This document contains instructions how to build the FreeType library on non-Unix systems with the help of GNU Make. Note that if you are running Cygwin or MinGW/MSYS in Windows, you should follow the instructions in the file `INSTALL.UNIX' instead. FreeType 2 includes a powerful and flexible build system that allows you to easily compile it on a great variety of platforms from the command line. To do so, just follow these simple instructions. 1. Install GNU Make ------------------- The FreeType 2 build system relies on many features special to GNU Make. NEARLY ALL OTHER MAKE TOOLS FAIL, INCLUDING `BSD MAKE', SO REALLY INSTALL A RECENT VERSION OF GNU MAKE ON YOUR SYSTEM! Note that make++, a make tool written in Perl, supports enough features of GNU make to compile FreeType. See https://makepp.sourceforge.net for more information; you need version 2.0 or newer, and you must pass option `--norc-substitution'. Make sure that you are invoking GNU Make from the command line, by typing something like: make -v to display its version number. VERSION 3.81 OR NEWER IS NEEDED! 2. Invoke `make' ---------------- Go to the root directory of FreeType 2, then simply invoke GNU Make from the command line. This will launch the FreeType 2 host platform detection routines. A summary will be displayed, for example, on Win32. ============================================================== FreeType build system -- automatic system detection The following settings are used: platform windows compiler gcc configuration directory .\builds\windows configuration rules .\builds\windows\w32-gcc.mk If this does not correspond to your system or settings please remove the file 'config.mk' from this directory then read the INSTALL file for help. Otherwise, simply type 'make' again to build the library or 'make refdoc' to build the API reference (the latter needs Python >= 3.5). ============================================================= If the detected settings correspond to your platform and compiler, skip to step 5. Note that if your platform is completely alien to the build system, the detected platform will be `ansi'. 3. Configure the build system for a different compiler ------------------------------------------------------ If the build system correctly detected your platform, but you want to use a different compiler than the one specified in the summary (for most platforms, gcc is the default compiler), invoke GNU Make with make setup Examples: to use Visual C++ on Win32, type: `make setup visualc' to use Borland C++ on Win32, type `make setup bcc32' to use Watcom C++ on Win32, type `make setup watcom' to use Intel C++ on Win32, type `make setup intelc' to use LCC-Win32 on Win32, type: `make setup lcc' to use Watcom C++ on OS/2, type `make setup watcom' to use VisualAge C++ on OS/2, type `make setup visualage' The name to use is platform-dependent. The list of available compilers for your system is available in the file `builds//detect.mk'. If you are satisfied by the new configuration summary, skip to step 5. 3a. Use clang instead of gcc ---------------------------- The `clang' compiler can use FreeType's setup for `gcc'; it is sufficient to set the `CC' variable, for example make CC=clang 3b. Compiling with a C++ compiler --------------------------------- FreeType can be built with a C++ compiler, for example make CC="g++" If `clang++' should be used it is necessary to also override the `ANSIFLAGS' variable: make CC="clang++" ANSIFLAGS="" 4. Configure the build system for an unknown platform/compiler -------------------------------------------------------------- The auto-detection/setup phase of the build system copies a file to the current directory under the name `config.mk'. For example, on OS/2+gcc, it would simply copy `builds/os2/os2-gcc.mk' to `./config.mk'. If for some reason your platform isn't correctly detected, copy manually the configuration sub-makefile to `./config.mk' and go to step 5. Note that this file is a sub-Makefile used to specify Make variables for compiler and linker invocation during the build. You can easily create your own version from one of the existing configuration files, then copy it to the current directory under the name `./config.mk'. 5. Build the library -------------------- The auto-detection/setup phase should have copied a file in the current directory, called `./config.mk'. This file contains definitions of various Make variables used to invoke the compiler and linker during the build. [It has also generated a file called `ftmodule.h' in the objects directory (which is normally `/objs/'); please read the file `docs/CUSTOMIZE' for customization of FreeType.] To launch the build, simply invoke GNU Make again: The top Makefile will detect the configuration file and run the build with it. If you have used variables in step 3, you must use the same variables here, too. Final note The above instructions build a _statically_ linked library of the font engine in the `objs' directory. On Windows, you can build a DLL either with MinGW (within an MSYS shell, following the instructions in `INSTALL.UNIX'), or you use one of the Visual C++ project files; see the subdirectories of `builds/windows'. For everything else, you are on your own, and you might follow the instructions in `INSTALL.ANY' to create your own Makefiles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) 2003-2024 by David Turner, Robert Wilhelm, and Werner Lemberg. This file is part of the FreeType project, and may only be used, modified, and distributed under the terms of the FreeType project license, LICENSE.TXT. By continuing to use, modify, or distribute this file you indicate that you have read the license and understand and accept it fully. --- end of INSTALL.GNU ---