INSTALLpc.txt - Installation of Vim on PC This file contains instructions for compiling Vim. If you already have an executable version of Vim, you don't need this. More information can be found here: (Very stale now.) http://mywebpage.netscape.com/sharppeople/vim/howto/ The file "feature.h" can be edited to match your preferences. You can skip this, then you will get the default behavior as is documented, which should be fine for most people. With the exception of the last two sections (Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS), this document assumes that you are building Vim for Win32 (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista and Windows 95/98/Me) Contents: 1. Microsoft Visual C++ 2. Using MinGW 3. Cygwin 4. Borland 5. Cross compiling for Win32 from a Linux machine 6. Building with Python support 7. Building with MzScheme support 8. Windows 3.1 9. MS-DOS The currently preferred method is using the free Visual C++ Toolkit 2003. 1. Microsoft Visual C++ ======================= Visual Studio ------------- Building with Visual Studio (VS 98, VS .NET, VS .NET 2003, and VS .NET 2005) is straightforward. (These instructions should also work for VS 4 and VS 5.) To build Vim from the command line with MSVC, use Make_mvc.mak. Visual Studio installed a batch file called vcvars32.bat, which you must run to set up paths for nmake and MSVC. nmake -f Make_mvc.mak console Win32 SDK or Microsoft Visual C++ nmake -f Make_mvc.mak GUI=yes GUI Microsoft Visual C++ nmake -f Make_mvc.mak OLE=yes OLE Microsoft Visual C++ nmake -f Make_mvc.mak PERL=C:\Perl PYTHON=C:\Python etc. Perl, Python, etc. Make_mvc.mak allows a Vim to be built with various different features and debug support. Debugging with MS Devstudio is provided by Make_dvc.mak. For a description of the use of Make_dvc.mak, look in Make_mvc.mak. For compiling Gvim with IME support on far-east Windows, add IME=yes to the parameters you pass to Make_mvc.mak. To build Vim from within the Visual Studio IDE, open the Make_ivc.mak project. (Note: Make_ivc.mak is not as rich as Make_mvc.mak, which allows for far more configuration.) Make_ivc.mak can also be built with nmake. nmake -f Make_ivc.mak CFG="Vim - Win32 Release gvim" GUI Microsoft Visual C++ 4.x or later nmake -f Make_ivc.mak CFG="Vim - Win32 Release gvim OLE" OLE Microsoft Visual C++ 4.x or later See the specific files for comments and options. These files have been supplied by George V. Reilly, Ben Singer, Ken Scott and Ron Aaron; they have been tested. Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 ----------------------- You can download the Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 from http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/vctoolkit2003/ This contains the command-line tools (compiler, linker, CRT headers, and libraries) for Visual Studio .NET 2003, but not the Visual Studio IDE. To compile and debug Vim with the VC2003 Toolkit, you will also need |ms-platform-sdk|, |dotnet-1.1-redist|, |dotnet-1.1-sdk|, and |windbg-download|. It's easier to download Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition, |msvc-2008-express|, which is freely available in perpetuity. The free Code::Blocks IDE works with the VC2003 Toolkit, as described at http://wiki.codeblocks.org/index.php?title=Integrating_Microsoft_Visual_Toolkit_2003_with_Code::Blocks_IDE (This site also takes you through configuring a number of other free C compilers for Win32.) To compile Vim using the VC2003 Toolkit and Make_mvc.mak, you must first execute the following commands in a cmd.exe window (the msvcsetup.bat batch file can be used): set PATH=%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322;%PATH% call "%VCToolkitInstallDir%vcvars32.bat" set MSVCVer=7.1 call "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Platform SDK\SetEnv.Cmd" set LIB=%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Vc7\lib;%LIB% Now you can build Vim with Make_mvc.mak. Getting the Windows Platform SDK *ms-platform-sdk* You will also need a copy of the Windows Platform SDK from http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/ Specifically, you need the Windows Core SDK subset of the Platform SDK, which contains the Windows headers and libraries. Getting the .NET Framework 1.1 Runtime *dotnet-1.1-redist* You need the .NET Framework 1.1 Redistributable Package from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3 or from Windows Update: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ This is needed to install |dotnet-1.1-sdk|. It also contains cvtres.exe, which is needed to link Vim. Getting the .NET Framework 1.1 SDK *dotnet-1.1-sdk* You need the .NET Framework 1.1 SDK from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9b3a2ca6-3647-4070-9f41-a333c6b9181d This contains some additional libraries needed to compile Vim, such as msvcrt.lib. You must install |dotnet-1.1-redist| before installing the .NET 1.1 SDK. Getting the WinDbg debugger *windbg-download* The Debugging Tools for Windows can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx This includes the WinDbg debugger, which you will want if you ever need to debug Vim itself. An earlier version of the Debugging Tools is also available through the Platform SDK, |ms-platform-sdk|. Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition ------------------------------- Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition can be downloaded for free from: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualC/default.aspx This includes the IDE and the debugger. You will also need |ms-platform-sdk|. You can build Vim with Make_mvc.mak. Instructions for integrating the Platform SDK into VC Express: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/usingpsdk/default.aspx Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition *msvc-2008-express* ------------------------------- Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition can be downloaded for free from: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/express/default.aspx This includes the IDE and the debugger. You can build Vim with Make_mvc.mak. 2. MinGW ======== (written by Ron Aaron: ) This is about how to produce a Win32 binary of gvim with MinGW. First, you need to get the 'mingw32' compiler, which is free for the download at: http://www.mingw.org/ Once you have downloaded the compiler binaries, unpack them on your hard disk somewhere, and put them on your PATH. If you are on Win95/98 you can edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file with a line like: set PATH=C:\GCC-2.95.2\BIN;%PATH% or on NT/2000/XP, go to the Control Panel, (Performance and Maintenance), System, Advanced, and edit the environment from there. Test if gcc is on your path. From a CMD (or COMMAND on '95/98) window: C:\> gcc --version 2.95.2 C:\> make --version GNU Make version 3.77 (...etc...) Now you are ready to rock 'n' roll. Unpack the vim sources (look on www.vim.org for exactly which version of the vim files you need). Change directory to 'vim\src': C:\> cd vim\src C:\VIM\SRC> and you type: make -f Make_ming.mak gvim.exe After churning for a while, you will end up with 'gvim.exe' in the 'vim\src' directory. You should not need to do *any* editing of any files to get vim compiled this way. If, for some reason, you want the console-mode-only version of vim (this is NOT recommended on Win32, especially on '95/'98!!!), you need only change the 'gvim.exe' to 'vim.exe' in the 'make' commands given above. If you are dismayed by how big the EXE is, I strongly recommend you get 'UPX' (also free!) and compress the file (typical compression is 50%). UPX can be found at http://www.upx.org/ ADDITION: NLS support with MinGW (by Eduardo F. Amatria ) If you want National Language Support, read the file src/po/README_mingw.txt. You need to uncomment lines in Make_ming.mak to have NLS defined. 3. Cygwin ========= Use Make_cyg.mak with Cygwin's GCC. See http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/vim/compile.htm The Cygnus one many not fully work yet. With Cygnus gcc you can use the Unix Makefile instead (you need to get the Unix archive then). Then you get a Cygwin application (feels like Vim is runnin on Unix), while with Make_cyg.mak you get a Windows application (like with the other makefiles). 4. Borland =========== Use Make_bc5.mak with Borland C++ 5.x. See http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/vim/compile.htm 5. Cross compiling for Win32 from a Linux machine ================================================= [Update of 1) needs to be verified] If you like, you can compile the 'mingw' Win32 version from the comfort of your Linux (or other unix) box. To do this, you need to follow a few steps: 1) Install the mingw32 cross-compiler. See http://www.libsdl.org/extras/win32/cross/README.txt 2) get the *unix* version of the vim sources 3) in 'Make_ming.mak', set 'CROSS' to '1' instead of '0'. 4) make -f Make_ming.mak gvim.exe Now you have created the Windows binary from your Linux box! Have fun... 6. Building with Python support =============================== (written by Ron Aaron: ) This has been tested with the mingw32 compiler, and the ActiveState ActivePython: http://www.ActiveState.com/Products/ActivePython/ After installing the ActivePython, you will have to create a 'mingw32' 'libpython20.a' to link with: cd $PYTHON/libs pexports python20.dll > python20.def dlltool -d python20.def -l libpython20.a Once that is done, edit the 'Make_ming.mak' so the PYTHON variable points to the root of the Python installation (C:\Python20, for example). If you are cross-compiling on Linux with the mingw32 setup, you need to also convert all the 'Include' files to *unix* line-endings. This bash command will do it easily: for fil in *.h ; do vim -e -c 'set ff=unix|w|q' $fil Now just do: make -f Make_ming.mak gvim.exe and you will end up with a Python-enabled, Win32 version. Enjoy! 7. Building with MzScheme support ================================= (written by Sergey Khorev ) Vim with MzScheme (http://www.plt-scheme.org/software/mzscheme) support can be built with either MSVC, or MinGW, or Cygwin. Supported versions are 205 and above (including 299 and 30x series). The MSVC build is quite straightforward. Simply invoke (in one line) nmake -fMake_mvc.mak MZSCHEME= [MZSCHEME_VER=] [DYNAMIC_MZSCHEME=] where is the last seven characters from MzScheme dll name (libmzschXXXXXXX.dll). If DYNAMIC_MZSCHEME=yes, resulting executable will not depend on MzScheme DLL's, but will load them in runtime on demand. Building dynamic MzScheme support on MinGW and Cygwin is similar. Take into account that should contain slashes rather than backslashes (e.g. d:/Develop/MzScheme) "Static" MzScheme support (Vim executable will depend on MzScheme DLLs explicitly) on MinGW and Cygwin requires additional step. libmzschXXXXXXX.dll and libmzgcXXXXXXX.dll should be copied from %WINDOWS%\System32 to other location (either build directory, some temporary dir or even MzScheme home). Pass that path as MZSCHEME_DLLS parameter for Make. E.g., make -f Make_cyg.mak MZSCHEME=d:/Develop/MzScheme MZSCHEME_VER=209_000 MZSCHEME_DLLS=c:/Temp DYNAMIC_MZSCHEME=no After a successful build, these dlls can be freely removed, leaving them in %WINDOWS%\System32 only. 8. Windows 3.1x =============== make -f Make_w16.mak 16 bit, Borland C++ 5.0 Warning: Be sure to use the right make.exe. It should be Borland make. You will almost certainly have to change the paths for libs and include files in the Makefile. Look for "D:\BC5" and "ctl3dv2". You will get a number of warnings which can be ignored ( _chmod, precompiled header files, and "possibly incorrect assignment"). The makefile should also work for BC++ 4.0 and 4.5, but may need tweaking to remove unsupported compiler & liker options. For making the Win32s version, you need Microsoft Visual C++ 4.1 OR EARLIER. In MSVC 4.2 support for Win32s was dropped! Use this command: nmake -f Make_mvc.mak GUI=yes 9. MS-DOS ========= Summary: ren Make_bc3.mak Makefile; make 16 bit, Borland C++ and Turbo C++ ren Make_tcc.mak Makefile; make 16 bit, Turbo C make -f Make_djg.mak 32 bit, DJGPP 2.0 make -f Make_bc5.mak 32 bit, Borland C++ 5.x (edit it to define DOS) Warning: Be sure to use the right make.exe. Microsoft C make doesn't work; Borland make only works with Make_bc3.mak, Make_bc5.mak and Make_tcc.mak; DJGPP/GNU make must be used for Make_djg.mak. The Borland C++ compiler has been used to generate the MS-DOS executable; it should work without problems. You will probably have to change the paths for LIBPATH and INCLUDEPATH in the start of the Makefile. You will get two warnings which can be ignored (one about _chmod and one about precompiled header files). The "spawno" library by Ralf Brown was used in order to free memory when Vim starts a shell or other external command. Only about 200 bytes are taken from conventional memory. When recompiling get the spawno library from Simtel, directory "msdos/c". It is called something like "spwno413.zip". Or follow the instructions in the Makefile to remove the library. The Turbo C Makefile has not been tested much lately. It is included for those that don't have C++. You may need to make a few changes to get it to work. DJGPP needs to be installed properly to compile Vim; you need a lot of things before it works. When your setup is OK, Vim should compile with just one warning (about an argument to signal()). Make_bc5.mak is for those that have Borland C++ 5.0 or later. At the top of the file, there are some variables you can change to make either a 32-bit Windows exe (GUI or console mode), or a 16-bit MS-DOS version. NOTE: multi-byte support is broken in the Borland libraries, not everything will work properly! Esp. handling multi-byte file names. If you get all kinds of strange error messages when compiling, try adding changing the file format from "unix" to "dos".