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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