Win32CompileMSYSOld

This page is obsolete and kept only for historical interest. It may document features that are obsolete, superseded, or irrelevant. Do not rely on the information here being up-to-date. Additional information: Use Win32CompileMSYSNew

MSYS/MinGW environment for Windows from http://developers.videolan.org/vlc/msys-compile.txt

MSYS/MinGW environment

Setting up a working MSYS/MinGW environment requires the following:

• MSYS installation
• Updating MSYS
• MSYS DTK (Developer Tool Kit)
• Updating bash (shell)
• MinGW installation
• Configuration of fstab
• Creation of home folder

Note that the following generic resource locations were used to download the appropriate packages (and more recent versions might be obtained from here):

MSYS/MinGW related

nasm

SDL

zip

pkg-config

sed

Minimal SYStem (MSYS) installation

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/MSYS-1.0.11-2004.04.30-1.exe

Perform a basic installation into C:\msys

Do not continue with the post install (this will be done later).

Update MSYS

Update MSYS to a more recent version

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/MSYS-1.0.11-20060807.tar.bz2

Extract the .tar.bz2 file, it contains the following files:

mount.exe
msys-1.0.dll
ps.exe

Copy the files to:

C:\msys\bin

This will overwrite/update the version(s) used in MSYS.

MSYS DTK (Developer Tool Kit)

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/msysDTK-1.0.1.exe

Perform a basic installation into C:\msys

Updating BASH

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/bash-3.1-MSYS-1.0.11-snapshot.tar.bz2

Extract the .tar.bz2 file, in the bin subfolder it contains the following files:

bash.exe
sh.exe

Copy the files to:

C:\msys\bin

This will overwrite/update the sh.exe version used in MSYS

MinGW

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/MinGW-5.0.3.exe

Select the download option.

Do not install with "Current" MinGW packages but select "Candidate".

Select the following components to install:

MinGW base tools (autoselected)
g++ compiler

Then installation will finish downloading automatically.

Run MinGW-5.0.3.exe again and select the download and install option to restart the installation.

Selet "Candidate" still and select the same components to install.

Perform the installation into the default destination:

C:\msys\mingw

The following versions (or possibly newer) of the candidate packages will be downloaded and installed:

mingw-runtime-3.10.tar.gz
w32api-3.7.tar.gz
binutils-2.16.91-20060119-1.tar.gz
gcc-core-3.4.5-20060117-1.tar.gz
gcc-g++-3.4.5-20060117-1.tar.gz

(It is also possible to get these packages seperately and extract them to C:\msys\mingw)

Configuring fstab

The folder C:\msys\etc contains the following file:

fstab.sample

Copy the file to:

fstab

Open the file with a text editor and change the path value for the mingw mount point from:

c:/mingw to c:/msys/mingw

Save the file.

Starting MSYS

The first time MSYS is started, a "home" folder is created, for example:

C:\msys\home\Administrator

Installing additional packages

The following packages are required for building VLC

• Wget
• Iconv
• Gettext
• MinGW utils
• Libtool
• Autoconf
• Automake
• Zip
• Coreutils

WGet

Wget is required for building from the "extras/contrib" or mingwPORT packages.

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/wget-1.9.1-mingwPORT.tar.bz2

Although this is a mingwPORT package it already has a precompiled wget on board.

Extract the .tar.bz2 file. It contains the following file in the bin subfolder:

wget.exe

Copy the file to:

C:\msys\mingw\bin

Iconv (GNU libiconv)

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/libiconv-1.8.0-2003.02.01-1.exe

Perform a basic installation into the default destination Folder

C:\msys\mingw

Updating Iconv

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/libiconv-1.10-mingwPORT.tar.bz2

Extract the .tar.bz2 file. Copy the contents into your home folder in MSYS

C:\msys\home\Administrator (example)

Start the MSYS shell and do the following commands:

cd libiconv-1.10-mingwPORT/libiconv-1.10/mingwPORT

mkdir -p /usr/src/libiconv-1.10

./mingwPORT.sh 

Follow the default installation.

If all went well all the appropriate libraries should be installed/built and placed into c:/msys/mingw/lib.

NOTE: For some unknown reason usage of Iconv fails when 1.10 is installed directly without having installed 1.8.0.

Gettext

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/gettext-0.16.1-1-bin.tar.bz2 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/gettext-0.16.1-1-dll.tar.bz2

Untar both of these packets and copy the files in the subdirectories under gettext-0.16.1-1-bin/usr/local and gettext-0.16.1-1-dll/usr/local to the corresponding subdirectories under C:\msys\mingw. For example:

      copy gettext-0.16.1-1-bin/usr/local/lib/*.* to  C:\msys\mingw\lib\
      copy gettext-0.16.1-1-dll/usr/local/bin/*.* to  C:\msys\mingw\bin\
     ......................................................

Note:

  The latest VLC from svn requires gettext-0.16.xx to build.

MinGW Utils

The unix2dos tool from this package is required during the "make package" process of VLC for some conversion of txt files.

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/mingw-utils-0.3.tar.gz

Extract the .tar.gz file. it contains the following file in the bin subfolder:

unix2dos.exe

Copy the file to:

C:\msys\mingw\bin

Libtool

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/libtool-1.5.22-mingwPORT.tar.bz2

Extract the .tar.bz2 file. Copy the contents into your home folder in MSYS

C:\msys\home\Administrator (example)

Start the MSYS shell and do the following commands:

cd libtool-1.5.22-mingwPORT/libtool-1.5.22/mingwPORT

mkdir -p /usr/src/libtool-1.5.22

./mingwPORT.sh 

Follow the default installation.

If all went well all the appropriate libraries should be installed/built and placed into c:/msys/mingw/lib.

Autoconf

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/autoconf-2.59-mingwPORT.tar.bz2

Extract the .tar.bz2 file. Copy the contents into your home folder in MSYS

C:\msys\home\Administrator (example)

Start the MSYS shell and do the following commands:

cd autoconf-2.59-mingwPORT/autoconf-2.59/mingwPORT

mkdir -p /usr/src/autoconf-2.59

./mingwPORT.sh 

Follow the default installation.

If all went well all the appropriate libraries should be installed/built and placed into c:/msys/mingw/lib.

Updating autoconf from contrib

VLC 0.8.6 and later (including 0.9.0 svn/development) require an autoconf version of 2.60 or greater.

If during the configure process the following msg appears it's time to update:

"Hey, your autoconf is quite old. Update it".

Open your MSYS shell:

cd vlc-trunk/extras/contrib

./bootstrap

cd src

make .autoconf

Automake

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/automake-1.9.5-mingwPORT.tar.bz2

Extract the .tar.bz2 file. Copy the contents into your home folder in MSYS

C:\msys\home\Administrator (example)

Start the MSYS shell and do the following commands:

cd automake-1.9.5-mingwPORT/automake-1.9.5/mingwPORT

mkdir -p /usr/src/automake-1.9.5

./mingwPORT.sh 

Follow the default installation.

If all went well all the appropriate libraries should be installed/built and placed into c:/msys/mingw/lib.

Zip

Zip is required for making .zip packages...

http://www.info-zip.org/

ftp://ftp.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/WIN32/zip232xN.zip

Extract the .zip. It contains the following file in the bin subfolder:

zip.exe

Copy the file to:

C:\msys\bin

Coreutils

The whoami tool from this package is required for "svn builds".

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/coreutils-5.97-MSYS-1.0.11-snapshot.tar.bz2

Extract the .tar.bz2 file. it contains the following file in the bin subfolder:

whoami.exe

Copy the file to:

C:\msys\mingw\bin

Optional packages

GDB (optional)

GDB is used for debugging purposes.

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/gdb-6.3-2.exe

Perform an installation into the folder

C:\msys\mingw

ZLib (optional)

Zlib is a required package in combination with the Gpac package for .avs and .mp4 output support when building the x264 library.

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/zlib-1.2.3-mingwPORT-1.tar.bz2

Extract the .tar.bz2 file. Copy the contents into your home folder in MSYS

C:\msys\home\Administrator (example)

Start the MSYS shell and do the following commands:

cd zlib-1.2.3-mingwPORT/zlib-1.2.3/mingwPORT

mkdir -p /usr/src/zlib-1.2.3

./mingwPORT.sh 

Follow the default installation.

If all went well all the appropriate libraries should be installed/built and placed into c:/msys/mingw.

Updating SDL from mingwPORT (optional)

SDL support is required when building ffplay from the FFmpeg package.

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/SDL-1.2.8-mingwPORT.tar.bz2

Extract the .tar.bz2 file. Copy the contents into your home folder in MSYS

C:\msys\home\SDL-1.2.8-mingwPORT (example)

Start the MSYS shell and do the following commands:

cd SDL-1.2.8-minwPORT/SDL-1.2.8/mingwPORT

mkdir -p /usr/src/SDL-1.2.8

./mingwPORT.sh 

Follow the default installation.

If all went well all the appropriate libraries should be installed/built and placed into /usr/local/lib.

Updating SDL (optional)

http://www.libsdl.org/release/SDL-1.2.11.tar.gz

Extract the .tar.gz file. Copy the contents into your home folder in MSYS

C:\msys\home\SDL-1.2.11 (example)

Start the MSYS shell and do the following commands:

cd SDL-1.2.11

./configure

make

make install

If all went well all the appropriate libraries should be installed/built and placed into /usr/local/lib.

Nasm (optional)

The Netwide assembler (nasm) is required for building the x264 library.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=6208

Download the latest win32 binaries:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/nasm/nasm-0.98.39-win32.zip?download

Extract the .zip. It contains the following file in the bin subfolder:

nasmw.exe

Rename the file to nasm.exe and copy it to the following location:

C:\msys\mingw\bin

GPAC (optional)

GPAC is required for building the x264 library with mp4 output support.

Start the MSYS shell and do the following commands:

cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@gpac.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/gpac co -P gpac

This will download the latest GPAC version from CVS.

cd gpac

./configure

make install-lib

TODO: copy GPAC files to appropriate folder automagically.

x264 (optional)

Start the MSYS shell and do the following commands:

svn co svn://svn.videolan.org/x264/trunk x264-trunk

cd x264-trunk

For generic purposes:

./configure

make

For VLC:

./configure --prefix=/usr/win32

make

make install

This will copy the appropriate libs and .h to the prefix folder which will also be used by VLC for building the contrib

For compiling "stand-alone with mp4 output support" (this requires GPAC):

./configure --enable-mp4-output

make

If you wish to compile FFmpeg stand-alone with x264 support then also do this

make install

This will copy the appropriate libs and .h files to the default /usr/lib and /usr/include

FFmpeg (optional)

Start the MSYS shell and do the following commands:

svn co svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg-trunk

cd ffmpeg-trunk

For generic purposes:

./configure --enable-mingw32 --enable-memalign-hack \
   --enable-gpl --enable-pp

make

For compiling with x264 support:

(This assumes you did a "make install" for x264 which will have copied the appropriate lib and .h files into lib/include).

./configure --enable-mingw32 --enable-memalign-hack \
   --extra-cflags=-I/usr/local/include \
   --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/local/lib \
   --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-x264

make

For compiling into VLC:

(This does not need x264 lib in FFmpeg since VLC uses that directly, also prefix and extra flags are used to point to the "contrib" folder):

./configure --enable-mingw32 --enable-memalign-hack \
   --extra-cflags=-I/usr/win32/include \
   --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/win32/lib \
   --prefix=/usr/win32 \
   --enable-faac --enable-mp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-pp

make

make install-libs install-headers

This will copy all the appropriate libs and .h files into usr/win32/include and lib so they can be used by VLC compilation.

FAQ

Various troubleshooting issues..

Make .qt4 from extras/contrib

Fails on:

checking for libmpeg2.a in /home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/./extras/contrib/src/mpeg2dec... no
configure: error: cannot cd to /home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/./extras/contrib/src/mpeg2dec

Workaround: configure with

--without-contrib

Make package-win32-zip

Fails on:

sed -i 's%share/osdmenu%osdmenu%g' ./vlc-0.9.0-svn/osdmenu/*.cfg
sed: invalid option -- i

Workaround: compile sed 4.09 (any newer versions fail to compile on missing alloca)

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/sed/sed-4.0.9.tar.gz

use the newer sed version in c:\msys\mingw\bin and rename the old one to sed3.exe or something

ONLY use the 4.09 sed to do a make package-win32-zip, it will fail to compile VLC source (so after it finishes, you have to copy the old version back again).

So in conclusion:

make package-win32-zip fails with sed 3.02 on -i
make autoconf fails with sed 4.09 on -E
sed 4.10+ requires glib
glib requires pkgconfig but pkgconfig requires glib?!

Warnings during configure

Using contrib from 20061015 still a lot of warnings during configure:

checking dynamic linker characteristics... ./configure: line 14697: f77: command not found
./configure: line 14825: f77: command not found

configure: WARNING: libshout library not found
configure: WARNING: MusicBrainz library not found
configure: WARNING: CD Reading and information library not found
configure: WARNING: VCD information library not found
configure: WARNING: new enough libcddb not found. CDDB access disabled

checking for mpcdec/mpcdec.h... yes
configure: WARNING: only static linking is available, you must provide a gme-tree

./configure: line 54814: --exists: command not found

configure: WARNING: Probe disc disabled because ok libcdio library not found
configure: WARNING: VCD information on Probe disc disabled because ok
libvcdinfo not found
configure: WARNING: QT4 library not found
configure: WARNING: DAAP library not found
configure: WARNING: avahi-client library not found

Can not write to output file with unix2dos

unix2dos: converting file ./vlc-0.9.0-svn/AUTHORS.txt to DOS format ...
unix2dos: can not write to output file
unix2dos: problems converting file ./vlc-0.9.0-svn/AUTHORS.txt
unix2dos: converting file ./vlc-0.9.0-svn/MAINTAINERS.txt to DOS format ...
unix2dos: converting file ./vlc-0.9.0-svn/THANKS.txt to DOS format ...
unix2dos: can not write to output file

Workaround: Load file in emacs and do

 M-x set-buffer-file-coding-system RET undecided-dos

or

 C-x RET f undecided-dos

and then save the file (C-x C-s)

Version

• 20060926 Initial version
• 20060928 Reworked layout
• 20061011 Added troubleshooting section
• 20061119 Added FFmpeg and x264. Removed unicode warning from troubleshooting
• 20070113 WIKI version