154 lines
6.9 KiB
Markdown
154 lines
6.9 KiB
Markdown
WINDOWS BUILD NOTES
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====================
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Below are some notes on how to build Bitcoin Core for Windows.
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Most developers use cross-compilation from Ubuntu to build executables for
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Windows. This is also used to build the release binaries.
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Building on Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 is recommended.
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At the time of writing the Windows Subsystem for Linux installs Ubuntu Xenial 16.04. The default cross
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compiler package for Ubuntu Xenial does not produce working executables for some of the bitcoin applications.
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It is possible to build on Ubuntu Xenial by installing the cross compiler packages from
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Ubuntu Zesty, see the steps below.
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Building on Ubuntu Zesty 17.04 up to 17.10 has been verified to work.
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While there are potentially a number of ways to build on Windows (for example using msys / mingw-w64),
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using the Windows Subsystem For Linux is the most straightforward. If you are building with
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another method, please contribute the instructions here for others who are running versions
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of Windows that are not compatible with the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
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Compiling with Windows Subsystem For Linux
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-------------------------------------------
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With Windows 10, Microsoft has released a new feature named the [Windows
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Subsystem for Linux (WSL)](https://msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/wsl/about). This
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feature allows you to run a bash shell directly on Windows in an Ubuntu-based
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environment. Within this environment you can cross compile for Windows without
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the need for a separate Linux VM or server.
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This feature is not supported in versions of Windows prior to Windows 10 or on
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Windows Server SKUs. In addition, it is available [only for 64-bit versions of
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Windows](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/commandline/wsl/install_guide).
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Full instructions to install WSL are available on the above link.
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To install WSL on Windows 10 with Fall Creators Update installed (version >= 16215.0) do the following:
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1. Enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux feature
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* From Start, search for "Turn Windows features on or off" (type 'turn')
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* Select Windows Subsystem for Linux
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* Click OK
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* Restart if necessary
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2. Install Ubuntu
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* Open Microsoft Store and search for Ubuntu or use [this link](https://www.microsoft.com/store/productId/9NBLGGH4MSV6)
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* Click Install
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3. Complete Installation
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* Open a cmd prompt and type "Ubuntu"
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* Create a new UNIX user account (this is a separate account from your Windows account)
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After the bash shell is active, you can follow the instructions below, starting
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with the "Cross-compilation" section. Compiling the 64-bit version is
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recommended but it is possible to compile the 32-bit version.
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Cross-compilation
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-------------------
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These steps can be performed on, for example, an Ubuntu VM. The depends system
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will also work on other Linux distributions, however the commands for
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installing the toolchain will be different.
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First, install the general dependencies:
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sudo apt install build-essential libtool autotools-dev automake pkg-config bsdmainutils curl git
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A host toolchain (`build-essential`) is necessary because some dependency
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packages (such as `protobuf`) need to build host utilities that are used in the
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build process.
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See also: [dependencies.md](dependencies.md).
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## Building for 64-bit Windows
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The first step is to install the mingw-w64 cross-compilation tool chain. Due to different Ubuntu
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packages for each distribution and problems with the Xenial packages the steps for each are different.
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Common steps to install mingw32 cross compiler tool chain:
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sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64
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Ubuntu Trusty 14.04:
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No further steps required
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Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 and Windows Subsystem for Linux <sup>[1](#footnote1),[2](#footnote2)</sup>:
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sudo apt install software-properties-common
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sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty universe"
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sudo apt update
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sudo apt upgrade
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sudo update-alternatives --config x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ # Set the default mingw32 g++ compiler option to posix.
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Ubuntu Zesty 17.04 <sup>[2](#footnote2)</sup>:
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sudo update-alternatives --config x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ # Set the default mingw32 g++ compiler option to posix.
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Once the tool chain is installed the build steps are common:
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PATH=$(echo "$PATH" | sed -e 's/:\/mnt.*//g') # strip out problematic Windows %PATH% imported var
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cd depends
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make HOST=x86_64-w64-mingw32
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cd ..
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./autogen.sh # not required when building from tarball
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CONFIG_SITE=$PWD/depends/x86_64-w64-mingw32/share/config.site ./configure --prefix=/
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make
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## Building for 32-bit Windows
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To build executables for Windows 32-bit, install the following dependencies:
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sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-i686 mingw-w64-i686-dev
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For Ubuntu Xenial 16.04, Ubuntu Zesty 17.04 and Windows Subsystem for Linux <sup>[2](#footnote2)</sup>:
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sudo update-alternatives --config i686-w64-mingw32-g++ # Set the default mingw32 g++ compiler option to posix.
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Then build using:
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PATH=$(echo "$PATH" | sed -e 's/:\/mnt.*//g') # strip out problematic Windows %PATH% imported var
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cd depends
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make HOST=i686-w64-mingw32
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cd ..
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./autogen.sh # not required when building from tarball
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CONFIG_SITE=$PWD/depends/i686-w64-mingw32/share/config.site ./configure --prefix=/
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make
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## Depends system
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For further documentation on the depends system see [README.md](../depends/README.md) in the depends directory.
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Installation
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-------------
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After building using the Windows subsystem it can be useful to copy the compiled
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executables to a directory on the windows drive in the same directory structure
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as they appear in the release `.zip` archive. This can be done in the following
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way. This will install to `c:\workspace\bitcoin`, for example:
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make install DESTDIR=/mnt/c/workspace/bitcoin
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Footnotes
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---------
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<a name="footnote1">1</a>: There is currently a bug in the 64 bit mingw-w64 cross compiler packaged for WSL/Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 that
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causes two of the bitcoin executables to crash shortly after start up. The bug is related to the
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-fstack-protector-all g++ compiler flag which is used to mitigate buffer overflows.
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Installing the mingw-w64 packages from the Ubuntu 17 distribution solves the issue, however, this is not
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an officially supported approach and it's only recommended if you are prepared to reinstall WSL/Ubuntu should
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something break.
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<a name="footnote2">2</a>: Starting from Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 both the 32 and 64 bit mingw-w64 packages install two different
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compiler options to allow a choice between either posix or win32 threads. The default option is win32 threads which is the more
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efficient since it will result in binary code that links directly with the Windows kernel32.lib. Unfortunately, the headers
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required to support win32 threads conflict with some of the classes in the C++11 standard library in particular std::mutex.
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It's not possible to build the bitcoin code using the win32 version of the mingw-w64 cross compilers (at least not without
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modifying headers in the bitcoin source code).
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