"How to compile" docs

[karmic lynx]

Hi everyone.
@vernal belfry I think it will be worthwhile expanding the "How to compile" section, maybe into its own Wiki.

Things to add:

• Your tips on using gettext --full when doing translations.
• Using VSCode with Cmake Utils.
  I can supply the details, and a PR for the config files.
• Using RelWithdebInfo for Linux build testing. Debug is unusably slow.
• Lessons learnt from this Discord.

Your thoughts?

[pallid jolt]

I was working on one for windows but haven't finished it

[vernal belfry]

That would be nice👍

[urban whale]

I've just spent a while figuring out how to get the build to work on Sonoma - I'd love some info somewhere on how to make it work with VSCode (presumably without the Xcode installed cmake?)

[urban whale]

Well, it does compile, but it crashes as soon as I slice a cube (SIGABRT Abort trap: 6 at Slic3r::PrintObject::bridge_over_infill()). I wanted to start having a look a couple of UI bugs that have been really bugging me, but I'm not able to get it build in working order. I am on macos as mentioned, I would prefer to use vscode rather than xcode, but I have currently build it using cmake. Any pointers (to docs) to the best way to get it built?

[gilded heath]

I would love some updates on building from source and any tips for testing on Linux would be amazing. I have failed a few times on Debian 12, and having some "canonical" way to build/test using Docker for instance could make a lot of difference. I'm willing to build and debug the program to attempt to diagnose some weird crashing when connecting to my A1 mini.

[fossil whale]

As someone who just tried to build on arm mac, I'd love this.

[rapid jetty]

Also not getting very far with building on ARM M1 Mac but I would also assume it's me. Are there minimum libraries and versions to reference?

[rapid jetty]

Just simply not experienced enough with the OSX build chain at all, so any insight is appreciated. That said, cd deps; mkdir build; cd build; make did result in "[100%] Built target deps"

[dreamy prism]

I`m trying to build in mac arm chip too, It documentation will be nice to new dummies devs like me

[lapis creek]

I also put this in the Dev chat but its probably worth posting here incase people check here first. This is just for Windows i cant help with other operating systems.

[fossil whale]

I had @foggy basin try to help me compile on mac but I had no luck in the end, although it works for him just fine. Anyone else here ever get their mac arm compilation working?

[foggy basin]

Did you download my VM? 😂 there have been fixes on the dev container too from what I see

[fossil whale]

Oh shoot, sorry about that, didn't mean to ping you, I was seeking other help because I thought I wasted enough of your time already @foggy basin

I did download your vm, just didn't know how to use it and was hoping maybe I could just get regular local build working.

The worst part for me is I could build a year ago, I even made a pr that was rejected. Now I can't and have no idea what changed.

You had patches that had to be applied to get it to work and I messed something up there, was hoping to just find a way to pull source and build it without patching.

Also, do you always have to use patches to build on osx, like is it expected it won't work for most people just building from master?

[fossil whale]

Let me give the latest devcontainer a try.

[foggy basin]

It was one patch because the latest Xcode is more strict with type checking during runtime / it will still compile but the app will crash during debug 😉

https://github.com/SoftFever/OrcaSlicer/pull/6932

Typically and until the latest Xcode I just build from the main branch 😉 (my fork off it basically)

For building the final binary the above patch is not required funnily enough - it’s the debugger that is problematic on Xcode 16

[fossil whale]

The devcontainer doesn't seem to work, but I may be using it wrong.

[foggy basin]

The Vm I’ve sent you should be able to build straight away with the sh script. For debugging you’ll just need the above pr

[fossil whale]

What do I need to run that vm? I didn't recognize the file type.

[foggy basin]

Unfortunately for dev container I have no clue how it works…

[foggy basin]

utm

[fossil whale]

I'll find that and try it.

[foggy basin]

https://mac.getutm.app

https://github.com/utmapp/UTM/releases/latest/download/UTM.dmg

[fossil whale]

Once I have the utm running, how do I connect my editor to it and how do I build/run the app?

[foggy basin]

It’s all installed in there

It’s a virtual machine

With Xcode and git desktop on it

[fossil whale]

So you edit in the vm instead of using your local editor?

Got it.

[foggy basin]

Cloned to the documents folder

[foggy basin]

Yeap exactly

It’s cause I’m not sure how your osx is setup so this is the next best thing without suggesting you wipe your laptop clean 😂

[fossil whale]

I tried compiling the app in local xcode and couldn't even figure out what to build or run so it will be good to see these profiles pre-defined.

[foggy basin]

The video here shows all the steps on how built the VM and where the scripts are etc https://youtu.be/YiZvjZCoKbo?si=Ar_0YT_F4jFlY5nj

[fossil whale]

I tried that local instead of in dev container last time. That must be where I went wrong. Then at this page in xcode setup I just didn't have these items.

[foggy basin]

Get going with the VM that is working for sure, to get the feel of what the correct setup looks like and then you can gradually move over to your local install once the cause of the issue is found… I remember you had build dependencies missing too, if I’m not mistaken

[fossil whale]

No luck with the utm file. Says it can't run.

[foggy basin]

Hmmmm

Try importing the VM?

You’re on Apple silicon right?

Worst case build a VM from scratch following the video

[foggy basin]

Yeap I’m on M1 Pro. Try importing it. If it doesn’t work I’ll try re exporting it tomorrow

[fossil whale]

Funny thing is I can see it and edit settings, but if I click save it just gives the same error. Not a very useful error message.

When you do run orca from xcode, what do you run? libslic3r_gui?

I "maybe" got the xcode build to work, can't really tell because I don't know how to launch it.

Build says succeeded but it happens so quickly I don't think it actually does anything.

[fossil whale]

I got further, finally through lots of clicking around got xcode to really try to build it. It failed, but on actual orca code, not dependencies which feels like progress.

[foggy basin]

Enable release with debug info - it’s in the video towards the end

[fossil whale]

Ah, no luck, library gl not found. I did brew install glew too, so not sure what is going on there. Maybe a search paths thing.

So crazy to me that we don't have self-contained builds in CPP yet and it has to depend on system installed components.

[fossil whale]

Did you ever have any luck building on your mac?

[tribal nexus]

Building on windows? Am I missing something or there are many more dependencies that those listed in the How to Compile section?

[fossil whale]

@tribal nexus I can't answer your question directly, but if it helps I too find the windows build instructions do not work on windows 11.

[fossil whale]

I was able to get a fresh mac install building orca with igiannakas instructions in the end, never was able to get my existing macbook environment sorted out but at least I can build now.

[foggy basin]

hey thats good! Awesome!

[urban drum]

I have a pull request open to improve the macOS build instructions in the README.md, and also to define NDEBUG for everything except Debug builds. I'm not sure why the latter is necessary - I think it might be some quirk of my environment. I'm guessing other people don't need it, because OrcaSlicer is unusable without NDEBUG. There are assert()s that fail and other debugging checks that fail. I get the impression it's never tested in debug mode, which is sad.

Anyway, the PR: https://github.com/SoftFever/OrcaSlicer/pull/7914

Also this video is helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiZvjZCoKbo

[calm badge]

git-lfs was the missing piece, after installing I finally got a working build, Thanks!