Win32CompileCygwinOld

Cygwin environment for Windows from http://developers.videolan.org/vlc/cygwin-compile.txt

Originally based on "Win32 Cygwin Environment" Rev. B (20041003) by Mark Moriarty and "Win32 Compile HOWTO" (20050513) by Gildas Bazin and Olivier Teulière.

THIS ARTICLE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!

Introduction

This is a guide for Windows users with a step-by-step instruction to download, install and configure the following components on your system:

Cygwin: Linux-like environment for Windows used for compilation of the VLC source code

Win32 contrib package: Precompiled library package (with DTS support).

Optionally updated libraries:

FFmpeg (with AMR support).

x264 used for encoding H.264/AVC video.

live555 (formerly known as live.com) for RTP/RTCP/RTSP/SIP multimedia streaming.

The best approach to start getting comfortable with building VLC from source is to use the precompiled library package and not yet the optionally updated ones.

Start off by creating a download folder on your hard drive where you can put all the installation files:

C:\Downloads (example)

For further reference, the assumption is made that the local user will be 'Administrator'.

Cygwin

More info about Cygwin can be found at http://www.cygwin.com or http://sourceware.org/cygwin

Download the latest Cygwin setup (it's at the install or update now icon on the site) and save it in your download location:

C:\Downloads\cygwin (example)

Selecting Cygwin packages to install

Run the setup program with the following options:

Installation type : Install from Internet (default)

Root directory : C:\cygwin (default)

Local Package directory : C:\Downloads\cygwin (your download location)

Internet Connection : Direct Connection (preferred, if it fails try another)

Download Site : Choose a download site closest to you (FTP preferred)

At the "Select Packages" section of the installation process you can select packages by clicking the button with the rotating 2 arrows. (This is under the "New" section). It shows "Skip" next to the button if the package isn't selected yet.

Clicking the button a few times will rotate through the possible package versions including "Skip" (meaning do not install or remove if installed) and "Keep" (meaning keep using the current installed version). If a package was already installed it will also show the "Current" version just to the left of it.

Select the following packages (some others will automatically be selected as well):

Archive
  5.52-2       unzip (recommended: goes hand in hand with zip utility)
  2.23-2       zip (required: to make self contained zip packages)

Devel
  2.1          automake (at least 1.5 is required)
  20060817-1   binutils (autoselected)
  1.11.22-1    cvs (required for autopoint)
  3.4.4-3      gcc-core (autoselected)
  3.4.4-3      gcc-g++
  20040810-1   gcc-mingw
  20050522-1   gcc-mingw-core (autoselected)
  20050522-1   gcc-mingw-g++ (autoselected)
  20041228-3   gdb (optional: for debugging purposes)
  0.15-1       gettext (autoselected)
  0.15-1       gettext-devel
  1.5.23a-2    libtool1.5
  3.81-1       make
  3.11-1       mingw-runtime (autoselected)
  0.98.39-1    nasm (optional: for compiling x264 encoder)	
  0.2.31-1     patchutils (optional: for patching source files with .diff files)
  0.21-1       pkgconfig (recommended: otherwise ./configure will complain about accuracy)
  1.4.2-1      subversion

Web
  7.15.4-1     curl (optional: for building extras/contrib)
  1.10.2-2     wget (optional: for building extras/contrib)

The package version numbers happen to be the representation of what was the most current version available at the time this article was written with the exception of gdb which has to be downgraded from at least 20060706-2 to 20041228-3 for proper usage.

If you run into problems of missing packages during install (particularly gettext: cyggettextsrc-0-14-1.dll not found) then rerun the setup program and try selecting another Download Site from the mirror list.

NOTE: Whenever new packages are installed or updated through the Cygwin installer, make sure not to update the packages by keeping the old versions (using the "Keep" option).

Installing older GCC 3.3 version

The gcc version used for compilation should match the version specified in the "contrib" package, at present gcc-3.4.5-only.

So the preferred version to use is GCC 3.4 but for historical reasons this section descibes what version to use together with an older gcc-3.3.1-only "contrib" package. The 3.3.1 version is not available in Cygwin but 3.3.3-3 (still) is.

The only compatibility issue with using GCC 3.4 and the precompiled 3.3.1 "contrib" package is that it doesn't support the compiling of the matroska container .mkv so that leaves 2 options; use gcc 3.3.3-3 with a 3.3.1-only "contrib" or gcc 3.4 (or newer) but disable matroska support.

The second option requires you to add the following line to the configure options:

--disable-mkv

If you use the older gcc-g++ and gcc-core versions you have to change the gcc-mingw-core and gcc-mingw-g++ back to the older versions as well.

Select the following package versions instead:

Devel
  3.3.3-3      gcc-core
  3.3.3-3      gcc-g++
  20040810-1   gcc-mingw
  20040810-1   gcc-mingw-core
  20040810-1   gcc-mingw-g++

NOTE: The gcc-3.4.5-only "contrib" package should compile just fine with GCC 3.3

Cygwin environment (home directory)

Start Cygwin from the icon on your desktop. If it runs for the first time it will automatically create a home\"username" folder in the Cygwin environment; user being the currently logged on Windows user. Assuming this is the 'Administrator' user it will create the following folder:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator (example)

NOTE: On your desktop, you can rightclick the Cygwin icon and (in the Options field of the Cygwin Properties) set the Command history Buffer size to as large as possible: 999. This setting will make it possible to scroll back further in the Cygwin environment.

VLC source code

The very latest VLC source code can be obtained through a tool called SVN (Subversion). The Cygwin package we're about to install comes with an internal subversion component. Using this one is the preferred method.

Another way of obtaining source code is by downloading a daily code "snapshot" from the following location:

http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/source

Download the latest snapshot:

vlc-snapshot-20070112.tar.gz (example)

and save it into a subfolder in your download location:

C:\Downloads\VLC\src (example)

Check if the downloaded file has not been renamed by Internet Explorer in your download folder to something with the extension .tar.tar and if so then simple rename the files back to .tar.gz

Adding libraries to the source code

VLC depends on other libraries (code) to provide some features like AC3 audio or MPEG-4 video encoding/decoding etc.

Depending on your needs you will have to install and compile some or all of these external libraries. Most of them can be found here (source code):

http://download.videolan.org/pub/testing/contrib/

"Contrib" package

A package with most of these libraries already compiled so it's actually really easy to compile a full-featured version of vlc can be found here:

http://download.videolan.org/pub/testing/win32/

Download the latest version of a "contrib" package for win32

contrib-20060730-win32-bin-gcc-3.4.5-only.tar.bz2 (example)

and save it into a subfolder in your download location:

C:\Downloads\VLC\contrib (example)

Check if the file has not been renamed by Internet Explorer in your download folder to something with the extension .tar.tar and if so then simply rename the file back to .tar.bz2

Also remember the "gcc-3.4.5" part in the "contrib" package filename since it relates to the GCC version that needs to be installed in Cygwin lateron!

"Contrib" packages for older GCC versions

For historical reasons older versions of the "contrib" package are provided at the following location:

http://download.videolan.org/pub/testing/win32/contrib-old-gcc-3.3-only/

Download the latest version of a "contrib" package for win32

contrib-20051213-win32-bin-gcc3.3.1-only.tar.bz2 (example)

and save it into a subfolder in your download location:

C:\Downloads\VLC\contrib (example)

NOTE: gcc3.3.1-only in the filename means it was (obviously) intended for compilation with GCC 3.3 only. The latest gcc-3.4.5-only "contrib" packages should compile just fine with GCC 3.3 so it's preferred to always use those.

Adding additional or updated libraries to the source

Updated libraries for FFmpeg and x264 are available through SVN (which is discussed in a later stage of this guide).

live555 "snapshot"

More info about live555 can be found at:

http://www.live555.com

The project source code is available here:

http://live555.com/liveMedia/public/

Download the latest snapshot:

live.2007.01.11.tar.gz (example)

NOTE: live555-latest.tar.gz is also the latest version but keeping the date in the filename makes it easier to reference.

and save it into a subfolder in your download location:

C:\Downloads\VLC\src (example)

Check if the downloaded file has not been renamed by Internet Explorer in your download folder to something with the extension .tar.tar and if so then simple rename the files back to .tar.gz

Getting the latest sources

In order to have the latest source code you have to download this using SVN.

Create a new folder at your download/install location:

C:\Downloads\VLC\scripts (example)

SVN update script for VLC

Create a new text document with the following line:

svn checkout svn://svn.videolan.org/vlc/trunk vlc-trunk

Save as filename in your "scripts" folder at your download/install location with the option "All Files" and not "Text Documents"

update-vlc.sh (example)

This command will download a complete svn trunk.

Copy the script file into your Cygwin "home directory":

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator

Start Cygwin and enter the following command in your shell:

dos2unix update-vlc.sh

This is for converting the 'line endings' made by Windows/DOS (in which the text document was created) to UNIX style.

SVN update scripts for additional libraries

Updating source code using SVN for additional libraries such as x264 or FFmpeg works the same way.

SVN update scripts for x264

Create a new text document with the following line:

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

Save as filename in your "scripts" folder at your download/install location:

update-x264.sh

Copy the script file into your Cygwin "home directory":

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator

Start Cygwin and enter the following command in your shell:

dos2unix update-x264.sh

SVN update script for FFmpeg

Create a new text document with the following line:

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

Save as filename in your "scripts" folder at your download/install location:

update-ffmpeg.sh

Copy the script file into your Cygwin "home directory":

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator

Start Cygwin and enter the following command in your shell:

dos2unix update-ffmpeg.sh

"Checking out" the latest source code from SVN

Start Cygwin and enter the following command in your shell:

./update-vlc.sh

This will download the current "subversion trunk" (latest code) into your home directory into the directory specified in your shell script:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator\vlc-trunk (example)

At the end of the command it will show something like "Checked out revision 18561".

The vlc-trunk folder will get over-written/updated the next time you run the command. If you want to save a so called "snapshot" of the existing vlc-trunk, rename or copy the current directory into something desired (like vlc-trunk-20070112).

NOTE: Updating the source code for additional libraries such as x264, FFmpeg etc. is done by running their corresponding update scripts.

Extracting the source from a "snapshot"

If you are not using SVN to obtain the latest source code but are using a daily "snapshot" then copy that source package from your download/install location to the Cygwin home directory:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator

Start Cygwin and enter the following command in your shell:

tar xvf vlc-snapshot-20070112.tar.gz (example)

Replace with your version of the source package.

This will extract the contents of the file into a subfolder within your Cygwin environment with the naming convention something like:

vlc-0.9.0-svn (example)

Installing the "contrib" package in Cygwin

First the additional libraries have to be "installed" in Cygwin.

Extracting the "contrib" package

Copy the "contrib" package from your download/install location to the home directory:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator

Start Cygwin and enter the following command in your shell:

tar xjvf contrib-20061202-win32-bin-gcc-3.4.5-only.tar.bz2 -C / (example)

Replace with your version of the "contrib" file and DON'T FORGET THE / (backslash) at the end.

This will extract the contents of the file into usr/win32 folder within your Cygwin environment.

NOTE: Make sure to DELETE your old version instead of extracting a new version on top of it.

Keeping the "contrib" up-to-date

For maintenance purposes periodically check:

http://download.videolan.org/pub/testing/win32/

to see if a newer "contrib" is available. If that is the case you should DELETE the existing directory structure which is for the precompiled "contrib" package:

C:\cygwin\usr\win32 (example)

Download the newer file and follow the installation instructions the same as before so you will end up with the most up-to-date version.

NOTE: Make sure to DELETE your old version instead of extracting a new version on top of it.

Configure scripts

In order to make our lives just a bit easier the following section describes what commandline options should be used for compiling and those commands will then be put into a "script" that can be executed (rather than having to copy and paste all the time).

Configure script for compiling VLC

Create a new text document with the following lines:

 ./bootstrap && \
 CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/win32/include -I/usr/win32/include/ebml" \
 LDFLAGS=-L/usr/win32/lib \
 PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/win32/lib/pkgconfig \
 CC="gcc -mno-cygwin" CXX="g++ -mno-cygwin" \
 ./configure \
     --enable-sdl --with-sdl-config-path=/usr/win32/bin --disable-gtk \
     --enable-nls \
     --enable-ffmpeg --with-ffmpeg-mp3lame --with-ffmpeg-faac \
     --with-ffmpeg-zlib --enable-faad --enable-flac --enable-theora \
     --with-wx-config-path=/usr/win32/bin \
     --with-freetype-config-path=/usr/win32/bin \
     --with-fribidi-config-path=/usr/win32/bin \
     --enable-live555 --with-live555-tree=/usr/win32/live.com \
     --enable-caca --with-caca-config-path=/usr/win32/bin \
     --with-xml2-config-path=/usr/win32/bin \
     --with-dvdnav-config-path=/usr/win32/bin \
     --disable-cddax --disable-vcdx --enable-goom \
     --enable-twolame --enable-dvdread \
     --disable-gnomevfs \
     --enable-dts \
     --enable-debug \

NOTE: The following option is added for DTS Coherent Acoustics streams decoding support. The latest "contrib" package should already contain libdca (formerly known as libdts) needed to compile this but at presentit's disabled by default:

--enable-dts

NOTE: The following option is added for debug purposes and makes the final package a bit larger but the advantage is it's easier to debug in case of crash reports:

--enable-debug

NOTE: The following options is needed for QT4 support:

--enable-qt4

As of version 0.9.0 VLC will include the QT interface. More information can be found about QT here: http://www.trolltech.com

The "Win32 contrib package" at present only includes the linux equivalents of uic, moc and roc executables which are required for building this interface.

The linues executables have to be deleted from the contrib folder:

C:\cygwin\usr\win32\bin\moc (example)
C:\cygwin\usr\win32\bin\rcc (example)
C:\cygwin\usr\win32\bin\uic (example)

The moc, rcc and uic.exe from the Qt/Windows Open Source Edition (these can be found in the bin folder after installation) have to be placed in the contrib folder:

C:\cygwin\usr\win32\bin\moc.exe (example)
C:\cygwin\usr\win32\bin\rcc.exe (example)
C:\cygwin\usr\win32\bin\uic.exe (example)

Save as filename in your "scripts" folder at your download/install location:

configure-vlc.sh

NOTE: Save using "All files" and not "Text files" otherwise Windows might append the extension .txt

Copy the file into your home directory:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator

Start Cygwin and enter the following command in your shell:

dos2unix configure-vlc.sh

POSIX emulation layer

VLC can be built with or without the so called POSIX emulation layer. Without is the default and is usually better (and with hasn't been tested for quite some time). If you do want to use the emulation layer, then just leave out the line with the following options:

CC="gcc -mno-cygwin" CXX="g++ -mno-cygwin"

VLC optional settings

The following option should be used when compiling using the GCC 3.4 version with older "contrib" gcc-3.3.1-only:

--disable-mkv

Configure scripts for compiling additional libraries

The following section is optional. The "contrib" package contains precompiled libraries but it is possible to update some of those libraries to the most current versions such as x264 (used for H.264 encoding) and FFmpeg.

FFmpeg with AMR support

The AMR (Adaptive Multi Rate) codec is designed to encode and decode speech with acceptable quality for transmission over relatively low bandwidth channels with minimal latency, typically used in mobile networks (3GP) or voice message applications.

The AMR codec is usually referred to as:

Narrow Band (AMR-NB, fourcc samr) for low quality
Wide Band (AMR-WB, fourcc samw) for high quality

The sources for AMR are not compatible with the GPL (General Public License). AMR support is disabled by default.

Getting the AMR reference codecs

The AMR reference codecs can be found on the 3GPP site http://www.3gpp.org at the following download location for zipped source code packages:

http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/2004-03/Rel-5/26_series/

Download the following 3 packages to a subfolder in your download/install location:

C:\Downloads\VLC\src (example)

1. AMR - latest 26073 package:

http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/2004-03/Rel-5/26_series/26073-530.zip (example)

3GPP TS 26.073 V5.3.0 (2004-03) ANSI-C code for the Adaptive Multi Rate (AMR) speech codec (Release 5)

2. AMR_FLOAT - latest 26104 package:

http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/2004-03/Rel-5/26_series/26104-540.zip (example)

3GPP TS 26.104 V 5.4.0 (2004-03) ANSI-C code for the Floating-point Adaptive Multi Rate (AMR) speech codec (Release 5)

3. AMRWB_FLOAT - latest 26204 package:

http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/2004-03/Rel-5/26_series/26204-520.zip (example)

3GPP TS 26.204 V5.2.0 (2003-09) ANSI-C code for Floating-point Adaptive Multi Rate Wideband (AMR-WB) speech codec (Release 5)

Extracting the AMR reference codecs

The following AMR reference packages should now be in your download/install location:

26073-530.zip (example)
26104-540.zip (example)
26204-520.zip (example)

Using your favourite unzipper (Windows internal extraction wizard, WinZIP, WinRAR etc.) extract the zip files in the into the current folder (Windows wizard would use "Extract All" and WinZIP or WinRAR would use "Extract to 'foldername' which is the same as the .zip package name").

This will create the following folders:

C:\Downloads\VLC\src\26073-530         
C:\Downloads\VLC\src\26104-540         
C:\Downloads\VLC\src\26204-520         

Within those folders another .zip package exists. Again unpack those zip files into the current folder:

26073-530_ANSI_C_source_code      
26104-540_ANSI_C_source_code      
26204-520_ANSI-C_source_code      

Now each unpacked source code package has an individual folder named "c-code".

Rename the c-code subfolders within each package to amr, amr_float and amrwb_float:

C:\Downloads\VLC\src\26073-530\26073-530_ANSI_C_source_code\c-code to amr                  
C:\Downloads\VLC\src\26104-540\26104-540_ANSI_C_source_code\c-code to amr_float            
C:\Downloads\VLC\src\26204-520\26204-520_ANSI-C_source_code\c-code to amrwb_float          

NOTE: the 530, 540 to 520 order looks a bit confusing but those are actually just version numbers and the folders are shown in the correct alphabetical order.

Copy each of the the following folders (including content, so just select the whole folders itself):

amr                
amr_float         
amrwb_float       

to the Cygwin home directory in the libavcodec subfolder of where the FFmpeg package resides:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator\ffmpeg-trunk\libavcodec (example)

FFmpeg configure script with "contrib" package

NOTE: This compile script assumes you are also using the same FFmpeg version as is used in the "contrib" package (this is why the cflags and ldflags also point to the win32 folder where the "contrib" package was extracted).

Create a new text document with the following lines:

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

NOTE: For AMR encoding/decoding support also add the following options:

--enable-amr_nb --enable-amr_wb

NOTE: VLC uses the x264 lib directly and not through ffmpeg so there is no need to add --enable-x264

Save as filename in your "scripts" folder at your download/install location:

configure-ffmpeg.sh (example)

NOTE: Save using "All files" and not "Text files" otherwise Windows might append the extension .txt

Copy the file into your home directory:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator 

FFmpeg configure script for FFmpeg "stand-alone"

This section is only if FFmpeg compiling is required as a stand-alone package and not in comination with the precompiled "contrib" package.

In case of failure to compile VLC with different settings (added/updated libraries to the "contrib") it is advisable to test if FFmpeg does compile OK just in "stand-alone" mode.

Create a new text document at the download location with following lines:

./configure --enable-mingw32 --enable-memalign-hack \
    --cc="gcc -mno-cygwin" \
    --enable-pp --enable-gpl --log \

NOTE: When including libraries the following options should be added/changed, pointing to the appropriate folder where does libraries are located (for VLC "contrib" that would be /usr/win32 but in other situations it might be the default /usr/local):

   --extra-cflags=-I/usr/local/include \
   --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/local/lib \
   --prefix=/usr/local \

Save as filename in your "scripts" folder at your download/install location:

configure-ffmpeg-svn.sh (example)

x264 configure script

Create a new text document with the following lines:

./configure \
   --prefix=/usr/win32 \
   

NOTE: for debugging purposes you can add the following option:

--enable-debug

Save as filename in your "scripts" folder at your download/install location:

configure-x264

NOTE: This file does not have an extension (save using "All files" and not "Text files" otherwise Windows might append the extension .txt)

Copy the file into your home directory:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator  

Compiling source code

It's time to open your Cygwin shell...

Additional libraries

If any updated or additional libraries are used they need to be compiled first. Since some of these are used indirectly through FFmpeg, FFmpeg should be compiled last.

Compiling x264

This section is only required for x264 compiling where you want to compile x264 yourself in order to use the latest version.

Change to the appropriate x264 folder

cd x264-trunk (example)

NOTE: the following lines make sure there are no traces of any previous compiles.

make clean
make distclean

(this will haved remove everything except code related stuff, VLC uses a "toolbox" script which can clean a bit more)

./configure

make

If the make proceeded without errors you will have compiled a new library file:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator\x64-trunk\libx264.a (example)

Copy this file into the Cygwin usr/win32 folder:

C:\cygwin\usr\win32\lib (example)

Also take the following file .h file:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator\x264-trunk\x264.h (example)

Copy this file into the usr/win32/include folder:

C:\cygwin\usr\win32\include (example)

NOTE: This will overwrite the x264.h and libx264.a from the precompiled "contrib" package!

live555

This section is only required if you want to compile the latest version of live555.

Copy the live555 project packagee from your download/install location to the home directory:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator

Start Cygwin and enter the following command in your shell:

tar xvf live.2006.05.17.tar.gz (example)

Replace with your version of the source package.

This will extract the contents of the file into a subfolder within your Cygwin environment with the naming convention something like:

live (example)

Compiling FFmpeg (OPTIONAL)

This section is only required for FFmpeg compiling.

Change to the appropriate FFmpeg folder

cd ffmpeg-trunk (example)

make clean

make distclean

(This will haved remove everything except code related stuff, VLC uses a "toolbox" script which can clean a bit more).

../configure-ffmpeg.sh

Preparations for AMR support

If you included the AMR reference codec sources in FFmpeg you should see that AMR-NB and WB "float support" should be working:

AMR-NB float support yes
AMR-NB fixed support no
AMR-WB float support yes
AMR-WB IF2 support no
network support      no
License: GPL

AMR WB FLOAT NOTICE ! Make sure you have downloaded TS26.204
V5.1.0 from http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/26_series/26.204/26204-510.zip and extracted the source to libavcodec/amrwb_float

AMR NB FLOAT NOTICE ! Make sure you have downloaded TS26.104 REL-5 V5.1.0 from
http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/26_series/26.104/26104-510.zip and extracted the source to libavcodec/amr_float
If you try this on alpha, you may need to change Word32 to int in amr/typedef.h

NOTE: These warnings/notices can be ignored since we are using more recent versions.

Building FFmpeg

First clean up any leftovers from a previous compile using the following commands:

make clean

make distclean

(This will haved remove everything except code related stuff, VLC uses a "toolbox" script which can clean a bit more).

Now build FFmpeg with the following command:

make       

If the make proceeded without errors you will have compiled two new "library" files:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator\ffmpeg-trunk\libavcodec\libavcodec.a (example)
C:\cygwin\home\Administrator\ffmpeg-trunk\libavformat\libavformat.a (example)

To copy the appropriate libs and header files to the (extracted) contrib folder use:

make install-libs install-headers

For historical reasons the "old" method is still described here as well:

Copy the library files (with the .a extension) into the Cygwin usr/win32 folder:

C:\cygwin\usr\win32\lib (example)

NOTE: This will overwrite libavcodec.a and libavformat.a from the precompiled "contrib" package!

For backup reasons you can first copy or rename the original files in the "contrib" package (so you won't have to reinstall the complete contrib package but can simply copy these again)

C:\cygwin\usr\win32\lib\libavcodec.a to libavcodec.a.org
C:\cygwin\usr\win32\lib\libavformat.a to libavformat.a.org

In older versions of ffmpeg the libraries had other names:

C:\cygwin\home\Administrator\ffmpeg-20050624\libavcodec\avcodec.lib (example)
C:\cygwin\home\Administrator\ffmpeg-20050624\libavformat\avformat.lib (example)

Rename those files (in Windows Explorer):

avcodec.lib to libavcodec.a
avformat.lib to libavformat.a

Then copy those library files into the Cygwin usr/win32 folder.

Compiling live555

How to configure and build the code on a Linux enviroment is explained on the following live555 page:

http://www.live555.com/liveMedia/#config-unix

Some options need to be changed/added to the config.cygwin file in the live folder so open this file with a text-editor.

Add the -Wno-deprecated option:

CPLUSPLUS_FLAGS =	$(COMPILE_OPTS) -Wall -DBSD=1 -Wno-deprecated

Save the file under its current name config.cygwin

Enter the following commands in your Cygwin shell:

cd live

make clean

./genMakefiles cygwin

make

TODO: Fix live555 compilation. It still fails with the following errors:

GroupsockHelper.cpp:477: error: aggregate `ip_mreq_source imr' has incomplete type and cannot be defined
GroupsockHelper.cpp:482: error: invalid application of `sizeof' to incomplete type `ip_mreq_source'
GroupsockHelper.cpp: In function `Boolean socketLeaveGroupSSM(UsageEnvironment&, int,  netAddressBits, netAddressBits)':
GroupsockHelper.cpp:495: error: aggregate `ip_mreq_source imr' has incomplete type and cannot be defined
GroupsockHelper.cpp:500: error: invalid application of `sizeof' to incomplete type  `ip_mreq_source'
make[1]: *** [GroupsockHelper.o] Error 1

Compiling VLC

Enter the following commands in your Cygwin shell:

cd vlc-trunk

(you can check with the pwd command to see in which folder you are and with just the cd command without any additional parameters you can change back to your home directory).

NOTE: The following line is optional, only use that if you have problems compiling.

./toolbox --distclean

(This will have removed everything except code related stuff)

../configure-vlc.sh

make

(cross your fingers)

NOTE: ./ means you run an application/script from the "current folder" (which is vlc-trunk) and ../ points to "one directory up" (which is where configure-vlc.sh is).

Creating self contained packages

Once the compilation is done, you can either run VLC directly from the source tree or you can build self-contained VLC packages with the following "make" commands:

make package-win32-base

(this will create a subdirectory named vlc-x.x.x with all the binaries "stripped" without any debugging symbols).

make package-win32-zip

(Same as above but will package the directory in a zip file).

make package-win32

(Same as above but will also create an auto-installer package. You will need to have NSIS installed in its default location for this to work).

Advanced usage

Updating Cygwin package versions

If you need to update or install additional packages you can just run the Cygwin setup.exe from your download location:

C:\Downloads\cygwin\setup.exe          (example)

Using older GCC and MINGW version

You should be aware that Cygwin automatically selects the latest versions for gcc-g++ and gcc-mingw so if you are using older versions of those (like 3.3.3-3 and the accompanied 20040810-1 packages for mingw) and wish to continue to use them you need to CHANGE those versions to KEEP for EVERY TIME YOU USE THE UPDATE PROCESS.

NOTE: You can click on the "View" button a few times until you see "Partial" next to it. This will give you an overview of some "Current" packages that will be updated to "New" versions.

select the View button until it reaches: Partial

Devel
  3.4.4-3      gcc-core         -> change version to Keep
  3.4.4-3      gcc-g++          -> change version to Keep
  20050522-1   gcc-mingw-core   -> change version to Keep
  20050522-1   gcc-mingw-g++    -> change version to Keep

Selecting the 3.4.4-3 version automatically changes the gcc-mingw-core and gcc-mingw-g++ to the 20050522-1 (or newer) versions as well.

Downgrading Cygwin GCC packages

If your Cygwin gcc versions are already the latest and you wish to downgrade to gcc 3.3.3-3 then it's not possible to downgrade the gcc-core/g++ and the mingw packages all at the same time, it has to be done in two steps.

select the View button until it reaches: Up To Date

Devel
  3.4.4-3      gcc-core   -> change version to 3.3.3-3
  3.4.4-3      gcc-g++    -> change version to 3.3.3-3

Install, OK

Restart the Cygwin update process.

Select the View button until it reaches: Partial

Devel
  3.4.4-3      gcc-core   -> change version to Keep
  3.4.4-3      gcc-g++    -> change version to Keep

select the View button until it reaches: Up To Date

Devel
  20050522-1   gcc-mingw-core   -> change version to 20040810-1 
  20050522-1   gcc-mingw-g++    -> change version to 20040810-1 

Install, OK.

Again, for any new update process remember to change back those versions!

GDB (Gnu Debugger)

This section requires that you installed the gdb (Gnu Debugger) in Cygwin.

This is a typical example of creating a crashlog

cd vlc-trunk

gdb vlc.exe

In the debugger mode run the program and make sure you reset the preferences!

(gdb) run --fast-mutex --reset-config --reset-plugins-cache

NOTE: the (gdb) is just a prompt which means you are in the debugger mode

It will now take a lot longer than usual for VLC to start :)

Now operate VLC as you would normally do. As soon as a crash issue occurs you'll notice a line like this:

Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x0041394c in playlist_ItemGetById (p_playlist=0x19ec4f8, i_id=29)
    at src/playlist/item-ext.c:459
---Type <return> to continue, or q <return> to quit---
459             i = i_bottom + ( i_top - i_bottom ) / 2;

Now you can do a "backtrace" by using the bt command:

(gdb) bt

And output similar to this will be created:

#0  0x0041394c in playlist_ItemGetById (p_playlist=0x19ec4f8, i_id=29) 
    at src/playlist/item-ext.c:459
#1  0x0b26bbf7 in wxvlc::Playlist::CountItems (this=0x1822e288, root=
      {m_pItem = 0x29fef8}) at playlist.cpp:695
#2  0x0b26bc83 in wxvlc::Playlist::CountItems (this=0x1822e288, root=
      {m_pItem = 0x29e8b0}) at playlist.cpp:689
#3  0x0b26bc83 in wxvlc::Playlist::CountItems (this=0x1822e288, root=
      {m_pItem = 0x29a818}) at playlist.cpp:689
#4  0x0b26bc83 in wxvlc::Playlist::CountItems (this=0x1822e288, root=
      {m_pItem = 0x299718}) at playlist.cpp:689
#5  0x0b26bc83 in wxvlc::Playlist::CountItems (this=0x1822e288, root=
      {m_pItem = 0xffff0000}) at playlist.cpp:689
#6  0x0b26bf49 in wxvlc::Playlist::AppendItem (this=0x1822e288,
    event=@0x1827afd0) at playlist.cpp:564
#7  0x0b2757fc in wxvlc::Playlist::OnPlaylistEvent (this=0x1822e288,
    event=@0x1827afd0) at playlist.cpp:1438
#8  0x0b3771b8 in wxEvtHandler::ProcessEventIfMatches ()
    at /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/event.h:2183
#9  0x0b376a1c in wxEventHashTable::HandleEvent ()
    at /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/event.h:2183
#10 0x0b37730d in wxEvtHandler::ProcessEvent ()
    at /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/event.h:2183
#11 0x0b37711b in wxEvtHandler::ProcessPendingEvents ()
    at /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/event.h:2183
---Type <return> to continue, or q <return> to quit---
#12 0x0b376017 in wxAppConsole::ProcessPendingEvents ()
    at /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/event.h:2183
#13 0x0b3ec75a in wxIdleWakeUpModule::MsgHookProc ()
    at /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/bmpbuttn.h:81
#14 0x773aca2d in USER32!GetScrollRange ()
   from /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32/user32.dll
#15 0x00000000 in ?? () from
(gdb)

These are the log outputs that are more usefull to developers than just mentioning "it crashes"!

NOTE: In GDB mode there are sometimes situations where GDB initially "crashes" on certain network activity (opening network shares, network traffic) which in normal operation does not occur. Just select c for continue until "normal" operation continues.

.diff files

Frequently patches to source code are presented or discussed in forums or in mailing lists in so called .diff format (these are "differences" to the source code).

You can apply those patches yourself to the source code or create .diff files. This requires the patchutils package in Cygwin.

Patching source code

Download a so called .diff file:

sse2-pixel-routines-v3.diff (example)

NOTE: make sure the file doesn't get a .txt extension, so Save as type "All Files" instead of "Text Document" (IE has a habit of renaming to .txt. If that happens just simply rename to .diff)

Copy the .diff file into the appropriate source folder

x264-trunk (example)

Apply the patch as follows

patch -p0 < sse2-pixel-routines-v3.diff (example)

NOTE: replace sse2-pixel-routines-v3.diff with your "patch"

This will output something like:

patching file common/i386/pixel.h
patching file common/i386/pixel-a.asm
patching file common/pixel.c

Your source code is now patched!

NOTE: If you want to revert to the original version you can use the -R option with the patch command or alternatively you can just delete the changed files and just do an SVN update to get the original/latest SVN version back.

Creating .diff files

When changing the source code it's possible to create a "difference" file against the latest source.

In this example the file /modules/codec/x264.c was changed (the part "in kbit/s" was added to a description).

Start your Cygwin shell.

Change to the appropriate folder where a changed file is.

cd vlc-trunk/modules/codec (example)

Output the svn diff command to a file:

svn diff > x264-patch.diff

The current folder now holds a x264-patch.diff file containing the following:

Index: x264.c
===================================================================
--- x264.c      (revision 15921)
+++ x264.c      (working copy)
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@
 #define RATETOL_LONGTEXT N_( "Allowed variance in average. " \
     "bitrate (in kbits/s).")

-#define VBV_MAXRATE_TEXT N_("Max local bitrate")
+#define VBV_MAXRATE_TEXT N_("Max local bitrate in kbit/s")
 #define VBV_MAXRATE_LONGTEXT N_( "Sets a maximum local bitrate in kbits/s.")

 #define VBV_BUFSIZE_TEXT N_("VBV buffer")

NOTE: In Windows you should open this file with something else than notepad (so wordpad or some more advanced editor). This has to do with the end of line markers that are present in the file since it was made in a Linux environment.

Reverting to older SVN source code

If for some reason you want to revert to (use) an older version (let's say you are using revision 15916 of the VLC source code but would like to test with 15915) then use the svn "update" function from within Cygwin but use an older revision number.

Start your Cygwin shell...

cd vlc-trunk

svn up -r 15915

And you'll see something like this:

U    src\input\input.c
Updated to revision 15915.

The following command will show the version used:

svn info

FAQ/Troubleshooting

This chapter mentions some frequently encountered problems during compile and installation procedures and possible fixes or workarounds.

"Making all in <folder>" takes forever with 0% CPU usage

Make seems to "stall" at a certain point (no CPU usage) and nothing seems to happen anymore:

Making all in mpeg
make[5]: Entering directory `/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/modules/mux/mpeg'

NOTE: This problem seems to occur on dual CPU (or HyperThreading enabled) systems.

FIX: in the vlc-trunk do a ./toolbox --distclean before doing a ../configure-vlc.sh and try again...

configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables

The ../configure-vlc gives the following error:

checking for gcc... gcc -mno-cygwin
checking for C compiler default output file name... configure: error: C compiler
cannot create executables

FIX: it's very likely you are using the gcc 3.3 version but with the wrong mingw packages (the ones that come with 3.4). Reinstall the following gcc-mingw packages but make sure to use the older version!!!

20050522-1 gcc-mingw-core autoselected -> change to 20040810-1 20050522-1 gcc-mingw-g++ autoselected -> change to 20040810-1

You can check what version of gcc you are version in the Cygwin shell by using the following command:

gcc --version

collect2: ld returned 1 exit status (libebml)

A make fails with the following error:

/usr/win32/lib/libebml.a(EbmlMaster.o):EbmlMaster.cpp:(.text$_ZNSt14__simple_all
ocISsSt24__default_alloc_templateILb1ELi0EEE10deallocateEPSsj[std::__simple_allo
c<std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, std::_
_default_alloc_template<true, 0> >::deallocate(std::basic_string<char, std::char
_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >*, unsigned int)]+0x1d): undefined referenc
e to `std::__default_alloc_template<true, 0>::deallocate(void*, unsigned int)'
/usr/win32/lib/libebml.a(EbmlMaster.o):EbmlMaster.cpp:(.text$_ZNSt14__simple_all
ocISsSt24__default_alloc_templateILb1ELi0EEE8allocateEj[std::__simple_alloc<std:
:basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >, std::__defau
lt_alloc_template<true, 0> >::allocate(unsigned int)]+0x1d): undefined reference
 to `std::__default_alloc_template<true, 0>::allocate(unsigned int)'
/usr/win32/lib/libebml.a(EbmlMaster.o):EbmlMaster.cpp:(.text$_ZNSt14__simple_all
ocIPN7libebml11EbmlElementESt24__default_alloc_templateILb1ELi0EEE8allocateEj[st
d::__simple_alloc<libebml::EbmlElement*, std::__default_alloc_template<true, 0>
>::allocate(unsigned int)]+0x1d): undefined reference to `std::__default_alloc_t
emplate<true, 0>::allocate(unsigned int)'
/usr/win32/lib/libebml.a(EbmlMaster.o):EbmlMaster.cpp:(.text$_ZNSt14__simple_all
ocIPN7libebml11EbmlElementESt24__default_alloc_templateILb1ELi0EEE10deallocateEP

S2_j[std::__simple_alloc<libebml::EbmlElement*, std::__default_alloc_template >::deallocate(libebml::EbmlElement**, unsigned int)]+0x1d): undefined ref erence to `std::__default_alloc_template<true, 0>::deallocate(void*, unsigned in t)' collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make[2]: *** [vlc.exe] Error 1 This problem is because libEbml is a C++ lib and it doesn't seem to link with gcc 3.4. FIX: Use gcc 3.3 with the according 3.3 "contrib" package version or use a "contrib" package for 3.4 (or even better try compiling it yourself). WORKAROUND for gcc 3.4: Use --disable-mkv in configure-vlc.

zip: command not found

A make package fails with the following error:

zip -r vlc-0.8.4-svn-win32.zip vlc-0.8.4-svn
/bin/bash: line 1: zip: command not found
make: *** [package-win32-base-zip] Error 127

FIX: doh! forgot to install the zip package in Cygwin :P

error: parse error before '(' token

A make (compile) of FFmpeg results in the following error:

/usr/include/sys/unistd.h:203: error: parse error before '(' token
make[1]: *** [ffm.o] Error 1

It's very likely you are usix the POSIX emulater which you shouldn't...

FIX: compile with the option -mno-cygwin

error: invalid conversion from `const void*' to `void*'

src/theme_loader.cpp: In function `int gzwrite_frontend(int, const void*, size_t)':
src/theme_loader.cpp:599: error: invalid conversion from `const void*' to `void*'
src/theme_loader.cpp:599: error:   initializing argument 2 of `int gzwrite(void*,
void*, unsigned int)'
make[6]: *** [libskins2_plugin_a-theme_loader.o] Error 1

FIX: This is related to a problem with the zlib library, updating to at least 1.2.2-1 but preferably 1.2.3 or newer is required

error: cannot convert `const wxChar*' to `const char*

if g++ -mno-cygwin -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I../../..   -I/usr/win32/include -I/
usr/win32/include/ebml -D_OFF_T_ -D_off_t=long -DSYS_MINGW32 -I../../../include
`top_builddir="../../.." ../../../vlc-config --cxxflags plugin wxwidgets` -Wsign
-compare -Wsign-compare -Wall  -mms-bitfields -pipe -MT libwxwidgets_plugin_a-wx
widgets.o -MD -MP -MF ".deps/libwxwidgets_plugin_a-wxwidgets.Tpo" -c -o libwxwid
gets_plugin_a-wxwidgets.o `test -f 'wxwidgets.cpp' || echo './'`wxwidgets.cpp; \
then mv -f ".deps/libwxwidgets_plugin_a-wxwidgets.Tpo" ".deps/libwxwidgets_plugi
n_a-wxwidgets.Po"; else rm -f ".deps/libwxwidgets_plugin_a-wxwidgets.Tpo"; exit
1; fi
In file included from /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/debug.h:22,
                 from /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/defs.h:452,
                 from /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/wxprec.h:13,
                 from wxwidgets.h:40,
                 from wxwidgets.cpp:39:
/usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/wxchar.h: In function `size_t wxStrlen(const wxChar
*)':
/usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/wxchar.h:759: error: cannot convert `const wxChar*'
 to `const char*' for argument `1' to `size_t strlen(const char*)'
In file included from /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/memory.h:20,
                 from /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/object.h:25,
                 from /usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/wx.h:16,
                 from wxwidgets.h:41,
                 from wxwidgets.cpp:39:
/usr/win32/include/wx-2.6/wx/string.h: In constructor `wxString::wxString(const
wxChar*)':

FIX: update wxwidgets or try a different/newer "contrib" package.

undefined reference to `_av_parser_change' (FFmpeg)

ffmpeg.o: In function `output_packet':
/home/Administrator/FFmpeg-20050724/ffmpeg.c:1414: undefined reference to `_av_parser_change'
/home/Administrator/FFmpeg-20050724/ffmpeg.c:1415: undefined reference to `_av_destruct_packet'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [ffmpeg_g.exe] Error 1

This is a possible conflict when you use normal configure-ffmpeg (uses /usr/win32 contrib) instead of configure-ffmpeg-svn

undefined reference to `_pp_get_context' (FFmpeg)

./modules/codec/ffmpeg/libffmpeg.a(libffmpeg_a-postprocess.o): In function `Init
Postproc__ffmpeg':
/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/modules/codec/ffmpeg/postprocess.c:164: undefined
reference to `_pp_get_context'
./modules/codec/ffmpeg/libffmpeg.a(libffmpeg_a-postprocess.o): In function `PPQC
allback':
/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/modules/codec/ffmpeg/postprocess.c:244: undefined
reference to `_pp_get_mode_by_name_and_quality'
./modules/codec/ffmpeg/libffmpeg.a(libffmpeg_a-postprocess.o): In function `Post
procPict__ffmpeg':
/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/modules/codec/ffmpeg/postprocess.c:191: undefined
reference to `_pp_postprocess'
$
ePostproc__ffmpeg':
/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/modules/codec/ffmpeg/postprocess.c:209: undefined
reference to `_pp_free_mode'
/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/modules/codec/ffmpeg/postprocess.c:210: undefined
reference to `_pp_free_context'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [vlc.exe] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk'
make: *** [all] Error 2

FFmpeg was not compiled with post processing support. To do so the following options need to be added to the configure lines for FFmpeg:

--enable-pp --enable-gpl

Postprocessing code is under GPL.

error: expected primary-expression before '<<' token

In file included from /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/3.4.4/../../../../include/w32
api/windows.h:52,
                 from ../../../include/vlc_common.h:459,
                 from ../../../include/vlc/vlc.h:153,
                 from dshow.cpp:31:
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/3.4.4/../../../../include/w32api/wingdi.h:3:1: warn
ing: this is the location of the previous definition
In file included from /usr/win32/include/dshow.h:35,
                 from common.h:45,
                 from dshow.cpp:35:
/usr/win32/include/ddraw.h:14: warning: ignoring #pragma warning
In file included from /usr/win32/include/dshow.h:35,
                 from common.h:45,
                 from dshow.cpp:35:
/usr/win32/include/ddraw.h:5552: warning: ignoring #pragma warning
In file included from /usr/win32/include/dshow.h:45,
                 from common.h:45,
                 from dshow.cpp:35:
/usr/win32/include/strmif.h:2: warning: ignoring #pragma warning
In file included from /usr/win32/include/dsound.h:13,
                 from /usr/win32/include/amaudio.h:18,
                 from /usr/win32/include/dshow.h:47,
                 from common.h:45,
                 from dshow.cpp:35:
/usr/win32/include/d3dtypes.h:22: warning: ignoring #pragma warning
/usr/win32/include/d3dtypes.h:1813: warning: ignoring #pragma warning
In file included from /usr/win32/include/dshow.h:48,
                 from common.h:45,
                 from dshow.cpp:35:
/usr/win32/include/control.h:2: warning: ignoring #pragma warning
dshow.cpp: In function `int CommonOpen(vlc_object_t*, access_sys_t*, vlc_bool_t)
':
dshow.cpp:456: error: expected primary-expression before '<<' token
dshow.cpp:456: error: expected primary-expression before '<<' token
dshow.cpp:456: error: expected primary-expression before '<<' token
dshow.cpp:456: error: expected primary-expression before '<' token
dshow.cpp:456: error: expected primary-expression before '.' token
dshow.cpp:470: error: expected primary-expression before '==' token
dshow.cpp:470: error: expected primary-expression before '==' token
dshow.cpp:470: error: expected primary-expression before '==' token
dshow.cpp:470: error: expected primary-expression before '=' token
dshow.cpp:484: error: expected primary-expression before '>>' token
dshow.cpp:484: error: expected primary-expression before '>>' token
dshow.cpp:484: error: expected primary-expression before '>>' token
dshow.cpp:484: error: expected primary-expression before '>' token
dshow.cpp:484: error: expected primary-expression before '.' token
dshow.cpp:485: error: expected `;' before "IAMCrossbar"
dshow.cpp:491: error: `pXbar' undeclared (first use this function)
dshow.cpp:491: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each
function it appears in.)
make[6]: *** [libdshow_plugin_a-dshow.o] Error 1
make[6]: Leaving directory `/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/modules/access/dshow'
make[5]: *** [all-modules] Error 1
make[5]: Leaving directory `/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/modules/access/dshow'
make[4]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/Administrator/vlc-trunk/modules/access'
make[3]: *** [all] Error 2

Basically in case of conflict svn adds "<<< mine" and "=======" and ">>>> r1242" which makes gcc complain.

FIX: revert the offending file

configure: error: Could not find ffmpeg on your system

configure: error: Could not find ffmpeg on your system: you may get it from
http://ffmpeg.sf.net/ (cvs version is recommended). Alternatively you can use
--disable-ffmpeg to disable the ffmpeg plugins.
make: *** [config.status] Error 1

This can happen when you do a make without doing a configure and the configure.ac file in the source code recently updated.

FIX: do a full configure (using ../configure-vlc.sh) and then run the make process

Objective C source seen but `OBJC' is undefined

The configure process stops halfway.

+ aclocal-1.9 -I m4
+ autoconf
+ autoheader
+ automake-1.9 --add-missing --copy -Wall
configure.ac: installing `autotools/install-sh'
configure.ac: installing `autotools/missing'
activex/Makefile.am:143: shell $(VLC_CONFIG: non-POSIX variable name
activex/Makefile.am:143: (probably a GNU make extension)
activex/Makefile.am: installing `autotools/compile'
activex/Makefile.am: installing `autotools/depcomp'
modules/gui/macosx/Makefile.am: Objective C source seen but `OBJC' is undefined
modules/misc/testsuite/Makefile.am: Objective C source seen but `OBJC' is undefi
ned
src/Makefile.am: Objective C source seen but `OBJC' is undefined
Makefile.am:282: user target `vlc$(EXEEXT)' defined here...
/usr/share/automake-1.9/am/program.am: ... overrides Automake target `vlc$(EXEEX
T)' defined here
Makefile.am:230:   while processing program `vlc'
make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found.  Stop.

This problem is related to a warning earlier on and only occured in a few revisions where a built-in workaround wasn't working properly:

+ echo 'Enabling provisional autoconf 2.59 work-around. Update autoconf ASAP.'
Enabling provisional autoconf 2.59 work-around. Update autoconf ASAP.

FIX: update autoconf to 2.60 or newer. If Cygwin doesn't provide this version yet then build it yourself from extras/contrib.

Enter the following commands in your Cygwin shell:

cd vlc-trunk/extras/contrib

./bootstrap

cd src

make .autoconf

There should now be compiled autoconf version (probably 2.60 or newer) in extras/contrib that the bootstrap process will use.

Now start the whole "Compile VLC" process from the start again.

Version

20050627 Initial version

20050628 Updated some more exceptions

20050628 Some info added about FFmpeg compiling with AMR

20050629 Finalized FFmpeg compiling

20050630 Cross-compiling

20050724 Some extra compile explanations

20050726 Removed cross-compiling (was for linux -> win32) Patching source code with .diff files

20050823 Added zlib error

20050923 --enable-sdl --with-sdl-config-path=/usr/win32/bin added to configure. Added debug section

20051102 Changed FFmpeg lib names

20051128 Detailed Cygwin upgrade/downgrade for gcc 3.3. Renamed some update scripts. Added FFmpeg CVS update. --disable-gnomevfs added to configure (only used on linux)

20060121 PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/win32/lib/pkgconfig added to configure

20060128 Added curl and libtool to Cygwin for those that want to be able to build extras/contrib themselves

20060217 Added make install-libs install-headers to FFmpeg compile

20060222 Remark about missing "gettext" libs for Cygwin during install

20060225 ./bootstrap: you need libtool

20060618 Updated GCC to 3.4 version and added FFmpeg SVN and DTS support

20060805 Added note about using older binutils and gdb for Cygwin!

20060915 Added note about updating autoconf from extras/contrib for an OBJC problem during configure

20061108 Added note this document is no longer usable since Cygwin has been unusable probably related to some bash/dos2unix change

20070112 WIKI version