Compiling Instructions¶

The methods for compiling Angband vary by platform and by build system. If you get Angband working on a different platform or build system please let us know so we can add to this file.

Contents

macOS
Linux / other UNIX
Windows

macOS ¶

To build the new Cocoa front-end:

cd src
make -f Makefile.osx

Linux builds using autotools. There are several different front ends that you can optionally build (GCU, SDL, X11, and GTK) using arguments to configure such as –enable-sdl, –disable-gtk, etc. Each front end has different dependencies (e.g. ncurses, SDL libraries, etc).

To build Angband to be run in-place:

./autogen.sh
./configure --with-no-install [other options as needed]
make

To build Angband to be installed in some other location:

./autogen.sh
./configure --prefix /path/to [other options as needed]
make
make install

On some BSDs, you may need to copy install-sh into lib/ and various subdirectories of lib/ in order to install correctly.

Cross-building for Windows with Mingw ¶

Many developers (as well as the auto-builder) build Angband for Windows using Mingw on Linux. This requires that the necessary Mingw packages are all installed.

This type of build now also uses autotools, so you must configure it to cross-compile, e.g.:

./autogen.sh
./configure --enable-win --disable-curses --build=i686-pc-linux-gnu --host=i586-mingw32msvc

Mingw installs commands like ‘i586-mingw32msvc-gcc’. The value of –host should be that same command with the ‘-gcc’ removed. Instead of i586 you may see i686, amd64, etc. The value of –build should be the host you’re building on. (See http://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/autoconf/manual/ autoconf-2.68/html_node/Specifying-Target-Triplets.html#Specifying%20Names for gory details of how these triplets are arrived at)

TODO: you will probably need to manually disable curses, or the host curses installation will be found, and will not be able to link properly. More checking of permissible combinations to configure is necessary

Debug build ¶

WARNING this build is intended primarily for debugging purposes. It might have a somewhat slower performance, higher memory requirements and panic saves don’t alvays work (in case of a crash there is a higher chance of losing progress).

When debugging crashes it can be very useful to get more information about what exactly went wrong. There are many tools that can detect common issues and provide useful information. Two such tools that are best used together are AddressSanitizer (ASan) and UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer (UBSan). To use them you’ll need to enable them when compiling angband:

./configure [options]
SANITIZE_FLAGS="-fsanitize=undefined -fsanitize=address" make

Note that compiling with this tools will require installing additional dependancies: libubsan libasan (names of the packages might be different in your distribution).

There is probably a way to get these tools to work on Windows and Mac OS. If you know how, please add the information to this file.

Windows ¶

Using MinGW ¶

This build now also uses autotools, so should be very similar to the Linux build. Open the MinGW shell (MSYS) by running msys.bat then run these commands:

./autogen.sh
./configure --enable-win
make

The install target almost certainly won’t work

Following build, to get the program to run, you need to copy the executable from the src directory into the top-level dir, and copy 2 DLLs (libpng12.dll and zlib1.dll) from src/win/dll to the top-level dir

Using Cygwin (with MinGW)¶

Use this option if you want to build a native Windows executable that can run with or without Cygwin.

Use the Cygwin setup.exe to install the mingw-gcc-core package and any dependencies suggested by the installer.

Run these commands:

./autogen.sh
./configure --enable-win --with-no-install --host=i686-pc-mingw32
make

As with the “Using MinGW” process, you need to copy the executable and DLLs to the top-level dir.

If you want to build the Unix version of Angband that uses X11 or Curses and run it under Cygwin, then follow the native build instructions (./autogen.sh; ./configure; make; make install).

Using eclipse (Indigo) on Windows (with MinGW)¶

For eclipse with EGit, select File | Import…, Git | Projects from Git, Next >
Clone your/the upstream repo, or Add your existing cloned repo, Next >
Select “Use the New Projects Wizard”, Finish
In the New Project Wizard, select C/C++ | Makefile Project with Existing Code, Next >
Give the project a name (Angband), * navigate to the repo you cloned in “Existing Code Location”, * Select “C”, but not “C++” * Choose “MinGW GCC” Toolchain, Finish
Once the project is set up, r-click | Properties
Go to C/C++ Build | Toolchain Editor, select “Gnu Make Builder” instead of “CDT Internal Builder”
go to C/C++ Build, uncheck “Generate Makefiles automatically”

You still need to run ./autogen.sh and ./configure manually, outside eclipse (see above)

Using Visual Studio ¶

Blue Baron has detailed instructions for setting this up at:

src/win/angband_visual_studio_step_by_step.txt

The Angband Manual