Preparing To Build XPS

The XPS software does not aim to re-invent any wheels. It uses several software packages for components that are not specific to extensible programming. The sections that follow describe everything you need.

Prerequisite Software

The following sections describe the software XPS depends on. The versions listed are known to work. You can try building on other versions of Linux with relative safety. Cygwin on Win 2K or later should also work. Using other versions of the various tools and libraries could lead to problems. In general newer versions might work, older ones probably won't. Before you build XPS, make sure the libraries resulting from the build of the software below can be located by your system loader (or add them to LD_LIBRARY_PATH, PATH, or other environment variable depending on your system). This will ensure they are found by XPS' configure script.

UNIX (Fedora Core 3, Linux kernel 2.6.10)

Although XPS intends to be fully portable across Unix and Windows systems, its primary platform is Linux or other Unix variants such as FreeBSD, Darwin, and Solaris. As XPS matures, its build system will be extended to support additional platforms.

GNU Make 3.79+

XPS's build system requires a modern version of GNU Make. It uses GNU extensions to simplify the makefiles we must write.

GCC 4.0.0

XPS will probably compile with GCC 3.4 or perhaps even some older versions. However, the developers currently use GCC 4.0.0 as the compiler of choice. In particular, you will need GCJ (Java compiler).

javac

XPS uses the Sun javac command to translate its Java sources to class files. Unfortunately, GCC's gcj command isn't up to standards sufficiently for correct generation of Java source to class files.

LLVM 1.5

All of the compilation, optimization, and execution features of XPS are provided by the Low Level Virtual Machine. XPS depends on LLVM for its build system as well. Currently XPS requires the latest CVS sources from LLVM because recent changes in LLVM were added to support building XPS.

expat 1.95.8

For XML parsing, XPS uses the expat parser. Note that the version required is subsequent to the version bundled with many UNIX distributions. You are advised to download expat and compile it yourself.

apr 1.0 and apr-util 1.0

For portability, XPS uses the Apache Portable Runtime. This ensures that XPS can be made portable to any platform on which the Apache HTTP Server is ported. Make sure you have both apr and apr-util available on your system as both are needed by XPS.

Environment

Although XPS can be built with "off the shelf" versions of the software above that come with your operating system, it is recommended that you keep XPS related software separate from the versions provided by your operating system. A practice we follow is to place everything XPS related in one directory, say /proj, with the following structure:

/proj/

Top level directory containing XPS related software

/proj/{apr,apr-util,expat,gcc,gmake,llvm,xps}/

Under /proj, create a directory for each software project (component)

/proj/[project]/[project]

For each project, check out the source code into the project's directory which probably results in another directory of the same name. For example, if you check out xps in the /proj/xps directory, you'll end up with the source code in the /proj/xps/xps directory.

/proj/[project]/build

For each project create a build directory. This is where you'll compile the software. This helps keep your source tree uncluttered and allows you to do multiple builds from the same source tree. Generally, the pattern for building is:
cd build; ../[src]/configure; make.

/proj/install

When configuring your components always use the option --prefix=/proj/install to the configure script. This will ensure your software doesn't get installed into places that conflict with your operating system.

If you use this approach, don't forget to put /proj/install/lib in your LD_LIBRARY_PATH or similar variable so the operating system will find your installed libraries and not the (generally older) system version. Similarly, put /proj/install/bin in your PATH variable. To make this easier, you can source the xps/utils/inc/bashrc script into your .bash_profile

Configuration

XPS installation uses the GNU autoconf system for determining configuration data in order to build successfully on your platform. Additionally, much of the platform dependent portions of XPS are relegated to the Apache Portable Runtime (APR) and the Low Level Virtual Machine (LLVM). If you can get APR and LLVM to build, you're most of the way there.

The instructions that follow are the generic configure script instructions. If you've never used configure before, you should read this at least once.

GENERIC INSTALLATION
====================

These are generic installation instructions for using the GNU "configure" 
script.

The `configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for various 
system-dependent variables used during compilation.  It uses those values to 
create a `Makefile' in each directory of the package.  It may also create one 
or more `.h' files containing system-dependent definitions.  Finally, it 
creates a shell script `config.status' that you can run in the future to 
recreate the current configuration, a file `config.cache' that saves the 
results of its tests to speed up reconfiguring, and a file `config.log' 
containing compiler output (useful mainly for debugging `configure').

If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, please try to figure 
out how `configure' could check whether to do them, and mail diffs or 
instructions to the address given in the `README' so they can be considered for 
the next release.  If at some point `config.cache' contains results you don't 
want to keep, you may remove or edit it.

The file `configure.in' is used to create `configure' by a program called 
`autoconf'.  You only need `configure.in' if you want to change it or 
regenerate `configure' using a newer version of `autoconf'.

The simplest way to compile this package is:

  1. `cd' to the directory containing the package's source code and type
     `./configure' to configure the package for your system.  If you're
     using `csh' on an old version of System V, you might need to type
     `sh ./configure' instead to prevent `csh' from trying to execute
     `configure' itself.

     Running `configure' takes awhile.  While running, it prints some
     messages telling which features it is checking for.

  2. Type `make' to compile the package.

  3. Optionally, type `make check' to run any self-tests that come with
     the package.

  4. Type `make install' to install the programs and any data files and
     documentation.

  5. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
     source code directory by typing `make clean'.  To also remove the
     files that `configure' created (so you can compile the package for
     a different kind of computer), type `make distclean'.  There is
     also a `make maintainer-clean' target, but that is intended mainly
     for the package's developers.  If you use it, you may have to get
     all sorts of other programs in order to regenerate files that came
     with the distribution.

Compilers and Options
=====================

Some systems require unusual options for compilation or linking that the 
`configure' script does not know about.  You can give `configure' initial 
values for variables by setting them in the environment.  Using a 
Bourne-compatible shell, you can do that on the command line like this:

     CC=c89 CFLAGS=-O2 LIBS=-lposix ./configure

Or on systems that have the `env' program, you can do it like this:

     env CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include LDFLAGS=-s ./configure

Compiling For Multiple Architectures
====================================

You can compile the package for more than one kind of computer at the same 
time, by placing the object files for each architecture in their own directory.  
To do this, you must use a version of `make' that supports the `VPATH' 
variable, such as GNU `make'.  `cd' to the directory where you want the object 
files and executables to go and run the `configure' script.  `configure' 
automatically checks for the source code in the directory that `configure' is 
in and in `..'.

If you have to use a `make' that does not supports the `VPATH' variable, you 
have to compile the package for one architecture at a time in the source code 
directory.  After you have installed the package for one architecture, use 
`make distclean' before reconfiguring for another architecture.

Installation Names
==================

By default, `make install' will install the package's files in `/usr/local/bin', 
`/usr/local/man', etc.  You can specify an installation prefix other than 
`/usr/local' by giving `configure' the option `--prefix=PATH'.

You can specify separate installation prefixes for architecture-specific files 
and architecture-independent files.  If you give `configure' the option 
`--exec-prefix=PATH', the package will use PATH as the prefix for installing 
programs and libraries.  Documentation and other data files will still use the 
regular prefix.

In addition, if you use an unusual directory layout you can give options like 
`--bindir=PATH' to specify different values for particular kinds of files.  
Run `configure --help' for a list of the directories you can set and what 
kinds of files go in them.

If the package supports it, you can cause programs to be installed with an 
extra prefix or suffix on their names by giving `configure' the option 
`--program-prefix=PREFIX' or `--program-suffix=SUFFIX'.

Optional Features
=================

Some packages pay attention to `--enable-FEATURE' options to `configure', 
where FEATURE indicates an optional part of the package.  They may also pay 
attention to `--with-PACKAGE' options, where PACKAGE is something like 
`gnu-as' or `x' (for the X Window System).  The `README' should mention 
any `--enable-' and `--with-' options that the package recognizes.

For packages that use the X Window System, `configure' can usually find the X 
include and library files automatically, but if it doesn't, you can use the 
`configure' options `--x-includes=DIR' and `--x-libraries=DIR' to specify 
their locations.

Specifying the System Type
==========================

There may be some features `configure' can not figure out automatically, but 
needs to determine by the type of host the package will run on.  Usually 
`configure' can figure that out, but if it prints a message saying it can not 
guess the host type, give it the `--host=TYPE' option.  TYPE can either be a 
short name for the system type, such as `sun4', or a canonical name with three 
fields:

     CPU-COMPANY-SYSTEM

See the file `config.sub' for the possible values of each field.  If 
`config.sub' isn't included in this package, then this package doesn't need to 
know the host type.

If you are building compiler tools for cross-compiling, you can also use the 
`--target=TYPE' option to select the type of system they will produce code for 
and the `--build=TYPE' option to select the type of system on which you are 
compiling the package.

Sharing Defaults
================

If you want to set default values for `configure' scripts to share, you can 
create a site shell script called `config.site' that gives default values for 
variables like `CC', `cache_file', and `prefix'.  `configure' looks for 
`PREFIX/share/config.site' if it exists, then `PREFIX/etc/config.site' if it 
exists.  Or, you can set the `CONFIG_SITE' environment variable to the 
location of the site script.  A warning: not all `configure' scripts look for 
a site script.

Operation Controls
==================

`configure' recognizes the following options to control how it operates.

`--cache-file=FILE'
     Use and save the results of the tests in FILE instead of
     `./config.cache'.  Set FILE to `/dev/null' to disable caching, for
     debugging `configure'.

`--help'
     Print a summary of the options to `configure', and exit.

`--quiet'
`--silent'
`-q'
     Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.  To
     suppress all normal output, redirect it to `/dev/null' (any error
     messages will still be shown).

`--srcdir=DIR'
     Look for the package's source code in directory DIR.  Usually
     `configure' can determine that directory automatically.

`--version'
     Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the `configure'
     script, and exit.

`configure' also accepts some other, not widely useful, options.