Installing wxWidgets {#overview_install} ==================== wxWidgets headers and libraries must be available in order to build the applications using it, so the first step when starting to use wxWidgets is to install it. This can be done, for all platforms and library versions, by building wxWidgets from sources, but for the most common platforms pre-built binaries of the libraries are also provided, so the first decision to make is whether to use these binaries or build the library yourself. Building the libraries yourself allows you to compile the latest version using exactly the options you need, and so is the most flexible solution, but using the binaries may be simpler and faster -- the choice is yours, just follow the instructions in the corresponding section below depending on the approach you prefer. Of course, you only need to do one _or_ the other, _not_ both. Using Binaries -------------- How to install binaries depends on your platform: - For Microsoft Windows (MSW), wxWidgets project provides official binaries on the [Downloads page](http://www.wxwidgets.org/downloads/), please see the [instructions for using them](@ref plat_msw_binaries). - For Linux, and other free Unix-like systems, wxWidgets packages are available in system repositories under the name "wxGTK". Note that to develop applications using wxWidgets you may need to install the "development" packages and not just the libraries needed for running the applications using wxWidgets. For example, under Debian and Debian-derived systems such as Ubuntu, you need to run `apt get libwxgtkX.Y-dev`. - For macOS, wxWidgets is available in third-party package managers such as [brew][1] or [MacPorts][2], and you can install them in the usual way. [1]: https://brew.sh/ [2]: https://www.macports.org/ Additionally, some third-party C++ package managers also provide wxWidgets binaries. For example, please see [this post][3] for the instructions about using [vcpkg][4] C++ package manager for installing wxWidgets. [3]: https://www.wxwidgets.org/blog/2019/01/wxwidgets-and-vcpkg/ [4]: https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg Building from Source -------------------- ### Getting the sources To build the library you need to get its sources first. The recommended way to do it is to use Git to check them out from the official wxWidgets repository using the following command: $ git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets.git Alternatively, you can download the sources from the [downloads page][1]. Please note that all the source archives in different formats (ZIP, 7z, tar.bz2) contain the same files, but use different line ending formats: Unix ("LF") for the latter one and DOS ("CR LF") for the two other ones, and it is usually preferable to choose the format corresponding to the current platform. When downloading the sources with DOS ends of lines, prefer 7z format for much smaller file size. ### Selecting the build system wxWidgets can be built using [CMake](https://cmake.org/) under all platforms. Please follow [CMake build instructions](@ref overview_cmake) if you prefer to use it. Otherwise, please use the appropriate instructions depending on your platform: - For native wxMSW port under [Microsoft Windows](@ref plat_msw_install). - For wxGTK under [Linux and other Unix-like systems](@ref plat_gtk_install). - For native wxOSX port under [macOS](@ref plat_osx_install). The wxWidgets ports mentioned above are the main ones, however other variants also exist, see [platform details](@ref page_port) page for the full list. Building Your Application ------------------------- After installing wxWidgets, you need to set up your application to be built using it. As previously, if you're using CMake, please follow the instructions for [building your applications with CMake](@ref cmake_apps). Note that you can use the provided `samples/minimal/CMakeLists.txt` file to test building the minimal sample using CMake to verify your installation. Otherwise, choose the appropriate method for your platform and build system: ### Unix, command line On any Unix-like system, including macOS and Unix-like environments such as Cygwin or MSYS2 under MSW, very simple applications consisting of a single source file `hello.cpp` can be built directly from the command line using the following command: $ c++ -o hello hello.cpp `wx-config --cxxflags --libs` Please note that you *must* use `wx-config` to obtain the compiler and linker flags in this case. Using this method with `samples/minimal/minimal.cpp` is a simple way of checking that wxWidgets is installed correctly and can be used and it is recommended to try building it, especially if you are new to wxWidgets. ### Unix, with GNU Make For more realistic applications under Unix, a makefile is traditionally used for building. For a program consisting of the files `hello.cpp` and `bye.cpp` a minimal makefile could look like the following: ~~~{make} # wx-config to use, may be overridden on make command line. WX_CONFIG := wx-config WX_CXXFLAGS := $(shell $(WX_CONFIG) --cxxflags) WX_LIBS := $(shell $(WX_CONFIG) --libs) OBJECTS := hello.o bye.o hello: $(OBJECTS) $(CXX) -o $@ $(OBJECTS) $(LDFLAGS) $(WX_LIBS) $(LIBS) $(OBJECTS): %.o: %.cpp $(CXX) -c -o $@ $(WX_CXXFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS) $< ~~~ Please refer to [the manual][gnumake] for more information about writing makefiles for GNU make. Also notice that you need to replace the leading spaces with TABs if you are copy-pasting the makefile above into your own. [gnumake]: https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html ### Unix, with autoconf For building applications using autoconf, you need to have the following lines in your `configure.ac` file: ~~~{configure} AC_INIT(...) dnl Add support for --wxdir, --wx-config and other options allowing to select dnl the version and location of wxWidgets to use. WX_CONFIG_OPTIONS ... other preliminary macros ... dnl A C++ compiler is required. AC_PROG_CXX dnl Find wxWidgets 3.1.6 or exit with error. See documentation of this macro dnl in wxwin.m4 for more information, notably optional arguments allowing to dnl select the required libraries and optional libraries to detect. WX_CONFIG_CHECK([3.1.6], [], [AC_MSG_FAILURE([wxWidgets 3.1.6 or later not found])]) dnl Use wxWidgets compilation flags for all files in the project. If you also dnl use automake, you may prefer to add WX_CXXFLAGS and WX_LIBS to the dnl individual target_CXXFLAGS and target_LIBADD or target_LDADD variables. CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS $WX_CPPFLAGS" CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $WX_CXXFLAGS" LIBS="$LIBS $WX_LIBS" ... other macros checking for headers/libraries ... AC_OUTPUT ~~~ Note that this assumes that `wxwin.m4` file is available in a standard location, as is the case when using distribution-provided wxWidgets packages or after building wxWidgets from source and using `make install`. If this is not the case, you must copy this file from wxWidgets source directory to the directory containing autoconf macros used by your application (typically `m4`, e.g. if you use `AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS([m4])`). ### MSW, with Microsoft Visual Studio For applications using Microsoft Visual Studio IDE, simply add the provided `wxwidgets.props` property sheet file to your project as explained in the [instructions](@ref msw_build_apps) and build the project as usual. ### Other IDEs If you use an IDE with wxWidgets support, such as [Code::Blocks][1] or [CodeLite][2], please use the IDE wizards. [1]: https://www.codeblocks.org/ [2]: https://codelite.org/ If you use another IDE, under Unix you should run `wx-config --cxxflags` and `wx-config --libs` commands separately and copy-and-paste their output to the "Additional preprocessor options" and "Additional linker options" fields in your IDE, respectively. Under MSW systems you need to configure the IDE using the instructions in the ["manual setup"](@ref msw_build_apps) section.