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Compiling DC++

  1. Application and Dependency versions needed 

    Some tools can be found on <https://sourceforge.net/projects/dcplusplus/files/Dev/>,

although I recommend getting them directly from their hosts.

  2. Specific configuration of the compiler

    1. HTML Help support (only for MinGW) 

      To build a version with HTML Help support, copy the following files from a Windows SDK

(Windows SDK path -> DC++ source code path):

Include/shared/winapifamily.h -> mingw/include/winapifamily.h

Include/um/HtmlHelp.h -> mingw/include/htmlhelp.h

Lib/win8/um/x86/Htmlhelp.Lib -> mingw/lib/htmlhelp.lib

Lib/win8/um/x64/Htmlhelp.Lib -> mingw/lib/x64/htmlhelp.lib
      The latest Windows SDK is currently at

<https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/desktop/hh852363>; it installs into

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0".

    2. OpenSSL 

      Download OpenSSL from www.openssl.org, copy the 'openssl-*.tar.gz' archive to the openssl/build folder.
      Compiling with MinGW
      Use the build_mingw.bat script provided in the openssl/build folder. It will copy the compiled libraries to openssl/lib.

The build process needs Cygwin installed. Above the basic (default) packages the following additional packages needs

to be installed under Cygwin:

      • perl (Perl builds for Windows are unsuitable for this process)

      • make 

        <https://bennierobinson.com/programming/2016/01/24/perl-windows-2016.html> explains how to set up these

packages in detail.
        You'll also need a GNU Patch executable for the operation in your PATH. It can be either the GNU Win32 binary

or a package installed under Cygwin or even any patch executable that may come with your versioning system.
        Make sure that Cygwin's 'bin' folder is in your PATH environment variable.
        Compiling with MSVC
        Compilation requires the following additional packages to be installed above MSVS 2022:

      • Perl v5.32.1 or later (from Strawberry [tested] or ActiveState) https://www.perl.org/get.html

      • NASM version 2.15 or later https://www.nasm.us 

        Make sure both tools' executables are added in your PATH environment variable.
        For generating the 64-bit library open [x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022] prompt and run:

        perl Configure no-shared no-capieng -DOPENSSL_SYS_WIN32 -DOPENSSL_NO_CAPIENG VC-WIN64A --prefix=%CD%
        For generating the 32-bit library open [x86 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022] prompt and run:

        perl Configure no-shared no-capieng -DOPENSSL_SYS_WIN32 -DOPENSSL_NO_CAPIENG VC-WIN32 --prefix=%CD%
        Then run:

        nmake

which will compile the makefile and generate your libs and

        nmake install_sw

This will move all of your libs to the path specified in --openssldir switch
        You may also ask around for help and pre-compiled libs in the DCDev hub; someone might have already built a package.

  3. Starting the build process 

    Open a command prompt and type "scons" followed by some options:
    "tools=mingw" - Use mingw for building (default)

"tools=default" - Use msvc for building (yes, the option value is strange)

"mode=debug" - Compile a debug build (default)

"mode=release" - Compile an optimized release build

"arch=x64" - Compile a 64-bit build
    To see more options, type "scons -h".
    Tip: You can create a file custom.py and put your options in there.
    You can choose which targets to build; eg:

  scons build/debug-mingw/dwt

will only build DWT with MinGW in debug mode. By default, when no target is specified, SCons builds all targets.

For more possible arguments, consult the SCons manual.
    If you have problems, use google. It works for me.

  4. Alternative compilers

    1. Various builds / versions of MinGW from the MinGW-w64 project or its forks (based on GCC 8.1 or later):

      • https://github.com/niXman/mingw-builds-binaries/releases

      • https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw-w64/files/

      • https://winlibs.com

      • https://gcc-mcf.lhmouse.com

      • MinGW-w64 compilers installed as part of MSYS2 https://www.msys2.org etc… 

        All you have to do to use one is to download and extract it to a folder.

Prefer DWARF / SEH versions (usually marked with a "-dw") of the 32/64-bit compilers respectively; SJLJ ones should

be avoided for performance reasons.
        We are currently using these 2 packages by the MinGW-w64 project:

- 64-bit: <https://github.com/niXman/mingw-builds-binaries/releases/download/11.2.0-rt_v9-rev1/x86_64-11.2.0-release-win32-seh-rt_v9-rev1.7z>

- 32-bit: <https://github.com/niXman/mingw-builds-binaries/releases/download/11.2.0-rt_v9-rev1/i686-11.2.0-release-win32-dwarf-rt_v9-rev1.7z>
        Using compilers from regular MinGW (not MinGW-w64) is not supported as older versions had stability issues

and recent releases are not tested. If you still want to use regular MinGW (at your own risk) the easiest way

is to install it by using mingw-get.

Extract it to C:\MinGW and run:

        mingw-get install gcc g++

A graphical installer around mingw-get is also available to facilitate the above.
        Make sure that MinGW\bin is in your PATH environment variable.
        Alternatively, if you have Cygwin, a MinGW compiler can be installed as part of Cygwin:

select it in the "Devel" category when running the Cygwin installer.

To make DC++ use it, add "prefix=i686-pc-mingw32-" to the scons arguments or create a

custom.py file containing:

        prefix='i686-pc-mingw32-'

Make sure that Cygwin\bin is in your PATH environment variable.

Note that building with MinGW compilers provided by Cygwin is not tested.

    2. Microsoft Visual Studio 2022: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/thank-you-downloading-visual-studio/?sku=Community&channel=Release&version=VS2022 

      To generate project files for MSVC, run "scons" with "msvcproj=1" and "tools=default".

The resulting solution file (DCPlusPlus.sln) will be in msvc/[mode-arch]/.

  5. Other information and submitting patches

    1. With doxygen, graphviz and some luck, you can use the supplied doxygen configuration file to generate some nice docs. Just check that the paths in the doxyfile are correct.

    2. In the event you experience crashing you can check the howto guide for debugging at https://answers.launchpad.net/dcplusplus/+faq/337 

      Note that DCPlusPlus.exe is stripped by default when it has been built with MinGW;

debugging symbols instead reside in DCPlusPlus.pdb. To get GDB to swallow it, start it with

the following command:

        gdb -e DCPlusPlus.exe -s DCPlusPlus.pdb

    3. Linux / Unix: 

      Look at <https://launchpad.net/linuxdcpp> for the *nix port of DC++ - they'll gladly accept any help.

    4. Submitting patches 

      If you think you've done something that more people could use, you can always submit a

patch for inclusion in the original distribution. I will then consider whether I like

the patch or not based on things that might seem to be completely random, which just

might be the case. Popular reasons for rejecting a patch include, but are not limited

to, ugly code, abusable features, features that I don't like that bloat the application

and incompatibility with other modifications I've already done.
      The Mercurial code repository is at <https://sourceforge.net/p/dcplusplus/code/>.
      We accept both plain patches and pull requests.

    5. Licensing issues with submitted patches 

      In order to avoid future licensing issues, I ask you to give me copyright over any submitted code.

If you don't like this policy, you are free to start your own distribution (as

many have done), and if you're lucky it might become more popular than the original =). Please

state explicitly when submitting the patch that you give me copyright over the code if the submission is larger

than trivial.

    6. Developing plugins 

      The DC plugin SDK is at <https://launchpad.net/dc-plugin-sdk>.
      See dcpp/Plugin* files for implementation details.
      The "Plugin format (dcext).txt" document describes the way plugins are packaged.