Build KiCad from Source

Malc · February 5, 2019, 10:56am

Hi there.
I have question about build Kicad from source.
Everything built fine, but all files stuck in minGW folder. I dont like it.

Changed install path to what i like. Everything compiled fine, but Kicad doesnt start, because of missing libraries. All of them left in minGW/bin folder.

Is it a way to make cMake move dependencies to build location?

qu1ck · February 5, 2019, 10:47pm

I looked at how KiCad win installer does it and it appears that it just runs this script:

github.com

KiCad/kicad-winbuilder/blob/master/copydlls.sh

#!/bin/bash

# This script is intedned to copy the relevant dll's and other KiCad binaries
# from the MSYS2 version of the KiCad build, for standalone inclusion in the
# NSIS installer, which is run in the end of this script.


display_help() {
    echo "Usage: copydlls.sh [OPTION]"
    echo "  -h, --help           This help message"
    echo "  -a, --arch=ARCH      Determine arch for packaging"
    echo "  -p, --pkgpath=PATH   Path to pkg.tar.xz package"
    echo "  -d, --dirpath=PATH   Path to make install location (DESTDIR)"
    echo "  -m, --makensis=PATH  Path to makensis.exe"
    echo "  -s, --nsispath=PATH  Path to the NSIS packaging scripts"
    echo "  -o, --outdir=PATH    Path to output directory"
    echo "  -v, --version=VERSTR Version string"
    exit 1
}

This file has been truncated. show original

But at least it has full list of things you need so it may be of help.

If you install nsis and checkout kicad-winbuilder repository you can build your own installer, just look at

Malc · February 8, 2019, 2:10pm

Thank you. I saw winbuild project on git. Now i should try it.

Malc · February 10, 2019, 8:51pm

Thank you! This script work great! Had to play little bit. Because winbuilder project download all what it need by itself. But it work great!

Thank you!

qu1ck · February 11, 2019, 1:02am

If you share your modified script it could help others who encounter the same problem in the future.

Malc · February 12, 2019, 1:54am

You misunderstand me. I didn’t modify script. Just did by hand some of steps. Because winbuilder download a lot of software by itself, and I compile KiCAd using msys2. I didnt have bunch of stuff what it required to work.

One strange thing I noticed. If I copy everything what it required by hand it doesn’t work. Just got error 126 cannot open ‘_eeschema.kiface’. Or even if I copy all dependencies from installed KiCad - same error.

Winbuilder script fix that. But I didnt understand what in did to fix it. Because everything looks it just copy stuff and create installer. And it work.

system · May 13, 2019, 1:54am

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