wxWidgets/wxPython/BUILD.win32.txt

Building wxPython on Win32
--------------------------


Building wxPython for use on win32 systems is a fairly simple process
consisting of just a few steps.  However depending on where you get
your sources from and what your desired end result is, there are
several permutations of those steps.  At a high level the basic steps
are:

     1. Get the wxWindows sources
     2. Build the wxWindows DLL
     3. Get the wxPython sources
     4. Build and Install wxPython

We'll go into more detail of each of these steps below, but first a
few bits of background information on tools.

I use a tool called SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to help generate the
C++ sources used in the wxPython extension module.  However you don't
need to have SWIG unless you want to modify the *.i files.  If you do
you'll want to have version 1.1-883 of SWIG and you'll need to apply
the patches and updates in wxPython/SWIG and rebuild it.  Then you'll
need to change a flag in the setup.py script as described below so the
wxPython build process will use SWIG if needed.

I use the new Python Distutils tool to build wxPython.  It is included
with Python 2.0, but if you want to use Python 1.5.2 or 1.6 then
you'll need to download and install Distutils 1.0 from
http://www.python.org/sigs/distutils-sig/

I use Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 (5.0 with the service packs should work
also) to compile the wxPython C++ sources.  Since I am using Distutils
it should be easier now to build with other win32 compilers such as
the free mingw32 or Borland compilers, but I havn't tried them yet.
If anybody wants to try it I'll take any required patches for the
setup script and for these instructions.

And now on to the fun stuff...



1. Get the wxWindows sources
----------------------------

A. There are a few possible ways to get sources for wxWindows.  You
   can download a released version from http://wxwindows.org/ or you
   can get current development sources from the CVS server.  (Some
   information about annonymous CVS access is at
   http://wxwindows.org/cvs.htm.)  The advantage of using CVS is that
   you can easily update as soon as the developers check in new
   sources or fixes.  The advantage of using a released version is
   that it usually has had more testing done.  You can decide which
   method is best for you.

B. You'll usually want to use wxWindows sources that have the same
   version number as the wxPython sources you are using.  (Another
   advantage of using CVS is that you'll get both at the same time.)

C. Once you get the sources be sure to put them in a path without a
   space in it (i.e., NOT c:\Program Files\wx) and set an environment
   variable named WXWIN to this directory.  For example:

         mkdir \wx2
         cd \wx2
         unzip wxMSW-2.2.2.zip
         set WXWIN=c:\wx2

   You'll probably want to add that last line to your autoexec.bat or
   System Properties depending on the type of system you are on.

D. Change to the wx2\include\wx\msw directory and copy setup0.h to
   setup.h and then edit setup.h.  This is how you control which parts
   of wxWindows are compiled into or left out of the build, simply by
   turning options on or off.  I have the following differences from
   the default setup0.h in my setup.h, but you can experiment with
   other settings if you like:

         wxDIALOG_UNIT_COMPATIBILITY   0
         wxUSE_GLOBAL_MEMORY_OPERATORS 0
         wxUSE_DEBUG_NEW_ALWAYS        0
         wxUSE_CMDLINE_PARSER          0
         wxUSE_DIALUP_MANAGER          0
         wxUSE_DYNAMIC_LOADER          0
         wxUSE_TREELAYOUT              0
         wxUSE_POSTSCRIPT              1


    ** NEW **
    Be sure that wxUSE_GLCANVAS is defined to be 0 as wxPython now
    keeps its own copy of the glcanvas sources and expects that it is
    not in the main library.  This is done to reduce the number of
    dependant DLLs on the core library and therefore help reduce
    startup time.



2. Build the wxWindows DLL
---------------------------

A. Although MSVC project files are provided I always use the makefiles
   to build wxWindows because by default the flags are compatible with
   Python, (and I make sure they stay that way.)  You would have to
   edit the project files a bit to make it work otherwise.

B. There are three different types of wxWindows DLLs that can be
   produced by the VC makefile simply by providing a flag on the nmake
   command-line, I call the three types DEBUG, FINAL, and HYBRID.
   (The last one is brand new, you'll need my version of the 2.2.2
   sources to get the HYBRID capability.)  Here are some more details:

      DEBUG Specified with "FINAL=0" and produces a DLL named
            wx[version]d.dll.  This DLL is compiled with full
            debugging information and with the __WXDEBUG__ set which
            enables some debugging-only code in wxWindows such as
            assertions and failure log messages.  The /MDd flag is
            used which means that it is linked with the debugging
            version of the C runtime library and also that you must
            use the debugging version of Python, (python_d.exe and
            pythonXX_d.dll) which also means that all extensions
            loaded by Python should also have the _d in the name.
            With this option you can use the MSVC debugger to trace
            though the Python interpreter, as well as the code for the
            wxPython extension and the wxWindows DLL.

      FINAL Specified with "FINAL=1" and produces a DLL named
            wx[version].dll.  This DLL is compiled with optimizations
            turned on and without debugging information and without
            __WXDEBUG__.  The /MD flag is used which means that you
            can use this version with the standard python.exe.  This
            is the version that I use when making the binary installer
            for win32.

     HYBRID Specified with "FINAL=hybrid" and produces a DLL named
            wx[version]h.dll.  This DLL is almost the same as the
            DEBUG version except the /MD flag is used which means that
            you can use the standard python.exe but you still get the
            debugging info and the __WXDEBUG__ code enabled.  With the
            debugger you can trace through the the code for the
            wxPython extension and the wxWindows DLL, but not the
            Python interpreter.  You might use this version when you
            want to deploy a wxPython app with the __WXDEBUG__ code
            enabled.  I use this mode most of the time during
            development simply because it's easier than having to
            remember to type python_d all the time.

   Since different DLL names and object file directories are used you
   can build all three types if you like.

C. Change to the wx2\src\msw directory and type the following command,
   using the value for FINAL that you want:

         nmake -f makefile.vc dll pch FINAL=hybrid

   Your machine will then crunch away for possibly a long time,
   depending on your hardware, and when it's done you should have a
   DLL and some library files in \wx2\lib.

D. You'll either need to add \wx2\lib to the PATH or copy the DLL file
   to a directory already on the PATH so the DLL can be found at runtime.

E. You can test your build by changing to one of the directories under
   \wx2\samples or \wx2\demos and typing (using the right FINAL flag):

        nmake -f makefile.vc FINAL=hybrid WXUSINGDLL=1

   and then executing the resulting .exe file.



3. Get the wxPython sources
---------------------------

A. You have the same options (and same advantages/disadvantages) for
   getting the wxPython source, either a released snapshot or from
   CVS.  The released version file is named wxPython-[version].tar.gz
   and is available at http://wxpython.org/download.php.  You can use
   WinZip to unpack it if you don't have tar and gzip.  If you want to
   use CVS you'll find wxPython in the wxWindows CVS tree (see above)
   in the wxWindows/wxPython directory.



4. Build and Install wxPython
-----------------------------

A. As mentioned previouslly, wxPython is built with the standard
   Python Distutils tool.  If you are using Python 2.0c1 or later you
   are all set, otherwise you need to download and install Distutils
   1.0 from http://www.python.org/sigs/distutils-sig/.

B. Change to the root wxPython directory and look at the setup.py
   file.  This is the script that configures and defines all the
   information that Distutils needs to build wxPython.  There are some
   options near the begining of the script that you may want or need
   to change based on what options you have selected up to this point,
   (type of DLL built, sources from tar.gz or from CVS, etc.)  You can
   either change these flags directly in setup.py or supply them on
   the command-line.

        BUILD_GLCANVAS Set to zero if you don't want to build the
                       Open GL canvas extension module.

             BUILD_OGL Set to zero if you don't want to build the
                       Object Graphics Library extension module.

             BUILD_STC Set to zero if you don't want to build the
                       wxStyledTextCtrl (the Scintilla wrapper)
                       extension module.

              USE_SWIG If you have edited any of the *.i files you
                       will need to set this flag to non-zero so SWIG
                       will be executed to regenerate the wrapper C++
                       and shadow python files.

           IN_CVS_TREE If you are using the CVS version of the
                       wxWindows and wxPython sources then you will
                       need to set this flag to non-zero.  This is
                       needed because some source files from the
                       wxWindows tree are copied to be under the
                       wxPython tree in order to keep Distutils happy.
                       With this flag set then setup.py will
                       automatically keep these copied sources up to
                       date if the original version is ever updated.
                       If you are using the tar.gz version of the
                       Python sources then these copied sources are
                       already present in your source tree.


C. To build and install wxPython you simply need to execute the
   setup.py script.  If you have more than one version of Python
   installed, be sure to execute setup.py with the version you want to
   build wxPython for.

   Depending on what kind of wxWindows DLL you built there are
   different command-line parameters you'll want to pass to setup (in
   addition to possibly one or more of the above):

         FINAL:     python setup.py install

         DEBUG:     python setup.py build --debug install

         HYBRID:    python setup.py HYBRID=1 install


D. At this point you should be able to change into the wxPython\demo
   directory and run the demo:

         python demo.py

E. If you would like to make a test build that doesn't overwrite the
   installed version of wxPython you can do so with one of these
   commands instead of the install command above:

         FINAL:     python setup.py build_ext --inplace

         DEBUG:     python setup.py build_ext --debug --inplace

         HYBRID:    python setup.py HYBRID=1 build_ext --inplace

   This will build the wxPython package in the local wxPython
   directory instead of installing it under your Python installation.
   To run using this test version just add the base wxPython source
   directory to the PYTHONPATH:

         set PYTHONPATH=c:\wx2\wxPython
         cd c:\wx2\wxPython\demo
         python demo.py


That's all folks!


-----------------
robin@alldunn.com