Building MPIR with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 =============================================== A Note On Licensing =================== Files in this distribution that have been created for use in building MPIR with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 are provided under the terms of the LGPL v2.1+ license. The MPIR library uses numerous files which are LGPL v3+ and so the overall license of the library distribution is LGPL v3+. Some of the demos are GPL. Using the Assembler Based Build Projects ======================================== If you wish to use the assembler files you will need VSYASM, a version of YASM x86/x64 assembler tailored specifically for use with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. You will need a recent revision of YASM from: http://www.tortall.net/projects/yasm/ This assembler should be placed in the bin directory used by VC++, which, for Visual Stduio 2010, is typically: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\bin You will need to install Python if you wish to use the scripts that automate the generation of MPIR build files for Visual Studio. Python is also needed for running the MPIR tests (although they can be run manually). Compiling MPIR with the Visual Studio C/C++ =========================================== These VC++ build projects are primarily designed to work with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional. The win32 build projects also work with Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express. To build the x64 libraries with VC++ Express you will need to install the Windows 7.1 SDK and Python (2.6 or later). Once you have these installed, you can run the Python program 'add.express.py' before starting the build process to convert the build filles for use with VC++ Express. If necessary, these changes can be removed by running the Python program 'remove.express.py'. Building MPIR ============= 1. Generic C Builds =================== The basic build solution for Visual Studio contains build projects for the generic C version of MPIR. The MPIR build is started by opening the Visual Studio C/C++ solution file 'mpir.sln' in the build.vc10 directory. It will be assumed here that the MPIR root directory is named 'mpir' so that the build directory is mpir\build.vc10. The output directories for builds are: mpir\lib for static libraries mpir\dll for dynamic link libraries (DLL) MPIR is built by selecting one of the individual build projects and then setting the library type (static or DLL), the Windows target architecture (win32 or x64) and the build configuration (release or debug). All projects have release and debug configurations but not all projects support win32 and x64. By default the Visual Studio solution provides support for these generic C builds: lib_mpir_gc - MPIR library using generic C (win32 & x64) lib_mpir_cxx - MPIR C++ library (win32 & x64) dll_mpir_gc - MPIR DLL using generic C (win32 & x64) There are two static libraries, one providing the C library functions and the other providing the C++ functions. The DLL library supports both the C and the C++ functions. 2. Builds with Assembler Support ================================ By default the Visual Studio solution for MPIR provides support for x64 builds with nassembler support for Intel core2 and nehalem and for the AMD k8. To build MPIR versions with assembler support for other processors, the Python program mpir_config.py has to be run before the Visual Studio solution is opened. This outputs a list of the assembler builds that are available. After a particular build is selected the program outputs a Visual Studio project for this build and adds it to the Visual Studio solution. When the Visual Studio solution file is then opened it will include this new build projects for both static library and DLL builds with the specified assembler support. 3. The build Process ==================== Before any of these libraries is built the appropriate MPIR configuration file is generated and copied into config.h. After a static library is built its config.h file is copied into the output directory; the library and its associated files are then copied to the appropriate sub-directory in the 'mpir\lib' sub-directory: mpir\lib\win32\debug mpir\lib\win32\release mpir\lib\x64\debug mpir\lib\x64\release Simlarly when a DLL is built, the resulting DLL, its export libraries and its debug symbol file are copied into the appropriate subdirectory in the mpir\dll subdirectory: mpir\dll\win32\debug mpir\dll\win32\release mpir\dll\x64\debug mpir\dll\x64\release This means that the 'dll' and 'lib' sub-directories respectively contain the last MPIR DLLs and static libraries built. These are then the libraries used to build software that requires MPIR or GMP. If you use the mpir-tests, the speed, the tune or the try programs it is important to do so immediately after the MPIR library in question is built because these projects link to the last library built. The MPIR DLL projects include the C++ files. If you want the relevent files excluded from the DLL(s) you build, go to the 'cpp' subdirectory of their build project in the IDE and exclude all the files in this subdirectory from the build process. All the DLLs and static libraries are multi-threaded and are linked to the multi-threaded Microsoft run-time libraries (DLLs are linked to DLL run time libraries and static libraries are linked to run time static libraries). Within the 'dll' and 'lib' sub-directories used for output, the layout is: DLL or LIB Win32 Release Debug x64 Release Debug so that the appropriate library for the desired target platform can be easily located. The individual project sub-directories also contain the libraries once they have been built (as indicaated earlier, the 'dll' and 'lib' directories are used to hold the latest built versions for linking the tests). C++ Interface ============= After a MPIR library has been built, other libraries can be built. These always use the last MPIR library (of the same type, static or DLL) that has been built. To build the MPIR C+ library wrapper use: lib_mpir_cxx - MPIR C++ wrapper static library (win32 & x64) The DLL projects include the C++ functions so an additional library is not needed when they are used. The Tests ========= There is a separate solution for the MPIR tests: mpir-tests.sln. In Visual Studio 2010 this is in build.vc10 folder. The tests are configured to always test the last version of MPIR that has been built. This is automatic but it can be changed by editing the file lastbuild.txt in the mpir-tests directory whose content controls the tests by setting the 'library type', the 'platform', the 'configuration' and the 'MPIR binary directory' relative to the mpir-tests' directory. Its content is typically: dll Win32 Release "..\dll\Win32\Release" If this file can be edited to test a different version of MPIR, it is also necessary to copy either: mpir\build.vc10\mpir-tests\lib-test-config.props or: mpir\build.vc10\mpir-tests\dll-test-config.props# into: mpir\build.vc10\mpir-tests\test-config.props depending on whether a static or DLL build of MPIR is to be tested. The tests also use the C++ library functions so for testing MPIR static libraries both the desired version of MPIR and the C++ library must be built before the tests are built and run. This is not necessary for MPIR DLLs as they contain the C++ routines. On multporcessoer systems Visual Studio 10 will typically run several builds in parallel so it is advisable to build add-test-lib first before building the tests. Test Automation =============== After they have been built the tests can be run using the Python script run-tests.py in the build.vc10\mpir-tests directory. To see the test output the python script should be run in a command window from within these sub-directories: cmd>run-tests.py and the output can be directed to a file: cmd>run-tests.py >out.txt When an MPIR library is built the file 'last_build.txt' is written to the buid.vc10 subdirectory giving details of the build configuration. These details are then used to run the MPIR tests and this means that these tests need to be run immediately after the library to be tested has been built. It is possible to test a different library by editing 'lastbuild.txt' but this will only work if the files in the MPIR output directory are correct. In order to avoid errors, it is advisable before testing to do a clean build of the library under test (to do a completely clean build, the files in the build.vc10\Win32 and build.vc10\x64 directories should be deleted. Two Tests Fail ============== The tests for cxx/locale and misc/locale fail to link because the test defines a symbol - localeconv - that is in the Microsoft runtime libraries. This is not significant for MPIR numeric operations. Some tests are skipped for the DLL verssion as they are not relevant in this case. Using MPIR ========== Applications that use MPIR include the mpir.h header file to provide the prototypes for the functions that MPIR provides. Hence when an MPIR distribution is being used it is important to ensure that the MPIR header file used matches that for the version of MPIR in use. If MPIR is used to build 64 bit applications, it is necessary to ensure that the compiler define _WIN64 is set when the application is built. 1. Using the Static Libraries ============================= To build a MPIR C or C++ based application using the the static libraries all that needs to be done is to add the MPIR and/or the MPIR C++ static libraries to the application build process. It is, of course, important to ensure that any libraries that are used have been built for the target platform. 2. Using the DLL Export Libraries ================================= The DLLs built by VC++ use the _cdecl calling convention in which exported symbols have their C names prefixed with an extra '_' character. Some applications expect the _stdcall convention to be used in which there is an underscore prefix and a suffix of '@n' where n is the number of bytes used for the function arguments on the stack. Such applications will need to be modified to work with the MPIR DLLs provided here. The alternative of attempting to build MPIR using the _stdcall convention is not recommended (and won't work with the assembler based builds anyway). This is further complicated if the builds for x64 are used since the conventions here are different again. There are two ways of linking to a DLL. The first way is to use one or more of the DLL export libraries built as described earlier (note that these are not the same as static libraries although they are used in a similar way when an application is built). 3. Using the DLL Export Library =============================== If you intend to use the DLL export libraries in an application you need to: a. ensure that the application can locate the MPIR DLLs in question when it is run. This involves putting the DLL(s) on a recognised directory path. b. define __GMP_LIBGMP_DLL when the application is built in order to ensure that MPIR's DLL export symbols are properly recognised as such so that they can be accessed via the MPIR import library c. link the application to the gmp.lib library that is provided with the DLL you intend to use (this is produced when the DLL is built) 4. Using DLL Dynamic loading ============================ The second way of linking to a DLL is to use dynamic loading. This is more complex and will not be discussed here. The VC++ documentation describes how to use DLLs in this way. 5. Using MPIR functions that use FILE's as Input or Output ========================================================== In Windows the different C runtime libraries each have their own stream input/output tables, which means that FILE* pointers cannot be passed from one to another. In consequence, if an application that is built with one library attempts to pass FILE parameters to a DLL that is built with another library, the FILE parameters will not be recognised and the program will fail. It is hence important to build a MPIR application using the same run time library as that used to build any DLL that is used - in this case the appropriate version 10 library. 6. MPIR Applications that Require _stdcall Functions ==================================================== Some applications, for example Visual Basic 6, require that DLL based functions provide a _stdcall interface, whereas the VC++ default for DLLs is _cdecl. To overcome this Jim White intends to make a wrapper DLL available for MPIR that provides a _stdcall interface to the normal _cdecl MPIR DLLs. 7. The MPIR Build Process in Outline ==================================== Prebuild -------- It is not necessary to read this unless you want to change the build process. The first step in an MPIR build is managed by the batch file prebuilld.bat which has the following steps: 1. Read the connfiguation from the IDE input parameters which are the version (generic, core2, k8, k10, nehalem, p0, p3 or p4). For the generic version there is a second parameter for a win32 build. 2. Set the source directory for the mpn source code and the platform (win32 or x64). 3. Call the batch file gen_mpir_h.bat (described later) to generate mpir.h in the mpir root directory. 4. Call the batch file gen_config_h.bat (described later) to generate config.h in the mpir root directory. 5. use the batch file out_copy_rename to copy the appropriate version of gmp-mparam.h into the mpir root directory. The gen_mpir_h batch file inputs gmp_h.in and searches for @symbol@, replacing those that matter with the appropiate values for the Windows build. The gen_config_h batch file takes lists of symbols in the cfg.h files in the mpn sub-directories and generates HAVE_NATIVE defines from them. The result is then prepended onto cfg.h in the build.vc10 directory and the result is output as config.h into the mpir root directory. The IDE build ------------- At this point the IDE builds the MPIR library. Postbuild --------- After a successful MPIR build a postbuild step is managed by the batch file postbuild.bat which has the following steps: 1. Tne $(TargetPath) parameter (%1 for the batch file) is passed to determine the library type (lib or dll), the platform (win32 or x64), the configuration (release or debug) and the filename. 2. The final output directory is then creaated (mpir\build.vc10\lib or mpir\build.vc10\dll) relative to the Visual Stduio solution directory (build.vc10). 3. The file 'output_params.bat' is written describing the MPIR configuration that has been built. This is used to signal the version to be tested by the tests. In the sub-directory mpir-tests, the appropriate property file is copied into test-config.props for later use in the tests. 4. The header files used in the build are then copied into the output directory. 5. The built library files (mpir.dll, mpir.exp, mpir.lib and mpir.pdb for a DLL, mpir.lib and mpir.pdb for a static library) are then copied into the output directory. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ================ My thanks to: 1. The GMP team for their work on GMP and the MPFR team for their work on MPFR 2. The MPIR team 3. Patrick Pelissier, Vincent Lefèvre and Paul Zimmermann for helping to resolve VC++ issues in MPFR. 4. Jeff Gilchrist for his help in testing, debugging and improving the readme giving the VC++ build instructions Brian Gladman, August 2012