MXE (M cross environment)

Introduction

MXE (M cross environment) is a Makefile that compiles a cross compiler and cross compiles many free libraries such as SDL and Qt. Thus, it provides a nice cross compiling environment for various target platforms, which

is designed to run on any Unix system
is easy to adapt and to extend
builds many free libraries in addition to the cross compiler
can also build just a subset of the packages, and automatically builds their dependencies
downloads all needed packages and verifies them by their checksums
is able to update the version numbers of all packages automatically
directly uses source packages, thus ensuring the whole build mechanism is transparent
allows inter-package and intra-package parallel builds whenever possible
is already used by several projects

Screenshots

Cross compiling 4tH:

and running it:

Tutorial

Step 1: Download and Unpack

First, you should ensure that your system meets MXE's requirements. You will almost certainly have to install some stuff.

When everything is fine, download the current stable version:

git clone -b stable https://github.com/mxe/mxe.git

If you don't mind installing it in your home directory, just skip the following step and go straight to step 3.

Step 2: System-wide Installation (optional)

Now you should save any previous installation of the MXE. Assuming you've installed it under /opt/mxe (any other directory will do as well), you should execute the following commands:

su
mv /opt/mxe /opt/mxe.old
exit

Then you need to transfer the entire directory to its definitive location. We will assume again you use /opt/mxe, but feel free to use any other directory if you like.

su
mv mxe /opt/mxe
exit

We're almost done. Just change to your newly created directory and get going:

cd /opt/mxe

Step 3: Build MXE

Enter the directory where you've downloaded the MXE. Now it depends on what you actually want – or need.

If you choose to enter:

make

you're in for a long wait, because it compiles a lot of packages. On the other hand it doesn't require any intervention, so you're free to do whatever you like – like watch a movie or go for a night on the town. When it's done you'll find that you've installed a very capable Win32 cross compiler onto your system.

If you only need the most basic tools you can also use:

make gcc

and add any additional packages you need later on. You can also supply a host of packages on the command line, e.g.:

make gtk lua libidn

You'll always end up with a consistent cross compiling environment.

After you're done it just needs a little post-installation.

Step 4: Environment Variables

Edit your .bashrc script in order to change $PATH:

export PATH=/where MXE is installed/usr/bin:$PATH

In case you are using custom $PKG_CONFIG_PATH entries, you can add separate entries for cross builds:

export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="entries for native builds"

export PKG_CONFIG_PATH_i686_pc_mingw32="entries for MXE builds"

Remember to use i686-pc-mingw32-pkg-config instead of pkg-config for cross builds. The Autotools do that automatically for you.

Note that any other compiler related environment variables (like $CC, $LDFLAGS, etc.) may spoil your compiling pleasure, so be sure to delete or disable those.

Congratulations! You're ready to cross compile anything you like.

Step 5a: Cross compile your Project (Autotools)

If you use the Autotools, all you have to do is:

./configure --host=i686-pc-mingw32
make

If you build a library, you might also want to enforce a static build:

./configure --host=i686-pc-mingw32 --enable-static --disable-shared
make

Don't worry about a warning like this:

configure: WARNING: If you wanted to set the --build type, don't use --host.
If a cross compiler is detected then cross compile mode will be used.

Everything will be just fine.

Step 5b: Cross compile your Project (CMake)

If you have a CMake project, you can use the provided toolchain file:

cmake ... -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=/where MXE is installed/usr/i686-pc-mingw32/share/cmake/mingw-cross-env-conf.cmake

Step 5c: Cross compile your Project (Qt)

If you have a Qt application, all you have to do is:

i686-pc-mingw32-qmake
make

If you are using Qt plugins such as the svg or ico image handlers, you should also have a look at the Qt documentation about static plugins.

Note the sql drivers (-qt-sql-*) and the image handlers for jpeg, tiff, gif and mng are built-in, not plugins.

Step 5d: Cross compile your Project (Makefile)

If you have a handwritten Makefile, you probably will have to make a few adjustments to it:

CC=$(CROSS)gcc
LD=$(CROSS)ld
AR=$(CROSS)ar
PKG_CONFIG=$(CROSS)pkg-config

You may have to add a few others, depending on your project.

Then, all you have to do is:

make CROSS=i686-pc-mingw32-

That's it!

Step 5e: Cross compile your Project (OSG)

Using static OpenSceneGraph libraries requires a few changes to your source. The graphics subsystem and all plugins required by your application must be referenced explicitly. Use a code block like the following:

#ifdef OSG_LIBRARY_STATIC
USE_GRAPHICSWINDOW()
USE_OSGPLUGIN(<plugin1>)
USE_OSGPLUGIN(<plugin2>)
...
#endif

Look at examples/osgstaticviewer/osgstaticviewer.cpp in the OpenSceneGraph source distribution for an example. This example can be compiled with the following command:

i686-pc-mingw32-g++ \
    -o osgstaticviewer.exe examples/osgstaticviewer/osgstaticviewer.cpp \
    `i686-pc-mingw32-pkg-config --cflags openscenegraph-osgViewer openscenegraph-osgPlugins` \
    `i686-pc-mingw32-pkg-config --libs openscenegraph-osgViewer openscenegraph-osgPlugins`

The i686-pc-mingw32-pkg-config command from MXE will automatically add -DOSG_LIBRARY_STATIC to your compiler flags.

Further Steps

If you need further assistance, feel free to join the project mailing list where you'll get in touch with the MXE developers and other users.

Download

To obtain the current stable version, run:

git clone -b stable https://github.com/mxe/mxe.git

The development version can be obtained by:

git clone -b master https://github.com/mxe/mxe.git

To retrieve updates, run:

git pull

You can also browse the web repository.

In addition, feel free to join the project mailing list and to propose new packages.

For the sake of simplicity, there are just two branches, "master" and "stable". Although it might seem obvious, here's an overview of the types of changes that go into each branch:

Any change of a build script goes into "master".
Any package upgrade goes into "master".
Any documentation upgrade that refers to a feature not present in stable goes into "master".
Anything else that doesn't affect the build goes into "stable".
Any non-critical improvement to the main Makefile goes into "stable".
Any improvement in the package download URLs or package version recognition goes into "stable".
When in doubt, "master" is used rather than "stable".
After a successful testing phase, the whole "master" branch will be merged into "stable" (fast-forward).

Requirements

Mingw-cross-env requires a recent Unix system where all components as stated in the table below are installed. Detailed instructions are available for:

Debian
Fedora
FreeBSD
Frugalware
Gentoo
Mac OS X
openSUSE

Autoconf	≥ 2.64
Automake	≥ 1.10
Bash
Bison
Bzip2
CMake	≥ 2.8.0
Flex	≥ 2.5.31
GCC (gcc, g++)
Git	≥ 1.7
GNU Gettext
GNU Make	≥ 3.81
GNU Sed
Intltool	≥ 0.40
LibC for 32-bit
Libtool	≥ 2.2
OpenSSL-dev
Patch
Perl
Perl XML::Parser
Pkg-config	≥ 0.16
SCons	≥ 0.98
UnZip
Wget
XZ Utils
Yasm

Debian (GNU/kFreeBSD & GNU/Linux)

aptitude install -R autoconf automake bash bison bzip2 \
                    cmake flex gettext git g++ intltool \
                    libtool libltdl-dev openssl libssl-dev \
                    libxml-parser-perl make patch perl \
                    pkg-config scons sed unzip wget \
                    xz-utils yasm

On 64-bit Debian, install also:

aptitude install -R g++-multilib

Fedora

yum install autoconf automake bash bison bzip2 cmake \
            flex gcc-c++ gettext git intltool make sed \
            libtool openssl-devel patch perl pkgconfig \
            scons yasm unzip wget xz

On 64-bit Fedora, there are open issues with the NSIS package.

FreeBSD

pkg_add -r automake111 autoconf268 bash bison cmake \
           flex gettext git gmake gsed intltool libtool \
           openssl patch perl p5-XML-Parser pkg-config \
           scons unzip wget yasm

Ensure that /usr/local/bin precedes /usr/bin in your $PATH:

For C style shells, edit .cshrc

setenv PATH /usr/local/bin:$PATH

For Bourne shells, edit .profile

export PATH = /usr/local/bin:$PATH

On 64-bit FreeBSD, there are open issues with the NSIS package.

Frugalware

pacman-g2 -S autoconf automake bash bzip2 bison cmake \
             flex gcc gettext git intltool make sed libtool \
             openssl patch perl perl-xml-parser pkgconfig \
             scons unzip wget xz xz-lzma yasm

On 64-bit Frugalware, there are open issues with the NSIS package.

Gentoo

emerge sys-devel/autoconf sys-devel/automake \
       app-shells/bash sys-devel/bison app-arch/bzip2 \
       dev-util/cmake sys-devel/flex sys-devel/gcc \
       sys-devel/gettext dev-vcs/git \
       dev-util/intltool sys-devel/make sys-apps/sed \
       sys-devel/libtool dev-libs/openssl sys-devel/patch \
       dev-lang/perl dev-perl/XML-Parser \
       dev-util/pkgconfig dev-util/scons app-arch/unzip \
       net-misc/wget app-arch/xz-utils dev-lang/yasm

Mac OS X

Install Xcode 4 and MacPorts, then run:

sudo port install autoconf automake bison cmake flex \
                  gettext git-core gsed intltool libtool \
                  openssl p5-xml-parser pkgconfig scons \
                  wget xz yasm

Mac OS X versions ≤ 10.6 are no longer supported.

openSUSE

zypper install -R autoconf automake bash bison bzip2 \
                  cmake flex gcc-c++ gettext-tools git \
                  intltool libtool make openssl \
                  libopenssl-devel patch perl \
                  perl-XML-Parser pkg-config scons \
                  sed unzip wget xz yasm

On 64-bit openSUSE, install also:

zypper install -R gcc-32bit glibc-devel-32bit \
                  libgcc46-32bit libgomp46-32bit \
                  libstdc++46-devel-32bit

Open Issues with NSIS

The NSIS package contains some native tools that are currently 32-bit only. In order to build these on a 64-bit system, multi-lib support must be enabled in the compiler toolchain. However, not all operating systems support this.

Since no other packages depend on it, the remainder of MXE can be successfully built by simply removing the package:

rm where MXE is downloaded/src/nsis.mk

Usage

All build commands also download the packages if necessary.

In a BSD userland, substitute "make" with "gmake".

make: build all packages, non-parallel
make gcc: build a minimal useful set of packages, i.e. the cross compilers and the most basic packages, non-parallel
make foo bar: build packages "foo", "bar" and their dependencies, non-parallel
make foo bar -j 4 JOBS=2: build packages "foo", "bar" and their dependencies, where up to 4 packages are build in parallel, each with up to 2 compiler processes running in parallel
make check-requirements: check most of the requirements if necessary – executed automatically before building packages
make download: download all packages, non-parallel, such that subsequent builds work without internet access
make download-foo download-bar: download packages "foo", "bar" and their dependencies, non-parallel
make download-foo download-bar -j 4: download packages "foo", "bar" and their dependencies, where up to 4 packages are downloaded in parallel
make clean: remove all package builds – use with caution!
make clean-pkg: remove all unused package files, handy after a successful update
make update: for internal use only! – update the version numbers of all packages, download the new versions and note their checksums

List of Packages

See something missing? Feel free to create a new package.

agg	2.5
atk	2.2.0
atkmm	2.22.6
aubio	0.3.2
bfd	2.22
binutils	2.22
blas	1
boost	1.49.0
bzip2	1.0.6
cairo	1.10.2
cairomm	1.10.0
cblas	1
cgal	4.0
cppunit	1.12.1
cunit	2.1-2
curl	7.25.0
dbus	1.5.10
dcmtk	3.6.0
devil	1.7.8
eigen	2.0.17
exiv2	0.22
expat	2.1.0
faad2	2.7
ffmpeg	0.10.2
fftw	3.3.1
file	5.11
flac	1.2.1
fltk	1.3.0
fontconfig	2.9.0
freeglut	2.8.0
freeimage	3.15.3
freetds	0.91
freetype	2.4.9
fribidi	0.19.2
ftgl	2.1.3~rc5
gc	7.1
gcc	4.7.0
gcc-gmp	5.0.4
gcc-mpc	0.9
gcc-mpfr	3.1.0
gd	2.0.35
gdal	1.9.0
gdb	7.4
gdk-pixbuf	2.22.1
geos	3.3.2
gettext	0.18.1.1
giflib	4.1.6
glew	1.7.0
glib	2.28.8
glibmm	2.28.2
gmp	5.0.4
gnutls	3.0.17
graphicsmagick	1.3.14
gsl	1.14
gsoap	2.8.8
gst-plugins-base	0.10.35
gst-plugins-good	0.10.30
gstreamer	0.10.35
gta	1.0.2
gtk2	2.24.4
gtkglext	1.2.0
gtkglextmm	1.2.0
gtkmm2	2.24.0
gtksourceview	2.10.5
gtksourceviewmm2	2.10.1
guile	1.8.7
id3lib	3.8.3
ilmbase	1.0.2
imagemagick	6.7.2-7
jasper	1.900.1
jpeg	8d
json-c	0.9
lame	3.99
lapack	3.4.0
lcms	2.3
lcms1	1.19
libarchive	3.0.3
libass	0.10.0
libcroco	0.6.2
libdnet	1.11
libevent	2.0.18
libffi	3.0.10
libgcrypt	1.5.0
libgee	0.5.0
libgeotiff	1.3.0
libgnurx	2.5.1
libgomp	4.7.0
libgpg_error	1.10
libgsasl	1.6.1
libgsf	1.14.22
libharu	2.2.1
libiberty	2.22
libical	0.48
libiconv	1.14
libidn	1.24
libircclient	1.6
liblo	0.26
libmad	0.15.1b
libmikmod	3.2.0-beta2
libmng	1.0.10
libntlm	1.3
liboauth	0.9.6
libodbc++	0.2.5
liboil	0.3.17
libpano13	2.9.18_rc2
libpaper	1.1.24+nmu1
libpng	1.5.9
librsvg	2.36.0
libsamplerate	0.1.8
libshout	2.2.2
libsigc++	2.2.10
libsndfile	1.0.25
libssh2	1.4.0
libtool	2.4.2
libunistring	0.9.3
libusb	1.2.6.0
libvpx	1.0.0
libxml++	2.35.2
libxml2	2.7.8
libxslt	1.1.26
llvm	3.0
lua	5.1.4
lzo	2.06
matio	1.3.4
mingw-utils	0.4-1
mingwrt	3.20
mpfr	3.1.0
muparser	1.34
mxml	2.7
nettle	2.4
nsis	2.46
ogg	1.3.0
old	0.17
openal	1.13
opencore-amr	0.1.2
opencsg	1.3.2
openexr	1.7.0
openscenegraph	3.0.1
openssl	1.0.1
pango	1.29.3
pangomm	2.28.2
pcre	8.30
pdcurses	3.4
pdflib_lite	7.0.5
pfstools	1.8.5
physfs	2.0.2
pixman	0.25.2
plotmm	0.1.2
plotutils	2.6
poco	1.4.3p1
popt	1.16
portaudio	19_20071207
postgresql	9.1.3
proj	4.8.0
pthreads	2-8-0
qjson	0.7.1
qt	4.8.0
qwtplot3d	0.2.7
readline	6.2
sdl	1.2.15
sdl_image	1.2.12
sdl_mixer	1.2.12
sdl_net	1.2.8
sdl_pango	0.1.2
sdl_sound	1.0.3
sdl_ttf	2.0.11
smpeg	0.4.5+cvs20030824
speex	1.2rc1
sqlite	3071100
suitesparse	3.7.0
t4k_common	0.1.1
taglib	1.7.1
theora	1.1.1
tiff	4.0.1
tinyxml	2.6.2
tre	0.8.0
vigra	1.8.0
vmime	0.9.1
vorbis	1.3.2
vtk	5.8.0
w32api	3.17
winpcap	4_1_2
wt	3.2.0
wxwidgets	2.8.12
x264	20111018-2245
xerces	3.1.1
xine-lib	1.1.20.1
xmlwrapp	0.6.2
xvidcore	1.3.2
xz	5.0.3
zlib	1.2.6
zziplib	0.13.59

Guidelines for Creating Packages

The package should be a free software library that is really used by one of your applications.

BTW, we're always curious about the applications people are porting. We maintain a list of projects which use MXE. No matter whether your project is free or proprietary – as long as it has its own website, we'd be happy to link to it.

Also, feel free to link to us. :-)
Grep through the src/*.mk files to find a project that is most similar to yours. (Really, grep is your friend here.)

For instance, when adding a GNU library, you should take a package like gettext.mk or libiconv.mk as the base of your work. When using a SourceForge project, you could start with a copy of xmlwrapp.mk. And so on.
Adjust the comments, fill in the $(PKG)_* fields.

Be especially careful with the $(PKG)_DEPS section. The easiest way to get the dependencies right is to start with a minimal setup. That is, initialize MXE with make gcc only, then check whether your package builds successfully.

Always list the dependency on gcc explicitly:
```
$(PKG)_DEPS     := gcc ...
```
Write your $(PKG)_BUILD. If your library has a ./configure script, enable/disable all dependency libraries explicitly via "--enable-*" and "--disable-*" options.
You might also have to provide a patch for it. In that case, have a look at other patches such as sdl-2-fix-dinput.patch. In particular, each patch file should be named as:
```
PACKAGE-PATCHNUMBER-DESCRIPTION.patch
```
and should start with:
```
This file is part of MXE.
See index.html for further information.

This patch has been taken from:
https://...
```
where the URL points to the bugtracker entry, mailing list entry or website you took the patch from.

If you created the patch yourself, please offer it to the upstream project first, and point to that URL, using the same wording: "This patch has been taken from:".

Depending on the feedback you get from the upstream project, you might want to improve your patch.
If you find some time, please provide a minimal test program for it. It should be simple, stand alone and should work unmodified for many (all?) future versions of the library. Test programs are named as:
```
PACKAGE-test.c
```
or
```
PACKAGE-test.cpp
```
depending on whether it is a C or C++ library. To get a clue, please have a look at existing test programs such as sdl-test.c.

At the very end of your *.mk file you should build the test program in a generic way, using strict compiler flags. The last few lines of sdl.mk will give you a clue.
You could also try to provide a $(PKG)_UPDATE section. However, that requires some experience and "feeling" for it. So it is perfectly okay if you leave the $(PKG)_UPDATE section empty. We'll fill that in for you. It's a funny exercise.

Check that you don't have "dirty stuff" in your *.mk files, such as TAB characters or trailing spaces at lines endings. Have a look at random *.mk files to get a feeling for the coding style.

The same holds for your test program.

However, patch files should always appear in the same coding style as the files they are patching.

Finally, in your $(PKG)_BUILD section, please check that you use our portability variables:

`bash`	→	`$(SHELL)`
`install`	→	`$(INSTALL)`
`libtool`	→	`$(LIBTOOL)`
`libtoolize`	→	`$(LIBTOOLIZE)`
`make`	→	`$(MAKE)`
`patch`	→	`$(PATCH)`
`sed`	→	`$(SED)`

Check whether everything runs fine. If you have some trouble, don't hesitate to ask on the mailing list, providing your *.mk file so far.
Propose your final *.mk file to the mailing list. Don't forget to tell us if there are some pieces in your *.mk file you feel unsure about. We'll then have a specific look at those parts, which avoids trouble for you and us in the future.

Copyright © 2007–2012

Volker Grabsch
Mark Brand
Tony Theodore
... and many other contributors

(contact via the project mailing list)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

History

2012-xx-xx – Release 2.22