fltk/README.win32

README.win32 - Building FLTK under Windows
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Last Update: May 2007 for release 1.1.8

INTRODUCTION

    This document is split into two main sections.  The first
    describes several possible build environments, while the
    second describes some of the issues associated with using
    the GNU-like build configurations in the "makefiles"
    subdirectory.

    FLTK currently supports the following development
    environments on the Windows platform:

	- Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, VC2005 and VC.NET using the
	  supplied workspace and project files.  Be sure to get
	  your service packs!

	- Borland C++ Builder 5 and 6 using the supplied IDE
	  files. These files are not as actively maintained as
	  the VC and GNU versions, so may not work for you.

	- Watcom. There is a partial solution for the Watcom
	  toolchain. It is no longer actively maintained.

	- GNU toolsets (Cygwin or MinGW) hosted on Windows
	  9x/2000/NT/XP.

    This remainder of this document gives a brief overview of
    compiling and using FLTK with the Cygwin and MinGW compiler
    toolkits.  Both toolkits provide a build environment based
    around the GNU C/C++ compiler. Further information is
    available from the FLTK website at http://www.fltk.org, such
    as this Howto note: http://www.fltk.org/articles.php?L598

    The Cygwin build environment supplies a library (the Cygwin
    DLL) that is primarily intended to provide a number of
    Unix-like POSIX facilities for programs being ported to the
    Windows environment (Win32 or WinNT).  Cygwin also supplies
    a very Unix-like build environment for Windows, including
    the "BASH" Bourne-compatible shell and all of the standard
    Unix file utilities (ls, cat, grep, etc.).

    Cygwin is developed by Cygnus (now part of RedHat, Inc).
    Although provided for free download under the GPL,
    distributing programs that require the Cygwin DLL under a
    license other than the GPL requires a commercial license for
    the Cygwin DLL.  Native Windows programs that do not require
    the Cygwin DLL (compiled and linked with the "-mno-cygwin"
    option) may be released under any license freely.

    The MinGW distribution (Minimalist GNU for Windows) provides
    a similar toolset but geared solely towards native Windows
    development without the Unix-like POSIX library.  The lack of
    any libraries under the GPL or any other restrictive license
    means that programs built with the MinGW environment may
    always be released under any license freely. MinGW also
    supplies a  Unix-like build environment for Windows,
    including MSYS (a Bourne-compatible shell) and the standard
    Unix file utilities (ls, cat, grep, etc.)

    If you are not familiar with these GNU-like toolkits please
    refer to the links section later in this note. In particular,
    check out their license conditions carefully before use.


THE TOOLS

    There are currently three main configurations supported by
    FLTK with the GNU tools:

	1. Cygwin: Built using the Cygwin toolset and using the
	   Unix-like POSIX compatibility layer provided by the
	   Cygwin DLL.

	2. Cygwin using the "-mno-cygwin" option: Built using
	   the Cygwin toolset but not using the Cygwin DLL.

	3. MinGW: Built using the MinGW utilities, compiler and
	   tools. This is, in many aspects, analogous to the
	   Cygwin "-mno-cygwin" option.


RECOMMENDED BUILD ENVIRONMENTS

    Our recommendation is to:

	1. Get the current Cygwin toolset.

	   This can either produce executables that do or do not
	   rely on the Cygwin DLL (check licensing) at your
	   choice.

	2. Get the latest MinGW toolset. It is recommended that
	   you also get the MSYS shell and the msysDTK developer
	   toolset.

	   This will only produce normal Windows native
	   executables without any Unix or POSIX compatibility
	   layer.


	   See the links section below for more information.

    Either option can generate windows-native executables and
    option 1 can provide a Unix-like POSIX portability layer that
    is reliant on a GPLed library.

    See the later sections for detailed information about using
    one of these configurations.

LINKS

    The following links may be of use:

	1. Main Cygwin homepage:

	       http://www.cygwin.com/

	2. Main Mingw homepage:

	       http://www.mingw.org/

	   In particular look for the MinGW FAQ at this link for
	   a lot of useful Mingw-native development
	   documentation.


	3. Check out the FLTK newsgroups at the FLTK homepage:

	       http://www.fltk.org/

	   Its archival search facilities are EXTREMELY useful
	   to check back through previous problems with this
	   sort of configuration before posting new questions.

	4. Carl Thompson (member of the core team responsible
	   for FLTK):

	       http://www.carlthompson.net/

	   A pre-bundled development toolset tailored for use
	   with an earlier version of FLTK may be found at:

	       http://www.carlthompson.net/cygwin/

	   However, this has not been actively maintained since
	   the Cygwin and MinGW offerings are now more complete
	   these days.

	5. GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) compiler homepage:

	       http://gcc.gnu.org/

	6. OpenGL page - for OpenGL and GLUT libs

	       http://www.opengl.org/


BUILDING FLTK WITH CYGWIN OR MINGW

    Please read chapter 1 of the FLTK Programmers Manual for
    compilation instructions.


WHY DOES A CONSOLE WINDOW APPEAR WHEN I RUN MY PROGRAM

    Windows has a flag that determines whether an application
    runs in the foreground with a console or in the background
    without a console.  Use the "-mwindows" option to make your
    application run in the background and "-mconsole" to run in
    the foreground.

    Keep in mind that a windows application cannot send output
    to stdout, even if you run it from an existing console
    application.
    (Note: A special case of this exists if running a MinGW
    application from the command line of an MSYS shell, when an
    application is able to write to stdout, even if compiled with
    "-mwindows".)


HOW DO I GET OPENGL TO WORK?

    Both builds should automatically support OpenGL.

    The configuration file config.h has a number of settings
    which control compile-time compilation.  One such setting is
    "HAVE_GL". This may be set to 0 to disable Open GL operation.
    Changing the line in config.h to

        #define HAVE_GL 1

    will change this to compile and link in OpenGL.