyx-21-build Click Configure and set the generator to Visual Studio 10. - Enable LYX_DEPENDENCIES_DOWNLOAD and click Configure. Pre-compiled dependencies will automatically be downloaded. - Set QT_QMAKE_EXECUTABLE to e.g. C:\Qt\qt-everywhere-opensource-src-4.8.4\bin\qmake.exe and Configure again. - Enable the LYX_INSTALL option, set CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX to C:\LyX\lyx-21-install and click Configure. - Check the Advanced checkbox. Set GETTEXT_MSGFMT_EXECUTABLE to C:\LyX\lyx-21-build\msvc2010-deps\deps21\gettext-tools\msgfmt.exe, and do the same for the other gettext tools. - Click Generate. 6 Compile A Microsoft Visual C++ solution should have been generated at C:\LyX\lyx-21-build\lyx.sln Compile the INSTALL project to get a LyX installation in C:\LyX\lyx-21-install 7 Copy dependencies Copy - C:\LyX\lyx-21-build\msvc2010-deps\deps21\bin - C:\LyX\lyx-21-build\msvc2010-deps\deps21\imagemagick - C:\LyX\lyx-21-build\msvc2010-deps\deps21\python - C:\LyX\lyx-21-build\msvc2010-deps\deps21\ghostscript - C:\LyX\lyx-21-build\msvc2010-deps\deps21\Resources to C:\LyX\lyx-21-install And copy from the Qt bin directory (e.g. C:\Qt\bin) QtCore4.dll QtGui4.dll QtCore4d.dll (if compiling Debug version) QtGui4d.dll (if compiling Debug version) to C:\LyX\lyx-21-install\bin 8 Define path prefix Add the following line to C:\LyX\lyx-21-install\Resources\lyxrc.dist, so LyX will find the bundled tools such as Python, ImageMagick and Ghostscript: \path_prefix "$LyXDir\bin;$LyXDir\python;$LyXDir\imagemagick;$LyXDir\ghostscript" You may also add the location of your LaTeX installation if it's not on the system PATH, and the location of JabRef. 9 Start LyX C:\LyX\lyx-21-install\bin\lyx.exe Creating the Installer ====================== - Get NSIS from http://nsis.sourceforge.net - In the LyX source directory, go to development\Win32\packaging\installer - Copy the 3 dll-files from there to the DLL folder of the NSIS installation - Check whether the file locations/paths in settings.nsh match your setup. - Right-click on lyx.nsi and click "Compile NSIS Script".