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 involving cross-compilation from Linux. On computers running Microsoft Windows, a virtual machine is necessary to run Linux.
|-
| '''[http://www.mingw.org MSYS+MinGW]''' on Windows
| [[Win32CompileMSYS|Compile with MSys]] 
| '''Native''' compilation method. MSYS is a minimal build environment to compile Unix-style projects directly on Microsoft Windows. This is '''not officially supported''' by VideoLAN. Best of luck.
|-
| '''Cygwin''' on Windows
| [[Win32CompileCygwinNew|Compile with Cygwin]] 
| Cygwin method. Cygwin emulates a POSIX environment to compile on Microsoft Windows. This is '''error'''-prone and '''slow''' and therefore not recommended.
|}

== Obtaining the cross-compilation toolchain  ==
All this howto is focused on  '''Debian/Ubuntu'''. For other distribution, please find the related package names, but they should be very similar.

'''Ubuntu 14.04''' is too old to compile VLC.

=== Compiler and binary toolchain ===

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

For the 32-bit version, run this:
 # apt-get install gcc-mingw-w64-i686 g++-mingw-w64-i686 mingw-w64-tools

For the 64-bit version, this becomes:
 # apt-get install gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64 g++-mingw-w64-x86-64 mingw-w64-tools

=== Development tools ===
You will also need:
* lua (5.2)
* all autotools: libtool, automake, autoconf, autopoint, make, gettext, pkg-config
* qt4-dev-tools, qt5-default (or qt4-default if qt plugin build fails)
* git, subversion cmake, cvs if you want to rebuild contribs
* wine-dev for creating Win32 packages
* zip [for creating .zip package], p7zip [for .7z package], nsis [for .exe auto-installer], bzip2 [for 'make prebuild]

'''Run:'''
 # apt-get install lua5.2 libtool automake autoconf autopoint make gettext pkg-config
 # apt-get install qt4-dev-tools qt5-default git subversion cmake cvs 
 # apt-get install wine64-development-tools zip p7zip nsis bzip2
 # apt-get install yasm ragel ant default-jdk protobuf-compiler dos2unix

=== Host triplet ===
A number of example commands below include the toolchain identifier, called the ''host triplet''.

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.

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

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

'''Ubuntu 14.04 LTS''' Mingw32-w64 toolchain has an issue with accepting explicit PKG_CONFIG_PATH.
Patch mentioned in  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mingw-w64/+bug/1327242
needs to be applied to /usr/share/pkg-config-crosswrapper

  $ 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 ragel

  $ 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

=== Fix your contrib path ===

If your host triplet is not '''i686-w64-mingw32''' (you are ''not'' compiling for Debian or Ubuntu), create a symlink to contribs:
 $ ln -sf '''''insert_your_host_triplet_here''''' ../i686-w64-mingw32
So, for example:
 $ ln -sf x86_64-w64-mingw32 ../i686-w64-mingw32
Notice that there is no <code>../</code> before the host triplet. This is intentional, and if done properly, you should see a functioning symbolic link created in the parent directory (try <code>ls -l ..</code> and you should see <code>i686-w64-mingw32 -> x86_64-w64-mingw32/</code>).

=== 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

Set your PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
  $ export PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR=$HOME/vlc/contrib/i686-w64-mingw32/lib/pkgconfig
  $ export PKG_CONFIG_PATH_CUSTOM=$PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR (for Archlinux only)

Execute the build configuration script:
 $ ../extras/package/win32/configure.sh --host=i686-w64-mingw32 --build=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu

'''N.B.''':
Use the host and build tuples respectively corresponding to '''your''' cross-compilation toolchain and build system respectively. The example above assumes you are compiling for ''Windows'' OS and ''Intel 686'' architecture, and the build system is ''GNU/Linux'' OS and ''x86 64-bits'' architecture. See [[#Host_triplet|above]] for list of common values.

Also, if you have a problem here (such as an error about Library dvdread), see the [[Talk:Win32Compile|Talk]] page.

Alternatively, you can run configure manually:
 $ ../configure --host=i686-w64-mingw32 --build=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
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!''''' 

== Extra information ==

=== Static compilation of plugins ===
You might want to use the following script to enforce static compilation.
Run as root, and use at your own risk.

 #!/bin/sh
 
 # This script enforces statically linking of libgcc, libstdc++-6, and libpthread,
 # without needing to rebuild gcc and mingw-w64 from scratch.
 # -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++ flags can not be used in a libtool build system,
 # as libtool removes flags that it doesn't understand.
 
 move() {
     [ -f $1 ] || return 1
     mkdir -p old/
     mv -v $* old/
     return 0
 }
 
 for x in i686 x86_64
 do
     library_path_list=`$x-w64-mingw32-gcc -v /dev/null 2>&1 | grep ^LIBRARY_PATH|cut -d= -f2|sort|uniq`
     IFS=':'
     for i in $library_path_list
     do
         cd $i
         move libstdc++-6.dll libstdc++.dll.a libgcc_s.a libgcc_s_sjlj-1.dll && ln -s libgcc_eh.a libgcc_s.a
         move libpthread.dll.a libwinpthread.dll.a
         move libwinpthread-1.dll
         [ -d ../bin ] && cd ../bin && move libwinpthread-1.dll
     done
 done
 
 exit 0

=== 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

[[Category:Building]]