Linux GTK+ Build Instructions

Introduction

In this document I'll use WXNET_TOP to refer to the top-level wx.NET module directory; for example, /usr/local/src/wx.NET-CVS/wx.NET. The build system lives under WXNET_TOP/Build/Linux.

Install your .NET Package(s)

There are two open source .NET runtimes and development environments available:

• Mono - http://www.go-mono.com/
• DotGNU Portable.NET (aka PNET) - http://www.gnu.org/projects/dotgnu/

Mono is recommended on Linux. It is probably easiest to install a Mono RPM for your Linux distribution.

Acquire wxWidgets Source

As of this writing, wx.NET requires version 2.6.x of wxWidgets. There are a variety of ways you can build and install wxWidgets.

Downloading the 2.6.x Release

Download this release from:

http://www.wxwidgets.org/dl_gtk.htm#dev

Untar the file wxGTK-2.6.x.tar.gz somewhere, where x is a minor release revision number such as 1.

Download a Nightly CVS Snapshot

If you know of a bug that is resolved in CVS, using a snapshot of CVS is probably the easiest approach to take. The source tarball is available at:

http://wxwindows.sourceforge.net/snapshots/

Using the Latest CVS HEAD

If you want the latest and greatest development version of wxWidgets, use the latest unreleased "CVS HEAD" version. This just means the latest developer version.

Standard checkout command:

$ cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@cvs.wxwidgets.org:/pack/cvsroots/wxwindows \
  co wxWidgets

Use the password "anoncvs".

Configure the Build

Inside of the WXNET_TOP/Build/Linux directory copy Defs.in.template to Defs.in. Open Defs.in in an editor. Defs.in is a mini-Makefile that contains a few definitions that drive the build process. It should be well documented so I won't discuss the various defines here.

You must change:

• WXW_SOURCE_DIR
• WXW_INSTALL_DIR

And you should probably review:

• WXNET_INSTALL_DIR
• DOTNET

The default for WXW_CONFIG and WXNET_CONFIG is probably good for now.

Build Wx.Widgets

Inside of a shell do the following:

$ cd WXNET_TOP/Build/Linux
$ make wxw

This will:

• Configure wxWidgets via it's configure script
• Build the wxWidgets core libraries and one contrib library (STC)
• Install the libraries and header files to WXW_INSTALL_DIR

The wxw build is actually broken into steps. To see a list of sub-builds you can perform, you can type make without any arguments:

$ make 

You can find the list of commands here.

The wxw target does not build the wxWidgets samples. If this is your first time using wxWidgets/wx.NET, I suggest building these as well:

$ make wxw-samples

Please see the samples section for details about the wxWidgets samples.

Build wx.NET

Inside of a shell do the following:

$ cd WXNET_TOP/Build/Linux
$ make wxnet

This will:

• Configure the build by running premake in various directories
• Build the wxWidgets C++ wrapper library, libwx-c.so
• Build the wx.NET .NET assembly, wx.NET.dll
• Build the wx.NET samples
• Build the wx.NET utilities

Upon successful build libraries and assemblies are all placed in a common "bin" folder, WXNET_TOP/Bin.

You can also "install" wx.NET to another directory on your Linux box. This is a great way to archive different builds of wx.NET or test on another host. The install will be done to the directory defined by WXNET_INSTALL_DIR, which should be something like /usr/local/wxnet or $(HOME)/wxnet-0.5. Just don't use something like /usr or /usr/local.

To start the install type:

$ make wxnet-install

See Install Package for a description of what gets installed. And note that the install step is optional. You do not have to do it to run the samples or even develop using wx.NET.

Try Out the Samples

Run the Sample-Launcher.sh shell script from the top-level source or install folder. This will start a sample browser using the .NET runtime you defined in Defs.in. Please review the Samples section for a list of any outstanding bugs or issues.

You can also launch samples directly via the wxnet-run script:

$ cd WXNET_TOP/Bin
$ ./wxnet-run sample.exe

Please review the Samples section for a list of any outstanding bugs or issues.

Last changed on $Date: 2005/07/25 05:15:16 $ by $Author: t9mike $  •  Original Author: Michael S. Muegel