# Building and installation You are generally recommended to use your distro's package manager to install Notcurses; it is [available](https://repology.org/project/notcurses/versions) prepackaged on many distributions. If you wish to build from source, read on. ## Prerequisites for building Acquire the current source via `git clone https://github.com/dankamongmen/notcurses.git` There are no submodules. Dependencies are fairly minimal. ### APT Install build dependencies: `apt-get install build-essential cmake doctest-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev libdeflate-dev libgpm-dev libncurses-dev libqrcodegen-dev libswscale-dev libunistring-dev pandoc pkg-config` If you only intend to build core Notcurses (without multimedia support), you can omit `libavformat-dev`, `libavutil-dev`, and `libswscale-dev` from this list. `zlib1g-dev` can be substituted for `libdeflate-dev`; build with `-DUSE_DEFLATE=off` in this case. If you don't want to generate QR codes, you can omit 'libqrcodegen-dev'. If you want to build the Python wrappers, you'll also need: `apt-get install python3-cffi python3-dev python3-pypandoc python3-setuptools` ### RPM Install build dependencies: `dnf install cmake doctest-devel libdeflate-devel ncurses-devel gpm-devel libqrcodegen-devel libunistring-devel OpenImageIO-devel pandoc` If you only intend to build core Notcurses (without multimedia support), you can omit `OpenImageIO-devel`. If you're building outside Fedora Core (e.g. with RPM Fusion), you might want to use FFmpeg rather than OpenImageIO. If you don't want to generate QR codes, you can omit 'libqrcodegen-devel'. `zlib-devel` can substitute for `libdeflate-devel`; build with `-DUSE_DEFLATE=off` in this case. ### FreeBSD / DragonFly BSD Install build dependencies: `pkg install archivers/libdeflate devel/ncurses multimedia/ffmpeg graphics/qr-code-generator devel/libunistring` If you only intend to build core Notcurses (without multimedia support), you can omit `multimedia/ffmpeg`. If you do not want to deflate Kitty graphics, you can omit 'archivers/libdeflate'; build with `-DUSE_DEFLATE=off` in this case. If you don't want to generate QR codes, you can omit 'graphics/qr-code-generator'. ### Microsoft Windows Building on Windows requires [MSYS2](https://www.msys2.org/) in its 64-bit Universal C Runtime (UCRT) incarnation. This builds native Windows DLLs and EXEs, though it does not use Visual Studio. Install build dependencies: `pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cmake mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libdeflate mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libunistring mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-ncurses mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-ninja mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-openimageio mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-toolchain` Note that on Windows, OpenImageIO is (at the moment) recommended over FFmpeg. If you only intend to build core Notcurses (without multimedia support), you can omit `mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-openimageio`. If you do not want to deflate Kitty graphics, you can omit 'mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libdeflate'; build with `-DUSE_DEFLATE=off` in this case. You'll want to add `-DUSE_DOCTEST=off -DUSE_PANDOC=off` to your `cmake` invocation. `notcurses-tester` does not currently work on Windows, and you probably don't want to build the UNIX-style documentation. ## Building * Create a subdirectory, traditionally `build` (this is not strictly necessary, but it keeps your source tree clean). Enter the directory. * `cmake ..` * You might want to set e.g. `CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE`. Use `-DVAR=val`. * To build without multimedia support, use `-DUSE_MULTIMEDIA=none`. * `make` * `make test` * `make install` * `sudo ldconfig` The default multimedia engine is FFmpeg. You can select a different engine using `USE_MULTIMEDIA`. Valid values are `ffmpeg`, `oiio` (for OpenImageIO), or `none`. Without a multimedia engine, Notcurses will be unable to decode images and videos. To get mouse events in the Linux console, you'll need the GPM daemon running, and you'll need run `cmake` with `-DUSE_GPM=on`. Run unit tests with `make test` following a successful build. If you have unit test failures, *please* file a bug including the output of `./notcurses-tester -p ../data` (`make test` also runs `notcurses-tester`, but hides important output). To watch the bitchin' demo, run `make demo` (or `./notcurses-demo -p ../data`). More details can be found on the `notcurses-demo(1)` man page. Install with `make install` following a successful build. This installs the C core library, the C headers, the C++ library, and the C++ headers (note that the C headers are C++-safe). It does not install the Python wrappers. To install the Python wrappers (after installing the core library), run: ``` cd cffi python setup.py build python setup.py install ``` The Python wrappers are also available from [PyPi](https://pypi.org/project/notcurses/). ### Build options To set the C compiler, export `CC`. To set the C++ compiler, export `CXX`. The `CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE` CMake variable can be defined to any of its standard values, but must be `Debug` for use of `USE_COVERAGE`. * `DFSG_BUILD=off`: leave out all content considered non-free under the Debian Free Software Guidelines * `BUILD_TESTING=on`: build test targets * `BUILD_EXECUTABLES=on`: build any executables (as opposed to libs) * `USE_ASAN=off`: build with AddressSanitizer * `USE_CXX=on`: build C++ code (requires a C++ compiler) * `USE_COVERAGE=off`: build coverage support (for developers, requires use of Clang) * `USE_DOCTEST=on`: build `notcurses-tester` with Doctest, requires `BUILD_TESTING` * `USE_DOCTEST=on` requires `USE_CXX=on` * `USE_DOXYGEN=off`: build interlinked HTML documentation with Doxygen * `USE_GPM=off`: build GPM console mouse support via libgpm * `USE_MULTIMEDIA=ffmpeg`: `ffmpeg` for FFmpeg, `oiio` for OpenImageIO, `none` for none * `oiio` cannot be used with `USE_CXX=off` * `USE_PANDOC=on`: build man pages with pandoc * `USE_POC=on`: build small, uninstalled proof-of-concept binaries * `USE_QRCODEGEN=off`: build qrcode support via libqrcodegen * `USE_STATIC=on`: build static libraries (in addition to shared ones)