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+How to Build Erlang/OTP on Windows
+==================================
+
+Introduction
+------------
+
+This file describes how to build the Erlang emulator and the OTP
+libraries on Windows. The instructions apply to versions of Windows
+supporting the Cygwin emulated gnuish environment for Windows or the
+Msys ditto. We've built on the following platforms: Windows 2003
+server, Windows XP Home/Professional, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (32
+and 64 bit). You can probably build on Windows 2000, but you will not
+be able to install the latest Microsoft SDK, so you have to go back to
+some earlier compiler. Any Windows95'ish platform will surely get you
+into trouble, what I'm not sure of, but it certainly will...
+
+The procedure described uses either Cygwin or Msys as a build
+environment, you run the bash shell in Cygwin/Msys and use gnu
+make/configure/autoconf etc to do the build. The emulator C-source
+code is, however, mostly compiled with Microsoft Visual C++™,
+producing a native Windows binary. This is the same procedure as we
+use to build the pre-built binaries. The fact that we use VC++ and not
+gcc is explained further in the FAQ section.
+
+I describe the build procedure to make it possible for open source
+customers to build the emulator, given that they have the needed
+tools. The binary Windows releases is still a preferred alternative if
+one does not have Microsoft's development tools and/or don't want to
+install Cygwin or Msys.
+
+To use Cygwin/Msys, one needs basic experience from a Unix environment, if
+one does not know how to set environment variables, run programs etc
+in a Unix environment, one will be quite lost in the Cygwin os Msys
+ditto. I can unfortunately not teach all the world how to use
+Cygwin and bash, neither how to install Cygwin nor perform basic tasks
+on a computer. Please refer to other documentation on the net for
+help, or use the binary release instead if you have problems using the
+tools.
+
+However, if you feel comfortable with the environment and build
+system, and have all the necessary tools, you have a great opportunity
+to make the Erlang/OTP distribution for Windows better. Please submit
+any suggestions and patches to the appropriate [mailing lists] [1] to let
+them find their way into the next version of Erlang. If making changes
+to the build system (like makefiles etc) please bear in mind that the
+same makefiles are used on Unix/VxWorks, so that your changes
+don't break other platforms. That of course goes for C-code too, system
+specific code resides in the `$ERL_TOP/erts/emulator/sys/win32` and
+`$ERL_TOP/erts/etc/win32` directories mostly. The
+`$ERL_TOP/erts/emulator/beam` directory is for common code.
+
+Before the R9C release of Erlang/OTP, the Windows release was built
+partly on a Unix (Solaris) box and partly on a Windows box, using Perl
+hacks to communicate and sync between the two machines. R9C was the
+first release ever built solely on Windows, where no Unix machine is
+needed at all. Now we've used this build procedure for a couple of
+releases, and it has worked fine for us. Still, there might be all
+sorts of troubles on different machines and with different
+setups. I'll try to give hints wherever I've encountered difficulties,
+but please share your experiences by using the [erlang-questions] [1]
+mailing list. I cannot of course help everyone with all
+their problems, please try to solve the problems and submit
+solutions/workarounds. Remember, it's all about sharing, not about
+demanding...
+
+Starting with R15B, our build system runs both on Cygwin and Msys
+(MinGW's fork of an early cygwin version). Msys is a smaller package
+to install and may on some machines run slightly faster. If Cygwin
+gives you trouble, try Msys instead, and v.v. Beginning with R15B
+there is also a native 64bit version of Erlang for 64bit Windows 7
+(only). These instructions apply to both the 32bit VM and the 64bit
+ditto.
+
+Note that even if you build a 64bit VM, most of the directories and
+files involved are still named win32. You can view the name win32 as
+meaning any windows version not beeing 16bit. A few occurences of the
+name Win64 are however present in the system, for example the
+installation file for a 64 bit windows version of Erlang is by default
+named `otp_win64_<version>.exe`.
+
+Lets go then, I'll start with a little FAQ, based on in house questions
+and misunderstandings.
+
+
+Frequently Asked Questions
+--------------------------
+
+*   Q: So, now I can build Erlang using GCC on Windows?
+
+    A: No, unfortunately not. You'll need Microsoft's Visual C++
+    still, a Bourne-shell script (cc.sh) wraps the Visual C++ compiler
+    and runs it from within the Cygwin environment. All other tools
+    needed to build Erlang are free-ware/open source, but not the C
+    compiler. The Windows SDK is however enough to build Erlang, you
+    do not need to buy Visual C++, just download the SDK (SDK version
+    7.1 == Visual studio 2010).
+
+*   Q: Why haven't you got rid of VC++ then, you \*\*\*\*\*\*?
+
+    A: Well, partly because it's a good compiler - really! Actually it's
+    been possible in late R11-releases to build using mingw instead of
+    visual C++ (you might see the remnants of that in some scripts and
+    directories). Unfortunately the development of the SMP version for
+    Windows broke the mingw build and we chose to focus on the VC++ build
+    as the performance has been much better in the VC++ versions. The
+    mingw build will possibly be back, but as long as VC++ gives better
+    performance, the commercial build will be a VC++ one.
+
+*   Q: OK, you need VC++, but now you've started to demand a very recent
+    (and expensive) version of Visual studio, not the old and stable VC++
+    6.0 that was used in earlier versions. Why?
+
+    A: Well, it's not expensive, it's free (as in free beer). Just
+    download and install the latest Windows SDK from Microsoft and all
+    the tools you need are there. The included debugger (WinDbg) is
+    also quite usable, it's what I used when porting Erlang to 64bit
+    Windows. Another reason to use the latest Microsoft compilers is
+    DLL compatibility. DLL's using a new version of the standard
+    library might not load if the VM is compiled with an old VC++
+    version, why we should aim to use the latest freely available SDK
+    and compiler.
+
+*   Q: Can/will I build a Cygwin binary with the procedure you describe?
+
+    A: No, the result will be a pure Windows binary, and as far as I know,
+    it's not possible to make a Cygwin binary yet. That is of course
+    something desirable, but there are still some problems with the
+    dynamic linking (dynamic Erlang driver loading) as well as the TCP/IP
+    emulation in Cygwin, which, I'm sure of, will improve, but still has
+    some problems. Fixing those problems might be easy or might be hard.
+    I suggest you try yourself and share your experience. No one would be
+    happier if a simple `./configure && make` would produce a fully fledged
+    Cygwin binary. Ericsson does however not pay me to do a Cygwin port, so
+    such a port would have to happen in spare time, which is a limited
+    resource...
+
+*   Q: Hah, I saw you, you used GCC even though you said you didn't!
+
+    A: OK, I admit, one of the files is compiled using Cygwin's or
+    MinGW's GCC and the resulting object code is then converted to MS
+    VC++ compatible coff using a small C hack. It's because that
+    particular file, `beam_emu.c` benefits immensely from being able
+    to use the GCC labels-as-values extension, which boosts emulator
+    performance by up to 50%. That does unfortunately not (yet) mean
+    that all of OTP could be compiled using GCC, that particular
+    source code does not do anything system specific and actually is
+    adopted to the fact that GCC is used to compile it on Windows.
+
+*   Q: So now there's a MS VC++ project file somewhere and I can build OTP
+    using the nifty VC++ GUI?
+
+    A: No, never. The hassle of keeping the project files up to date and
+    do all the steps that constitute an OTP build from within the VC++ GUI
+    is simply not worth it, maybe even impossible. A VC++ project
+    file for Erlang/OTP will never happen, at least I will never make
+    one. Clicking around in super-multi-tab'd dialogs to add a file or
+    compiler option when it's so much easier in a makefile is simply not
+    my style.
+
+*   Q: So how does it all work then?
+
+    A: Cygwin or Msys is the environment, which closely resembles the
+    environments found on any Unix machine. It's almost like you had a
+    virtual Unix machine inside Windows. Configure, given certain
+    parameters, then creates makefiles that are used by the
+    Cygwin/Msys gnu-make to built the system. Most of the actual
+    compilers etc are not, however, Cygwin/Msys tools, so I've written
+    a couple of wrappers (Bourne-shell scripts), which reside in
+    `$ERL_TOP/etc/win32/cygwin_tools` and
+    `$ERL_TOP/etc/win32/msys_tools`. They all do conversion of
+    parameters and switches common in the Unix environment to fit the
+    native Windows tools. Most notable is of course the paths, which
+    in Cygwin/Msys are Unix-like paths with "forward slashes" (/) and
+    no drive letters, the Cygwin specific command `cygpath` is used
+    for most of the path conversions in a Cygwin environment, other
+    tools are used (when needed) in the corresponding Msys
+    environment. Luckily most compilers accept forward slashes instead
+    of backslashes as path separators, but one still have to get the drive
+    letters etc right, though. The wrapper scripts are not general in
+    the sense that, for example, cc.sh would understand and translates
+    every possible gcc option and passes correct options to
+    cl.exe. The principle is that the scripts are powerful enough to
+    allow building of Erlang/OTP, no more, no less. They might need
+    extensions to cope with changes during the development of Erlang,
+    that's one of the reasons I made them into shell-scripts and not
+    Perl-scripts, I believe they are easier to understand and change
+    that way. I might be wrong though, cause another reason I didn't
+    write them in Perl is because I've never liked Perl and my Perl
+    code is no pleasant reading...
+
+    In `$ERL_TOP`, there is a script called `otp_build`. That script handles
+    the hassle of giving all the right parameters to `configure`/`make` and
+    also helps you set up the correct environment variables to work with
+    the Erlang source under Cygwin.
+
+*   Q: You use and need Cygwin, but then you haven't taken the time to
+    port Erlang to the Cygwin environment but instead focus on your
+    commercial release, is that really ethical?
+
+    A: No, not really, but see this as a step in the right direction. I'm
+    aiming at GCC compiled emulators and a Cygwin version, but I really
+    need to do other things as well... In time, but don't hold your
+    breath...
+
+*   Q: Can I build something that looks exactly as the commercial release?
+
+    A: Yes, we use the exactly same build procedure.
+
+*   Q: Which version of Cygwin/Msys and other tools do you use then?
+
+    A: For Cygwin and Msys alike, we try to use the latest releases
+    available when building. What versions you use shouldn't really
+    matter, I try to include workarounds for the bugs I've found in
+    different Cygwin/Msys releases, please help me add workarounds
+    for new Cygwin/Msys-related bugs as soon as you encounter
+    them. Also please do submit bug reports to the appropriate Cygwin
+    and/or Msys developers. The GCC we used for %OTP-REL% was version
+    4.7.0 (MinGW 64bit) and 4.3.4 (Cygwin 32bit). We used VC++ 10.0
+    (i.e. Visual studio 2010), Sun's JDK 1.5.0\_17 (32bit) and Sun's
+    JDK 1.7.0\_1 (64bit), NSIS 2.46, and Win32 OpenSSL 0.9.8r. Please
+    read the next section for details on what you need.
+
+*   Q: Can you help me setup X in Cygwin?
+
+    A: No, unfortunately I haven't got time to help with Cygwin related
+    user problems, please read Cygwin related web sites, newsgroups and
+    mailing lists.
+
+*   Q: Why is the instruction so long? Is it really that complicated?
+
+    A: Partly it's long because I babble too much, partly because I've
+    described as much as I could about the installation of the needed
+    tools. Once the tools are installed, building is quite easy. I also
+    have tried to make this instruction understandable for people with
+    limited Unix experience. Cygwin/Msys is a whole new environment to some
+    Windows users, why careful explanation of environment variables etc
+    seemed to be in place. The short story, for the experienced and
+    impatient is:
+
+    *   Get and install complete Cygwin (latest) or complete MinGW with msys
+
+    *   Install Microsofts Windows SDK 7.1 (and .Net 4)
+
+    *   Get and install Sun's JDK 1.5.0 or higher
+
+    *   Get and install NSIS 2.01 or higher (up to 2.46 tried and working)
+
+    * Get, build and install OpenSSL 0.9.8r or higher (up to 1.0.0a
+        tried & working) with static libs.
+
+    *   Get the Erlang source distribution (from
+        <http://www.erlang.org/download.html>) and unpack with Cygwin's `tar`.
+
+    *   Set `ERL_TOP` to where you unpacked the source distribution
+
+    *   `$ cd $ERL_TOP`
+
+    *   Get (from <http://www.erlang.org/download/tcltk85_win32_bin.tar.gz>)
+        and unpack the prebuilt TCL/TK binaries for windows with cygwin tar,
+        standing in `$ERL_TOP`
+
+    *   Modify PATH and other environment variables so that all these tools
+        are runnable from a bash shell. Still standing in `$ERL_TOP`, issue
+        the following commands:
+
+            $ eval `./otp_build env_win32`
+            $ ./otp_build autoconf
+            $ ./otp_build configure
+            $ ./otp_build boot -a
+            $ ./otp_build release -a
+            $ ./otp_build installer_win32
+            $ release/win32/otp_win32_%OTP-REL% /S
+
+    Voila! `Start->Programs->Erlang OTP %OTP-REL%->Erlang` starts the Erlang
+    Windows shell.
+
+
+Tools you Need and Their Environment
+------------------------------------
+
+You need some tools to be able to build Erlang/OTP on Windows. Most
+notably you'll need Cygwin or Msys and Microsofts Windows SDK, but
+you also might want a Java compiler, the NSIS install system and
+OpenSSL. Well' here's the list:
+
+*   Cygwin, the very latest is usually best. Get all the development
+    tools and of course all the basic ditto. In fact getting the complete
+    package might be a good idea, as you'll start to love Cygwin after a
+    while if you're accustomed to Unix. Make sure to get jar and also make
+    sure *not* to install a Cygwin'ish Java... The Cygwin jar command is
+    used but Sun's Java compiler and virtual machine...
+
+    If you are going to build a 64bit Windows version, you should make
+    sure to get MinGW's 64bit gcc installed with cygwin. It's in one of
+    the development packages.
+
+    URL: <http://www.cygwin.com>
+
+    Get the installer from the web site and use that to install
+    Cygwin. Be sure to have fair privileges. If you're on a NT domain you
+    should consider running `mkpasswd -d` and `mkgroup -d` after the
+    installation to get the user databases correct. See their respective
+    manual pages.
+
+    When you start you first bash shell, you will get an awful prompt. You
+    might also have a `PATH` environment variable that contains backslashes
+    and such. Edit `$HOME/.profile` and `$HOME/.bashrc` to set fair prompts
+    and set a correct PATH. Also do a `export SHELL` in `.profile`. For some
+    non-obvious reason the environment variable `$SHELL` is not exported in
+    bash. Also note that `.profile` is run at login time and `.bashrc` when
+    sub shells are created. You'll need to explicitly source `.bashrc` from
+    `.profile` if you want the commands there to be run at login time (like
+    setting up aliases, shell functions and the like). I personally
+    usually do like this at the end of `.profile`:
+
+        ENV=$HOME/.bashrc
+        export ENV
+        . $ENV
+
+    You might also, if you're a hard core type of person at least, want to
+    setup X-windows (XFree86), that might be as easy as running startx
+    from the command prompt and it might be much harder. Use Google to
+    find help...
+
+    If you don't use X-windows, you might want to setup the Windows
+    console window by selecting properties in the console system menu
+    (upper left corner of the window, the Cygwin icon in the title
+    bar). Especially setting a larger screen buffer size (lines) is useful
+    as it gets you a scrollbar so you can see whatever error messages
+    that might appear...
+
+    If you want to use (t)csh instead of bash you're on your own, I
+    haven't tried and know of no one that has. I expect
+    that you use bash in all shell examples.
+
+*   Alternatively you download MinGW and Msys. You'll find the latest
+    installer at:
+
+    URL: <http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/files/Installer/mingw-get-inst/>
+
+    Make sure to install everything they've got. 
+
+    To be able to build the 64bit VM, you will also need the 64bit
+    MinGW compiler from:
+
+    URL: <http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw-w64/files/Toolchains%20targetting%20Win64/Automated%20Builds/>
+
+    The latest version should do it. Make sure you download the
+    `mingw-w64-bin_i686-mingw_<something>.zip`, not a linux
+    version. You unzip the package on top of your MinGW installation
+    (`c:\MinGW`) and that's it.
+
+    Setting up your environment in Msys is similar to setting it up in
+    Cygwin.
+
+* Microsofts Windows SDK version 7.1 (corresponding to VC++ 10.0 and
+    Visual Studio 2010). You'll find it here:
+    
+    URL: <http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8279>
+
+    but before you install that, you need to have .Net 4 installed,
+    you'll find that here:
+
+    URL: <http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17851>
+
+    Use the web installer for the SDK, at least when I tried
+    downloading the whole package as an image, I got SDK 7.0 instead,
+    which is not what you want...
+
+    There will be a Windows command file in `%PROGRAMFILES%\Mirosoft
+    SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Bin\SetEnv.cmd` that set's the appropriate
+    environment for a Windows command prompt. This is not appropriate
+    for bash, so you'll need to convert it to bash-style environments
+    by editing your `.bash_profile`. In my case, where the SDK is
+    installed in the default directory and `%PROGRAMFILES%` is
+    `C:\Program Files`, the commands for setting up a 32bit build
+    environment (on a 64bit or 32bit machine) look like this (in cygwin):
+
+        # Some common paths
+        C_DRV=/cygdrive/c
+        PRG_FLS=$C_DRV/Program\ Files
+
+        # nsis
+        NSIS_BIN=$PRG_FLS/NSIS
+        # java
+        JAVA_BIN=$PRG_FLS/Java/jdk1.6.0_16/bin
+
+        ##
+        ## MS SDK
+        ##
+
+        CYGWIN=nowinsymlinks
+        MVS10="$PRG_FILES/Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0"
+        WIN_MVS10="C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0"
+        SDK10="$PRG_FILES/Microsoft SDKs/Windows/v7.1"
+        WIN_SDK10="C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v7.1"
+
+        PATH="$NSIS_BIN:\
+        $MVS10/Common7/IDE:\
+        $MVS10/Common7/Tools:\
+        $MVS10/VC/Bin:\
+        $MVS10/VC/Bin/VCPackages:\
+        $SDK10/Bin/NETFX 4.0 Tools:\
+        $SDK10/Bin:\
+        /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:\
+        /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS:\
+        /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32/Wbem:\
+        $JAVA_BIN"
+
+        LIBPATH="$WIN_MVS10\\VC\\LIB"
+
+        LIB="$WIN_MVS10\\VC\\LIB;$WIN_SDK10\\LIB"
+
+        INCLUDE="$WIN_MVS10\\VC\\INCLUDE;$WIN_SDK10\\INCLUDE;$WIN_SDK10\\INCLUDE\\gl"
+
+        export CYGWIN PATH LIBPATH LIB INCLUDE 
+
+    If you're using Msys instead, the only thing you need to change is
+    the `C_DRV` setting, which would read:
+
+        C_DRV=/c
+
+    And of course you might need to change `C:\Program Files` etc if
+    you're using a non-english version of Windows (XP). Note that in
+    later versions of Windows, the national adoptions of the program
+    files directories etc are not on the file system but only in the
+    explorer, so even if explorer says that your programs reside in
+    e.g. `C:\Program`, they might still reside in `C:\Program Files`
+    in reality...
+
+    If you are building a 64 bit version of Erlang, you should set up
+    PATHs etc a little differently. I use the following script to
+    make things work in both Cygwin and Msys:
+
+         make_winpath()
+         {
+                P=$1
+                if [ "$IN_CYGWIN" = "true" ]; then 
+                   cygpath -d "$P"
+                else
+                   (cd "$P" && /bin/cmd //C "for %i in (".") do @echo %~fsi")
+                fi
+         }
+
+         make_upath()
+         {
+                P=$1
+                if [ "$IN_CYGWIN" = "true" ]; then 
+                   cygpath "$P"
+                else
+                   echo "$P" | /bin/sed 's,^\([a-zA-Z]\):\\,/\L\1/,;s,\\,/,g'
+                fi
+         }
+
+         # Some common paths
+         if [ -x /usr/bin/msysinfo ]; then
+            # Without this the path conversion won't work
+            COMSPEC='C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmd.exe'
+            MSYSTEM=MINGW32
+            export MSYSTEM COMSPEC
+            IN_CYGWIN=false
+         else
+            CYGWIN=nowinsymlinks
+            export CYGWIN
+            IN_CYGWIN=true
+         fi
+
+         if [ "$IN_CYGWIN" = "true" ]; then 
+            PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:\
+            /cygdrive/c/windows/system32:/cygdrive/c/windows:/cygdrive/c/windows/system32/Wbem
+         else
+            PATH=/usr/local/bin:/mingw/bin:/bin:/c/Windows/system32:/c/Windows:\
+            /c/Windows/System32/Wbem
+         fi
+
+         if [ "$IN_CYGWIN" = "true" ]; then 
+            C_DRV=/cygdrive/c
+         else
+            C_DRV=/c
+         fi
+
+         PRG_FLS64=$C_DRV/Program\ Files
+         PRG_FLS32=$C_DRV/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)
+         VISUAL_STUDIO_ROOT32=$PRG_FLS32/Microsoft\ Visual\ Studio\ 10.0
+         MS_SDK_ROOT64=$PRG_FLS64/Microsoft\ SDKs/Windows/v7.1
+
+         # Okay, now mangle the paths and get rid of spaces by using short names
+         WIN_VCROOT32=`make_winpath "$VISUAL_STUDIO_ROOT32"`
+         VCROOT32=`make_upath $WIN_VCROOT32`
+         WIN_SDKROOT64=`make_winpath "$MS_SDK_ROOT64"`
+         SDKROOT64=`make_upath $WIN_SDKROOT64`
+         WIN_PROGRAMFILES32=`make_winpath "$PRG_FLS32"`
+         PROGRAMFILES32=`make_upath $WIN_PROGRAMFILES32`
+    
+         WIN_PROGRAMFILES64=`make_winpath "$PRG_FLS64"`
+         PROGRAMFILES64=`make_upath $WIN_PROGRAMFILES64`
+
+         # nsis
+         NSIS_BIN=$PROGRAMFILES32/NSIS
+         # java
+         JAVA_BIN=$PROGRAMFILES64/Java/jdk1.7.0_01/bin
+
+         ## The PATH variable should be Unix'ish
+         VCPATH=$VCROOT32/Common7/IDE:$VCROOT32/VC/BIN/amd64:$VCROOT32/Common7/Tools:\
+         $VCROOT32/VC/VCPackages:$SDKROOT64/bin/NETFX4~1.0TO/x64:$SDKROOT64/bin/x64:\
+         $SDKROOT64/bin
+
+         ## Microsoft SDK libs
+
+         LIBPATH=$WIN_VCROOT32\\VC\\LIB\\amd64
+         LIB=$WIN_VCROOT32\\VC\\LIB\\amd64\;$WIN_SDKROOT64\\LIB\\X64
+         INCLUDE=$WIN_VCROOT32\\VC\\INCLUDE\;$WIN_SDKROOT64\\include\;\
+         $WIN_SDKROOT64\\include\\gl
+
+         # Put nsis, c compiler and java in path
+         PATH=$NSIS_BIN:$VCPATH:$PATH:$JAVA_BIN
+
+         # Make sure LIB and INCLUDE is available for others
+         export PATH LIBPATH LIB INCLUDE
+
+    All this is derived from the SetEnv.cmd command file mentioned
+    earlier. The bottom line is to set the PATH so that NSIS and
+    Microsoft SDK is found before the Msys/Cygwin tools and that Java
+    is last in the PATH.
+
+    Make a simple hello world (maybe one that prints out 
+    `sizeof(void *)`) and try to compile it with the `cl` command from within
+    bash. If that does not work, your environment needs fixing. Also
+    remember to fix up the PATH environment, especially old Erlang
+    installations might have inserted quoted paths that Cygwin/Msys
+    does not understand. Remove or correct such paths. There should be
+    no backslashes in your path environment variable in Cygwin bash,
+    but LIB and INCLUDE should contain Windows style paths with
+    semicolon, drive letters and backslashes.
+
+*   Sun's Java JDK 1.5.0 or higher. Our Java code (jinterface, ic) is
+    written for JDK 1.5.0. Get it for Windows and install it, the JRE is
+    not enough. If you don't care about Java, you can skip this step, the
+    result will be that jinterface is not built.
+
+    URL: <http://java.sun.com>
+
+    Add javac *LAST* to your path environment in bash, in my case this means:
+
+        `PATH="$PATH:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Java/jdk1.5.0_17/bin"`
+
+    No `CLASSPATH` or anything is needed. Type `javac` at the bash prompt
+    and you should get a list of available Java options. Make sure by
+    typing `type java` that you use the Java you installed. Note however that
+    Cygwin's `jar.exe` is used, that's why the JDK bin-directory should be
+    added last in the `PATH`.
+
+*   Nullsoft NSIS installer system. You need this to build the self
+    installing package. It's a free open source installer that's much
+    nicer to use than the commercial Wise and Install shield
+    installers. This is the installer we use for commercial releases as
+    well from R9C an on.
+
+    URL: <http://www.nullsoft.com/free/nsis>
+
+    Install the lot, especially the modern user interface components, as
+    it's definitely needed. Put `makensis` in your path, in my case:
+
+        PATH=/cygdrive/c/Program\ Files/NSIS:$PATH
+
+    type makensis at the bash prompt and you should get a list of options
+    if everything is OK.
+
+* OpenSSL. This is if you want the SSL and crypto applications to
+    compile (and run). There are prebuilt binaries available, but I
+    strongly recommend building this yourself. It's quite easy.
+
+    First get the source from 
+
+    URL: <http://openssl.org/source/>
+
+    I would recommend using 0.9.8r. 
+
+    Download the tar file and unpack it (using your bash prompt) into
+    a directory of your choise.
+
+    You will need a Windowish Perl for the build. ActiveState has one:
+
+    URL: <http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/downloads>
+
+    Download and install that. Disable options to associate it with
+    the .pl suffix and/or adding things to PATH, they are not needed. 
+
+    Now fire up the Microsoft Windows SDK command prompt in RELEASE
+    mode for the architecture you are going to build. The easiest is
+    to copy the shortcut from the SDKs start menu item and edit the
+    command line in the shortcut (Right click->Properties) to end with
+    `/Release`. Make sure the banner when you double click your
+    shortcut (the text in the resulting command window) says
+    `Targeting Windows XP x64 Release` if you are going to do a 64 bit
+    build and `Targeting Windows XP x86 Release` if you are building a
+    32 bit version.
+
+    Now cd to where you unpacked the OpenSSL source using your Release
+    Windows command prompt (it should be on the same drive as where
+    you are going to install it if everything is to work smothly).
+
+        C:\> cd <some dir>
+
+    Add ActiveState (or some other windows perl, not cygwins) to your PATH:
+
+        C:\...\> set PATH=C:\Perl\bin;%PATH%
+
+    Or if you installed the 64bit perl:
+    
+        C:\...\> set PATH=C:\Perl64\bin;%PATH%
+
+    Configure OpenSSL for 32 bit:
+
+        C:\...\> perl Configure VC-WIN32 --prefix=/OpenSSL
+
+    Or for 64 bit:
+
+        C:\...\> perl Configure VC-WIN64A --prefix=/OpenSSL-Win64
+
+    Do some setup (for 32 bit):
+
+        C:\...\> ms\do_ms
+
+    The same for 64 bit:
+
+        C:\...\> ms\do_win64a
+
+    Then build static libraries and install:
+
+        C:\...\> nmake -f ms\nt.mak
+        C:\...\> nmake -f ms\nt.mak install
+
+    That's it - you now have your perfectly consistent static build of
+    openssl. If you want to get rid of any possibly patented
+    algorithms in the lib, just read up on the OpenSSL FAQ and follow
+    the instructions.
+
+    The installation locations chosen are where configure will look
+    for OpenSSL, so try to keep them as is.
+       
+*   Building with wxWidgets. Download wxWidgets-2.8.9 or higher patch
+    release (2.9.\*  is a developer release which currently does not work
+    with wxErlang).
+
+    Install or unpack it to `DRIVE:/PATH/cygwin/opt/local/pgm`.
+
+    edit:  `C:\cygwin\opt\local\pgm\wxMSW-2.8.11\include\wx\msw\setup.h`
+    enable `wxUSE_GLCANVAS`, `wxUSE_POSTSCRIPT` and `wxUSE_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT`
+
+    build: From a command prompt with the VC tools available (See the
+    instructions for OpenSSL build above for help on starting the
+    proper command prompt in RELEASE mode):
+	   
+        C:\...\> cd C:\cygwin\opt\local\pgm\wxMSW-2.8.11\build\msw
+        C:\...\> nmake BUILD=release SHARED=0 UNICODE=1 USE_OPENGL=1 USE_GDIPLUS=1 DIR_SUFFIX_CPU= -f makefile.vc
+        C:\...\> cd C:\cygwin\opt\local\pgm\wxMSW-2.8.11\contrib\build\stc
+        C:\...\> nmake BUILD=release SHARED=0 UNICODE=1 USE_OPENGL=1 USE_GDIPLUS=1 DIR_SUFFIX_CPU= -f makefile.vc
+    
+    Or - if building a 64bit version:
+
+        C:\...\> cd C:\cygwin\opt\local\pgm\wxMSW-2.8.11\build\msw
+        C:\...\> nmake TARGET_CPU=amd64 BUILD=release SHARED=0 UNICODE=1 USE_OPENGL=1 USE_GDIPLUS=1 DIR_SUFFIX_CPU= -f makefile.vc
+        C:\...\> cd C:\cygwin\opt\local\pgm\wxMSW-2.8.11\contrib\build\stc
+        C:\...\> nmake TARGET_CPU=amd64 BUILD=release SHARED=0 UNICODE=1 USE_OPENGL=1 USE_GDIPLUS=1 DIR_SUFFIX_CPU= -f makefile.vc
+    	   
+*   The Erlang source distribution (from <http://www.erlang.org/download.html>).
+    The same as for Unix platforms. Preferably use tar from within Cygwin to
+    unpack the source tar.gz (`tar zxf otp_src_%OTP-REL%.tar.gz`).
+
+    set the environment `ERL_TOP` to point to the root directory of the
+    source distribution. Let's say I stood in `$HOME/src` and unpacked
+    `otp_src_%OTP-REL%.tar.gz`, I then add the following to `.profile`:
+
+        ERL_TOP=$HOME/src/otp_src_%OTP-REL%
+        export $ERL_TOP
+
+*   The TCL/TK binaries. You could compile Tcl/Tk for windows yourself,
+    but you can get a stripped down version from our website which is
+    suitable to include in the final binary package. If you want to supply
+    tcl/tk yourself, read the instructions about how the tcl/tk tar file
+    used in the build is constructed under `$ERL_TOP/lib/gs/tcl`. The easy
+    way is to download <http://www.erlang.org/download/tcltk85_win32_bin.tar.gz>
+    and unpack it standing in the `$ERL_TOP` directory. This will create the
+    file `win32.tar.gz` in `$ERL_TOP/lib/gs/tcl/binaries`.
+
+    One last alternative is to create a file named `SKIP` in the
+    `$ERL_TOP/lib/gs/` after configure is run, but that will give you an
+    erlang system without gs (which might be okay as you probably will use
+    wx anyway).
+
+    Note that there is no special 64bit version of TCL/TK needed, you
+    can use the 32bit program even for a 64bit build.
+
+The Shell Environment
+---------------------
+
+So, if you have followed the instructions above, when you start a bash
+shell, you should have an INCLUDE environment with a Windows style
+path, a LIB environment variable also in Windows style, and finally a
+PATH that let's you reach cl, makensis, javac etc from the
+command prompt (use `which cl` etc to verify from bash).
+
+You should also have an `ERL_TOP` environment variable that is *Cygwin
+style*, and points to a directory containing, among other files, the
+script `otp_build`.
+
+A final massage of the environment is needed, and that is done by
+the script `$ERL_TOP/otp_build`. Start bash and do the following, note
+the "back-ticks" (\`), can be quite hard to get on some keyboards, but
+pressing the back-tick key followed by the space bar might do it...
+
+    $ cd $ERL_TOP
+    $ eval `./otp_build env_win32`
+
+If you're unable to produce back-ticks on your keyboard, you can use
+the ksh variant:
+
+    $ cd $ERL_TOP
+    $ eval $(./otp_build env_win32)
+
+If you are building a 64 bit version, you supply `otp_build` with an architecture parameter:
+
+    $ cd $ERL_TOP
+    $ eval `./otp_build env_win32 x64`
+     
+
+This should do the final touch to the environment and building should
+be easy after this. You could run `./otp_build env_win32` without
+`eval` just to see what it does, and to see that the environment it
+sets seems OK. The path is cleaned of spaces if possible (using DOS
+style short names instead), the variables `OVERRIDE_TARGET`, `CC`, `CXX`,
+`AR` and `RANLIB` are set to their respective wrappers and the directories
+`$ERL_TOP/erts/etc/win32/cygwin_tools/vc` and
+`$ERL_TOP/erts/etc/win32/cygwin_tool` are added first in the PATH.
+
+Try now a `type erlc`. That should result in the erlc wrapper script
+(which does not have the .sh extension, for reasons best kept
+untold...). It should reside in `$ERL_TOP/erts/etc/win32/cygwin_tools`
+or `$ERL_TOP/erts/etc/win32/msys_tools`.  You could also try `which
+cc.sh`, which `ar.sh` etc.
+
+Now you're ready to build...
+
+
+Building and Installing
+-----------------------
+
+Now it's assumed that you have executed `` eval `./otp_build env_win32` `` or 
+`` eval `./otp_build env_win32 x64` `` for this particular shell...
+
+Building is easiest using the `otp_build` script. That script takes care
+of running configure, bootstrapping etc on Windows in a simple
+way. The `otp_build` script is the utility we use ourselves to build on
+different platforms and it therefore contains code for all sorts of
+platforms. The principle is, however, that for non-Unix platforms, one
+uses `./otp_build env_<target>` to set up environment and then the
+script knows how to build on the platform "by itself". You've already
+run `./otp_build env_win32` in the step above, so now it's mostly like
+we build on any platform. OK, here are then steps; Assuming you will
+want to build a full installation executable with NSIS, you can omit
+`<installation directory>` and the release will be copied to
+`$ERL_TOP/release/win32`: and there is where the packed self installing
+executable will reside too.
+
+    $ ./otp_build autoconf # Ignore the warning blob about versions of autoconf
+    $ ./otp_build configure <optional configure options>
+    $ ./otp_build boot -a
+    $ ./otp_build release -a <installation directory>
+    $ ./otp_build installer_win32 <installation directory> # optional
+
+Now you will have a file called `otp_win32_R12B.exe` in the
+`<installation directory>`, i.e. `$ERL_TOP/release/win32`.
+
+Lets get into more detail:
+
+1.  `$ ./otp_build autoconf` - This step rebuilds the configure scripts
+    to work correctly in the cygwin environment. In an ideal world, this
+    would not be needed, but alas, we have encountered several
+    incompatibilities between our distributed configure scripts (generated
+    on a Linux platform) and the cygwin environment over the
+    years. Running autoconf on cygwin ensures that the configure scripts
+    are generated in a cygwin-compatible way and that they will work well
+    in the next step.
+
+2.  `$ ./otp_build configure` - This runs the newly generated configure
+    scripts with options making configure behave nicely. The target machine
+    type is plainly `win32`, so a lot of the configure-scripts recognize
+    this awkward target name and behave accordingly. The CC variable also
+    makes the compiler be `cc.sh`, which wraps MSVC++, so all configure
+    tests regarding the C compiler gets to run the right compiler. A lot of
+    the tests are not needed on Windows, but I thought it best to run the
+    whole configure anyway. The only configure option you might want to
+    supply is `--with-ssl`, which might be needed if you have built your
+    own OpenSSL distribution. The Shining Lights distribution should be
+    found automatically by `configure`, if that fails, add a
+    `--with-ssl=<dir>` that specifies the root directory of your OpenSSL
+    installation.
+
+3.  `$ ./otp_build boot -a` - This uses the bootstrap directory (shipped
+    with the source, `$ERL_TOP/bootstrap`) to build a complete OTP
+    system. It first builds an emulator and sets up a minimal OTP system
+    under `$ERL_TOP/bootstrap`, then starts to compile the different OTP
+    compilers to make the `$ERL_TOP/bootstrap` system potent enough to be
+    able to compile all Erlang code in OTP. Then, all Erlang and C code
+    under `$ERL_TOP/lib` is built using the bootstrap system, giving a
+    complete OTP system (although not installed). When this is done, one
+    can run Erlang from within the source tree, just type `$ERL_TOP/bin/erl`
+    and you should have a prompt. If you omit the -a flag, you'll get a
+    smaller system, that might be useful during development. Now
+    exit from Erlang and start making a release of the thing:
+
+4.  `$ ./otp_build release -a` - Builds a commercial release tree from the
+    source tree, default is to put it in `$ERL_TOP/release/win32`, you can
+    give any directory as parameter (Cygwin style), but it doesn't really
+    matter if you're going to build a self extracting installer too. You
+    could of course build release to the final directory and then run
+    `./Install.exe` standing in the directory where the release was put,
+    that will create a fully functional OTP installation. But let's make
+    the nifty installer:
+
+5.  `$ ./otp_build installer_win32` - Create the self extracting installer
+    executable. The executable `otp_win32_%OTP-REL%.exe` will be placed
+    in the top directory of the release created in the previous step. If
+    no release directory is specified, the release is expected to have
+    been built to `$ERL_TOP/release/win32`, which also will be the place
+    where the installer executable will be placed. If you specified some
+    other directory for the release (i.e. `./otp_build release -a
+    /tmp/erl_release`), you're expected to give the same parameter here,
+    (i.e. `./otp_build installer_win32 /tmp/erl_release`). You need to have
+    a full NSIS installation and `makensis.exe` in your path for this to
+    work of course. Once you have created the installer, you can run it to
+    install Erlang/OTP in the regular way, just run the executable and
+    follow the steps in the installation wizard. To get all default settings
+    in the installation without any questions asked, you run the executable
+    with the parameter `/S` (capital S) like in:
+
+        $ cd $ERL_TOP
+        $ release/win32/otp_win32_%OTP-REL% /S
+        ...
+
+    or
+
+        $ cd $ERL_TOP
+        $ release/win32/otp_win64_%OTP-REL% /S
+        ...
+    
+
+    and after a while Erlang/OTP-%OTP-REL% will have been installed in
+    `C:\Program Files\erl%ERTS-VSN%\`, with shortcuts in the menu etc.
+
+    The necessary setup of an Erlang installation is actually done by the
+    program `Install.exe`, which resides in the release top. That program
+    creates `.ini`-files and copies the correct boot scripts. If one has
+    the correct directory tree (like after a `./otp_build release -a`), only
+    the running of `Install.exe` is necessary to get a fully functional
+    OTP. What the self extracting installer adds is (of course) the
+    possibility to distribute the binary easily, together with adding
+    shortcuts to the Windows start menu. There is also some adding of
+    entries in the registry, to associate `.erl` and `.beam` files with
+    Erlang and get nifty icons, but that's not something you'll really need
+    to run Erlang. The registry is also used to store uninstall information,
+    but if one has not used the self extracting installer, one cannot
+    (need not) do any uninstall, one just scratches the release directory
+    and everything is gone. Erlang/OTP does not *need* to put anything
+    in the Windows registry at all, and does not if you don't use the self
+    extracting installer. In other words the installer is pure cosmetics.
+
+> *NOTE*: Beginning with R9C, the Windows installer does *not* add Erlang
+> to the system wide path. If one wants to have Erlang in the path, one
+> has to add it by hand.
+
+Development
+-----------
+
+Once the system is built, you might want to change it. Having a test
+release in some nice directory might be useful, but you also can run
+Erlang from within the source tree. The target `local_setup`, makes
+the program `$ERL_TOP/bin/erl.exe` usable and it also uses all the OTP
+libraries in the source tree.
+
+If you hack the emulator, you can then build the emulator executable
+by standing in `$ERL_TOP/erts/emulator` and do a simple
+
+    $ make opt
+
+Note that you need to have run ``(cd $ERL_TOP && eval `./otp_build env_win32`)``
+in the particular shell before building anything on Windows. After
+doing a make opt you can test your result by running `$ERL_TOP/bin/erl`.
+If you want to copy the result to a release directory (say
+`/tmp/erl_release`), you do this (still in  `$ERL_TOP/erts/emulator`)
+
+    $ make TESTROOT=/tmp/erl_release release
+
+That will copy the emulator executables.
+
+To make a debug build of the emulator, you need to recompile both
+`beam.dll` (the actual runtime system) and `erlexec.dll`. Do like this
+
+    $ cd $ERL_TOP
+    $ rm bin/win32/erlexec.dll
+    $ cd erts/emulator
+    $ make debug
+    $ cd ../etc
+    $ make debug
+
+and sometimes
+
+    $ cd $ERL_TOP
+    $ make local_setup
+
+So now when you run `$ERL_TOP/erl.exe`, you should have a debug compiled
+emulator, which you will see if you do a:
+
+    1> erlang:system_info(system_version).
+
+in the erlang shell. If the returned string contains `[debug]`, you
+got a debug compiled emulator.
+
+To hack the erlang libraries, you simply do a `make opt` in the
+specific "applications" directory, like:
+
+    $ cd $ERL_TOP/lib/stdlib
+    $ make opt
+
+or even in the source directory...
+
+    $ cd $ERL_TOP/lib/stdlib/src
+    $ make opt
+
+Note that you're expected o have a fresh Erlang in your path when
+doing this, preferably the plain %OTP-REL% you have built in the previous
+steps. You could also add `$ERL_TOP/bootstrap/bin` to your `PATH` before
+rebuilding specific libraries, that would give you a good enough
+Erlang system to compile any OTP erlang code.  Setting up the path
+correctly is a little bit tricky, you still need to have
+`$ERL_TOP/erts/etc/win32/cygwin_tools/vc` and
+`$ERL_TOP/erts/etc/win32/cygwin_tools` *before* the actual emulator
+in the path. A typical setting of the path for using the bootstrap
+compiler would be:
+
+    $ export PATH=$ERL_TOP/erts/etc/win32/cygwin_tools/vc\
+    :$ERL_TOP/erts/etc/win32/cygwin_tools:$ERL_TOP/bootstrap/bin:$PATH
+
+That should make it possible to rebuild any library without hassle...
+
+If you want to copy a library (an application) newly built, to a
+release area, you do like with the emulator:
+
+    $ cd $ERL_TOP/lib/stdlib
+    $ make TESTROOT=/tmp/erlang_release release
+
+Remember that:
+
+*   Windows specific C-code goes in the `$ERL_TOP/erts/emulator/sys/win32`,
+    `$ERL_TOP/erts/emulator/drivers/win32` or `$ERL_TOP/erts/etc/win32`.
+
+*   Windows specific erlang code should be used conditionally and the
+    host OS tested in *runtime*, the exactly same beam files should be
+    distributed for every platform! So write code like:
+
+        case os:type() of
+            {win32,_} ->
+                do_windows_specific();
+            Other ->
+                do_fallback_or_exit()
+        end,
+
+That's basically all you need to get going.
+
+Using GIT
+---------
+
+You might want to check out versions of the source code from GitHUB. That is possible directly in cygwin, but not in Msys. There is a project MsysGIT:
+
+URL:<http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/>
+
+that makes a nice Git port. The msys prompt you get from MsysGIT is
+however not compatible with the full version from MinGW, so you will
+need to check out files using MsysGIT's command prompt and then switch
+to a common Msys command prompt for building. Also all test suites
+cannot be built as MsysGIT/Msys does not handle symbolic links. To
+build test suites on Windows, you will need Cygwin for now. Hopefully
+all symbolic links will disappear from our repository soon and this
+issue will disappear.
+
+Final Words
+-----------
+My hope is that the possibility to build the whole system on Windows
+will open up for free development on this platform too. There are many
+things one might want to do better in the Windows version, like the
+window-style command prompt as well as pure Cygwin porting. Although i
+realize it's a much larger step to start building on Windows (with all
+the software you need) than for instance on Linux, I sincerely hope
+that some of you will make the effort and start submitting Windows
+friendly patches.
+
+The first build system for Erlang using Cygwin on Windows was created
+by Per Bergkvist. I haven't used his build system, but it's rumored to
+be good. The idea to do this came from his work, so credit is well
+deserved.
+
+Of course this would have been completely impossible without the
+excellent Cygwin. The guys at Cygnus solutions and
+Redhat deserve a huge THANKS! as well as all the other people in the
+free software community who have helped in creating the magnificent
+software that constitutes Cygwin.
+
+Also the people developing the alternative command prompt Msys and
+the MinGW compiler are worth huge THANKS! The 64bit port would have
+been impossible without the 64bit MinGW compiler.
+
+Good luck and Happy Hacking,
+Patrik, OTP
+
+Copyright and License
+---------------------
+
+%CopyrightBegin%
+
+Copyright Ericsson AB 2003-2012. All Rights Reserved.
+
+The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
+Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
+compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
+Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
+retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.
+
+Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
+basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
+the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
+under the License.
+
+%CopyrightEnd%
+
+Modifying This Document
+-----------------------
+
+Before modifying this document you need to have a look at the
+[$ERL_TOP/HOWTO/MARKDOWN.md][] document.
+
+
+
+   [1]: http://www.erlang.org/faq.html "mailing lists"
+   [$ERL_TOP/HOWTO/MARKDOWN.md]: MARKDOWN.md
+
+   [?TOC]: true