File: docs/README.WIN32 Last updated: Apr 25, 2007 NOTE: This information only applies to Mesa 7.8 and older. Nowadays it's probably better to use Scons to build for Windows. Quick Start ----- ----- Unzip the MesaLib, MesaGLUT, and MesaDemos ZIP files into the same directory. The libs and demos build separately, so if you do not care about the demos or GLUT, you only need to unzip MesaLib. If you unzip more than one ZIP file, they all need to be unzipped into the same directory. Don't worry, you will not overwrite anything. The Windows build system uses Microsoft Visual Studio. Project files for a specific version of Visual Studio are in their own directory in the top-level "windows" directory. For example, Visual Studio 8 files are in windows/VC8. Support has been dropped for versions of Visual Studio prior to 8. The main reason is because Microsoft now provides a free compiler and developer environment. Visual Studio Express can be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/default.aspx You'll also need the Platform SDK. Instructions for obtaining and using the SDK with Visual Studio Express can be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/usingpsdk/ The project files to build the core Mesa library, Windows Mesa drivers, OSMesa, and GLU are in the mesa directory. The project files to build GLUT and some demo programs are in the progs directory. Makefiles are no longer shipped or supported, but can be generated from the projects using Visual Studio. Windows Drivers ------- ------- At this time, only the GDI driver is known to work. Most of the demos in progs/demos should work with this driver. Source code also exists in the tree for other drivers in src/mesa/drivers/windows, but the status of this code is unknown. The GDI driver operates basically by writing pixel spans into a DIB section and then blitting the DIB to the window. The driver was recently cleaned up and rewitten and so may have bugs or may be missing some functionality. The older versions of the CVS source may be useful in figuring out any problems, or report them to me. To build Mesa with the GDI driver, build the mesa, gdi, and glu projects in the Visual Studio workspace found at windows/VC8/mesa/mesa.sln The osmesa DLL can also be built with the osmesa project. The build system creates a lib top-level directory and copies resulting LIB and DLL files to this lib directory. The files are: OPENGL32.LIB, GLU32.LIB, OSMESA32.LIB OPENGL32.DLL, GLU32.DLL, OSMESA32.DLL If the MesaDemos ZIP file was extracted, the DLL files are also copied to the demos directory. This facilitates running the demos as described below. GLUT and Demos ---- --- ----- A Visual Studio workspace can be found at windows/VC8/progs/progs.sln It can be used to build GLUT and a few demos. The GLUT lib and DLL are copied to the top-level lib directory, along with the Mesa libs. The demo build system expects to find the LIB files in the top level lib directory, so you must build the Mesa libs first. The demo executables are placed in the demos directory, because some of them rely on data files found there. Also, the Mesa lib DLL's were copied there by the Mesa lib build process. Therefore, you should be able to simply run the demo executables from the demo directory. If you want to run the demos from the Visual Studio, you may have to change the startup directory and explicitly state where the executables are. You may also build all the demo programs by using a makefile. Go to the progs/demos directory and make sure you have executed VCVARS32.BAT or whatever setup script is appropriate for your compiler. Then, nmake -f Makefile.win should build all the demos. Build System Notes ----- ------ ----- VC8 --- No notes. General ------- After building, you can copy the above DLL files to a place in your PATH such as $SystemRoot/SYSTEM32. If you don't like putting things in a system directory, place them in the same directory as the executable(s). Be careful about accidentially overwriting files of the same name in the SYSTEM32 directory. The DLL files are built so that the external entry points use the stdcall calling convention. Static LIB files are not built. The LIB files that are built with are the linker import files associated with the DLL files. The si-glu sources are used to build the GLU libs. This was done mainly to get the better tessellator code. To build "mangled" Mesa, add the preprocessor define USE_MGL_NAMESPACE to the project settings. You will also need to edit src/mesa.def to change all the gl* symbols to mgl*. Because this is easy to do with a global replace operation in a text editor, no additional mangled version of mesa.def is maintained or shipped. If you have a Windows-related build problem or question, please post to the mesa-dev or mesa-users list.