Compiling Instructions

The methods for compiling Angband vary by platform and by build system. If you get Angband working on a different platform or build system please let us know so we can add to this file. Unless otherwise noted, all the commands listed are to be run from top-level directory of the Angband source files.

macOS

To build the new Cocoa front-end:

cd src
make -f Makefile.osx

Debug build

This will generate a debugging build like that described in the Linux section:

cd src
make -f Makefile.osx clean
make -f Makefile.osx OPT="-g -O1 -fno-omit-frame-pointer -fsanitize=undefined -fsanitize=address"

The clean step is there to clean out object files that were compiled with the default options. The “-g” adds debugging symbols. “-O1 -fno-omit-frame-pointer” dials back the optimization to get call stack traces that are easier to interpret. For even clearer call stack traces, you could add “-fno-optimize-sibling-calls” to the options or omit optimization entirely by replacing “-O1 -fno-omit-frame-pointer” with “-O0”. “-fsanitize=address -fsanitize=undefined” enables the AddressSanitizer and UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer tools.

To run the generated executable under Xcode’s command-line debugger, lldb, do this if you are already in the src directory from the compilation step:

cd ../Angband.app/Contents/MacOS
lldb ./angband

Linux / other UNIX

Native builds

Linux builds using autotools. There are several different front ends that you can optionally build (GCU, SDL, X11, and GTK) using arguments to configure such as –enable-sdl, –disable-gtk, etc. Each front end has different dependencies (e.g. ncurses, SDL libraries, etc).

If your source files are from cloning the git repository, you’ll first need to run this to create the configure script:

./autogen.sh

That is not necessary if your source files are from the source archive, a .tar.gz file, for a release.

To build Angband to be run in-place, then run this:

./configure --with-no-install [other options as needed]
make

To build Angband to be installed in some other location, run this:

./configure --prefix /path/to [other options as needed]
make
make install

On some BSDs, you may need to copy install-sh into lib/ and various subdirectories of lib/ in order to install correctly.

Compilation with CMake

The compilation process with CMake requires a version greater than 3, by default the compilation process uses the X11 front end unless that the contrary is indicated. The optional front ends are: SDL and NCurses.

To build Angband (X11 Frontend) to be run:

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make

To build Angband with the frontend SDL:

mkdir build && cd build
cmake  -DSUPPORT_SDL_FRONTEND=ON ..
make

To build Angband with the frontend NCurses:

mkdir build && cd build
cmake  -DSUPPORT_NCURSES_FRONTEND=ON ..
make

Cross-building for Windows with Mingw

Many developers (as well as the auto-builder) build Angband for Windows using Mingw on Linux. This requires that the necessary Mingw packages are all installed.

This type of build now also uses autotools so the overall procedure is very similar to that for a native build. The key difference is setting up to cross-compile when running configure.

If your source files are from cloning the git repository, you’ll first need to run this to create the configure script:

./autogen.sh

That is not necessary if your source files are from the source archive, a .tar.gz file, for a release.

Then configure the cross-comilation and perform the compilation itself:

./configure --enable-win --disable-curses --build=i686-pc-linux-gnu --host=i586-mingw32msvc
make

Mingw installs commands like ‘i586-mingw32msvc-gcc’. The value of –host should be that same command with the ‘-gcc’ removed. Instead of i586 you may see i686, amd64, etc. The value of –build should be the host you’re building on. (See http://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/autoconf/manual/ autoconf-2.68/html_node/Specifying-Target-Triplets.html#Specifying%20Names for gory details of how these triplets are arrived at)

TODO: you will probably need to manually disable curses, or the host curses installation will be found, and will not be able to link properly. More checking of permissible combinations to configure is necessary

Debug build

WARNING this build is intended primarily for debugging purposes. It might have a somewhat slower performance, higher memory requirements and panic saves don’t always work (in case of a crash there is a higher chance of losing progress).

When debugging crashes it can be very useful to get more information about what exactly went wrong. There are many tools that can detect common issues and provide useful information. Two such tools that are best used together are AddressSanitizer (ASan) and UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer (UBSan). To use them you’ll need to enable them when compiling angband:

./configure [options]
SANITIZE_FLAGS="-fsanitize=undefined -fsanitize=address" make

Note that compiling with this tools will require installing additional dependancies: libubsan libasan (names of the packages might be different in your distribution).

There is probably a way to get these tools to work on Windows. If you know how, please add the information to this file.

Windows

Using MinGW

This build now also uses autotools, so should be very similar to the Linux build. Open the MinGW shell (MSYS) by running msys.bat.

If your source files are from cloning the git repository, you’ll first need to run this in the directory to create the configure script:

./autogen.sh

That is not necessary if your source files are from the source archive, a .tar.gz file, for a release.

Then run these commands::

./configure –enable-win make

The install target almost certainly won’t work

Following build, to get the program to run, you need to copy the executable from the src directory into the top-level dir, and copy 2 DLLs (libpng12.dll and zlib1.dll) from src/win/dll to the top-level dir

Using Cygwin (with MinGW)

Use this option if you want to build a native Windows executable that can run with or without Cygwin.

Use the Cygwin setup.exe to install the mingw-gcc-core package and any dependencies suggested by the installer.

If your source files are from cloning the git repository, you’ll first need to run this in the directory to create the configure script:

./autogen.sh

That is not necessary if your source files are from the source archive, a .tar.gz file, for a release.

Then run these commands:

./configure --enable-win --with-no-install --host=i686-pc-mingw32
make

As with the “Using MinGW” process, you need to copy the executable and DLLs to the top-level dir.

If you want to build the Unix version of Angband that uses X11 or Curses and run it under Cygwin, then follow the native build instructions (./autogen.sh; ./configure; make; make install).

Using MSYS2 (with MinGW64)

Install the dependencies by:

pacman -S make mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain mingw-w64-x86_64-ncurses

Additional dependencies for SDL2 client:

pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2 mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2_gfx \
          mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2_image mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2_ttf

Then run the following to compile with ncurse:

cd src
make -f Makefile.msys2

For SDL2, do:

cd src
make -f Makefile.msys2.sdl2

Go to the root of the source directory and start angband by:

./angband.exe -uPLAYER

The ncurse client may not be able to start properly from msys2 shell, try:

start bash

and run:

export TERM=
./angband.exe -uPLAYER

Using eclipse (Indigo) on Windows (with MinGW)

  • For eclipse with EGit, select File | Import…, Git | Projects from Git, Next >

  • Clone your/the upstream repo, or Add your existing cloned repo, Next >

  • Select “Use the New Projects Wizard”, Finish

  • In the New Project Wizard, select C/C++ | Makefile Project with Existing Code, Next >

  • Give the project a name (Angband), * navigate to the repo you cloned in “Existing Code Location”, * Select “C”, but not “C++” * Choose “MinGW GCC” Toolchain, Finish

  • Once the project is set up, r-click | Properties

  • Go to C/C++ Build | Toolchain Editor, select “Gnu Make Builder” instead of “CDT Internal Builder”

  • go to C/C++ Build, uncheck “Generate Makefiles automatically”

You still need to run ./autogen.sh, if your source files are from cloning the git repository, and ./configure manually, outside eclipse (see above)

Using Visual Studio

Blue Baron has detailed instructions for setting this up at:

src/win/angband_visual_studio_step_by_step.txt