View source for Win32Compile

This page will help you to compile {{VLC}} for [[Windows]].

== Building Methods ==

If you want to build VLC from source, you have several choices: 

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Method 
! Documentation 
! Notes
|-
| '''MinGW on Linux''' 
| [[Win32Compile#Obtaining_the_toolchain|Obtaining the toolchain]]
| '''Preferred''' method (uses cross compilation). On Windows, you should do it in a virtual machine.
|-
| '''[http://www.mingw.org MSYS+MinGW]''' on Windows
| [[Win32CompileMSYS|Compile with MSys]] 
| '''Native''' compilation method. MSYS is a minimal build environment to compile Unixish projects under Microsoft Windows.
|-
| '''Cygwin''' on Windows
| [[Win32CompileCygwinNew|Compile with Cygwin]] 
| Build using cygwin as your compile environment. '''Error''' prone, and '''slow'''.
|}

== Obtaining the cross-compilation toolchain  ==

=== Compiler and binary toolchain ===

==== Mingw-w64 ====
To compile VLC for Windows (32-bits or 64-bits), the Mingw-w64 toolchain is required:

* '''Debian/Ubuntu''': run <code>apt-get install gcc-mingw-w64-i686 g++-mingw-w64-i686 mingw-w64-tools</code>
(on Debian you must be on wheezy or above to find this package)

==== Mingw32 ====
Up to versions 2.0.x, VLC was compiled with the older mingw32 toolchain, which only supports 32-bits Windows. If you have problems with mingw-w64, you can try mingw32 instead:

* '''Debian/Ubuntu''': run <code>apt-get install gcc-mingw32 mingw32-binutils</code>. Note that at least version 3.17 of Mingw32 is required, which Debian does not provide. You may obtain mingw32-runtime-3.17 [http://people.videolan.org/~jb/debian/mingw32-runtime_3.17.0-0videolan_all.deb here].
* '''Gentoo''' users can <code>emerge crossdev &amp;&amp; crossdev mingw32</code>
* '''ArchLinux''' users can <code>pacman -S mingw32-gcc</code>
* '''Fedora''' users should read [[Win32Compile Under Fedora]]
* Other '''Linux''' systems may attempt http://www.mingw.org/wiki/LinuxCrossMinGW

=== Development tools ===
You will also need:
* lua (5.1 or 5.2)
* all autotools: libtool, automake, autoconf, autopoint, make, gettext
* pkg-config
* qt4-dev-tools
* git
* subversion
* cmake, cvs if you want to rebuild contribs
* zip [for creating .zip package], p7zip [for .7z package], nsis [for .exe auto-installer], bzip2 [for 'make prebuild]

=== Host triplet ===
A number of example commands below include the identifier of the toolchain. This value is '''essential''': it instructs the build system to use the correct toolchain and compile the program for Windows. Without the value, the build system will perform a native compilation for Linux (or whatever your computer runs). With an incorrect value, the build will fail.

This is known as the ''host triplet'', although it's more of a pair than a triplet in the case of Mingw. The exact value depends on your installation of the toolchain. Notably on Debian/Ubuntu, these values must be used:

* ''i686-w64-mingw32'' for Windows 32-bits, using the Mingw-w64 toolchain
* ''x86_64-w64-mingw32'' for Windows 64-bits, using the Mingw-w64 toolchain
* ''i586-mingw32msvc'' for Windows 32-bits, using the Mingw32 toolchain

Again, you '''MUST''' substitute the value in the following command snippets.

== Get the source code ==
 $ git clone git://git.videolan.org/vlc.git vlc

See [[Git]] for more information.

== Go into the VLC directory ==
 $ cd vlc

== Prepare [[Contrib Status|3rd party libraries]]  ==

Before compiling VLC, you need lots of other libraries. Here is how to get them: 

  $ mkdir -p contrib/win32
  $ cd contrib/win32
  $ ../bootstrap --host=i686-w64-mingw32
  $ make prebuilt

or, if you want to compile the contribs yourself and are feeling adventurous and have lots of time to burn,
  # apt-get install subversion yasm cvs cmake

  $ mkdir -p contrib/win32
  $ cd contrib/win32
  $ ../bootstrap --host=i686-w64-mingw32
  $ make fetch
  $ make

=== Linux 64-bit ===

If you are on Linux '''64-bit''', you '''SHOULD''' remove some files, or install the lib32 packages (ia32-libs, multilibs, etc...)

  $ rm -f ../i686-w64-mingw32/bin/moc ../i686-w64-mingw32/bin/uic ../i686-w64-mingw32/bin/rcc

In addition, install the ''qt4-tools'' package.

=== Fix your contrib path ===

If your Mingw prefix is not ''i686-w64-mingw32'' (you are NOT on Debian or Ubuntu), create a symlink to contribs:
  $ ln -sf ../i686-w64-mingw32 ../i486-mingw32

=== Go Back  ===

Go back to the VLC source directory: 

  $ cd -

== Configuring the build  ==

=== Bootstrap ===
First, prepare the tree:
  $ ./bootstrap

=== Configure ===
Then you can to configure the build with the <code>./configure</code> script. 

Create a subfolder:
  $ mkdir win32 && cd win32

Use the standard configuration: 
 $ ../extras/package/win32/configure.sh --host=i686-w64-mingw32
'''NB''': use '''YOUR''' Xcompiling prefix here, like ''i486-mingw32''


Alternatively, you can run configure manually:
 $ ../configure --host=i686-w64-mingw32
See <code>'../configure --help'</code> for more information.

== Building VLC  ==

Once configured, to build VLC, just run:
  $ make

== Packaging VLC ==
Once the compilation is done, you can build self-contained VLC packages with the following <code>make</code> rules: 

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Command 
! Description
|-
| <code>make package-win-common</code>
| Creates a subdirectory named <code>vlc-x.x.x</code> with all the binaries. You can run VLC directly from this directory.
|-
| <code>make package-win-strip</code>
| Same as above but will create 'stripped' binaries (that is, smallest size, unusable with a debugger).
|-
| <code>make package-win32-7zip</code>
| Same as above but will package the directory in a 7z file.
|-
| <code>make package-win32-zip</code>
| Same as above but will package the directory in a zip file.
|-
| <code>make package-win32</code>
| Same as above but will also create an auto-installer package. You must have NSIS installed in its default location for this to work.
|}

'''''Well done—you're ready to use VLC!''''' 

[[Category:Building]]