Compiling RRDtool on Win32 with Microsoft Visual C++:

---------------------------------------------------------------

2017-10-02 Wolfgang Stöggl c72578@yahoo.de

2010-06-04 Chris Larsen clarsen@euphoriaaudio.com

2008-03-12 Stefan Ludewig stefan.ludewig@exitgames.com

Here are step by step instructions for building librrd-8.dll and rrdtool.exe

version 1.4.5 and newer with Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 (12.0.x) and newer.

I you would like to build RRDtool using MinGW-w64, please have a look at

win32/README-MinGW-w64

# Installation of up-to-date, required third party headers and libraries

An efficient way, to obtain headers and libraries required by RRDtool is using vcpkg from:

https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg

(1) Follow the vcpkg installation instructions found in README.md and clone vcpkg e.g. to a folder named "vcpkg"

in the top directory of rrdtool.

cd vcpkg

(2) Install the headers and libraries the following way for 32-bit or 64-bit:

.\vcpkg install cairo expat fontconfig freetype gettext glib libpng libxml2 pango pcre zlib --triplet x86-windows

.\vcpkg install cairo expat fontconfig freetype gettext glib libpng libxml2 pango pcre zlib --triplet x64-windows

Information, how to compile using nmake, can be found here: win32/README

# Legacy instructions

Libraries mentioned in the section below are outdated and not updated any more.

However, the described procedure still works.

(1) Create a folder named "contrib" in the directory where this text file is located.

(2) Download the following libraries that rrdtool depends on:

- cairo: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/cairo_1.10.2-2_win32.zip

and http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/cairo-dev_1.10.2-2_win32.zip

- glib: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/glib/2.28/glib_2.28.8-1_win32.zip

and http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/glib/2.28/glib-dev_2.28.8-1_win32.zip

- libpng: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/libpng_1.4.12-1_win32.zip

and http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/libpng-dev_1.4.12-1_win32.zip

- libxml2: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/libxml2_2.9.0-1_win32.zip

and http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/libxml2-dev_2.9.0-1_win32.zip

- pango: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/pango/1.29/pango_1.29.4-1_win32.zip

and http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/pango/1.29/pango-dev_1.29.4-1_win32.zip

- zlib: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/zlib_1.2.5-2_win32.zip

and http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/zlib-dev_1.2.5-2_win32.zip

- fontconfig: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/fontconfig_2.8.0-2_win32.zip

- freetype: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/freetype_2.4.10-1_win32.zip

- expat: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/expat_2.1.0-1_win32.zip

- gettext: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/dependencies/gettext-runtime_0.18.1.1-2_win32.zip

(3) Extract all of the .zip files into the contrib folder. Do not extract each library into it's own

directory. We want all of the files merged into a structure consisting of "bin, include, lib..."

etc folders.

(4) Open the Visual Studio 2013 Solution "rrd.sln" in the win32 folder of

your rrdtool-folder and build either the project librrd-8 (for the

rrdtool-library), rrdtool (for the rrdtool-executable depending on the

library) or the complete solution. A post-build event automatically copies

all the dlls, needed by rrdtool, next to the .exe, when you build the

executable. These DLLs must be available on all hosts where rrdtool will

run.

24/7/14 Peter

Update VS2008 project from branch 1.4 to VS2013 for the actual master.

Change sources for C++ / Windows compatibility.

6/10/10 Chris

Updated project to include latest files and libraries.

Builds static or dynamic rrdlib

5/1/05 Tobi

to help windows deal with the reentrant versions of many unix

calls link with win32comp.c

4/10/05 Tobi

The windows implementation of strftime does not seem to support

the ISO 8601 week number (%V) I have therefore included the file

strftime.[ch] which provides strftime_ ... if you compile rrdtool

with -Dstrftime=_strftime and link strftime.o then you will

get proper support for %V.

7/29/04 Jake Brutlag

As of Jan 2004, code for libraries utilized by rrdtool

(png, libart, freetype, and zlib) is no longer distributed with

rrdtool. This requires some changes to the compile process on

Win32. The solution described here is to compile rrdtool to

link against these libraries dynamically. There is an advantage

to this approach: namely the rrdtool distribution doesn't have to

worry about how to compile these libraries on Win32. In theory,

since others already provide and maintain Win32 binaries for these

libraries the users don't have to worry about how to compile them

either. The disadvantage of this approach is that the DLLs for

these libraries must be available on the hosts where rrdtool will run.

Here are step by step instructions for compiling rrdtool.exe and

the perl shared library (RRDS.dll) with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0.

(1) Download libraries rrdtool depends on from GnuWin32:

http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/

For freetype, libpng, and zlib download the "Complete Package"; each of

these will be a self-extracting self-installing executable.

For libart, download both the "Binaries" and "Developer Files" packages.

Unfortunately at this time GnuWin32 doesn't provide the "Complete Package"

installer for libart. Perhaps by the time you are following these

instructions GnuWin32 will have a "Complete Package" for libart.

(2) Install the GnuWin32 libraries by running the executables for freetype,

libpng, and zlib. These instructions and the Visual C++ project files

distributed with rrdtool assume that you will use the default install

location: C:\Program Files\GnuWin32. Extract the two zip files for libart,

libart-2.3.3-bin.zip and libart-2.3.3-1-lib.zip into the GnuWin32 directory;

the appropriate libart files will be added to the include, lib, and bin

subdirectories.

(3) Add C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin to the PATH (Control Panel ->

System -> Advanced -> Environment Variables).

(4) Start Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0. Load the workspace file, rrdtool.dsw,

from the src subdirectory of your rrdtool code directory.

(5) Compile the Release build of the rrdtool project (since rrdtool depends

on the rrd project, the rrd library will also be compiled). At this

time, the compile will fail in zconf.h, a zlib header file. The problem

is a preprocessor directive that loads unistd.h. Open zconf.h in VC++

(this file is in C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\include) and find the following

code block:

#if 1 /* HAVE_UNISTD_H -- this line is updated by ./configure */

# include <sys/types.h> /* for off_t */

# include <unistd.h> /* for SEEK_* and off_t */

# ifdef VMS

# include <unixio.h> /* for off_t */

# endif

# define z_off_t off_t

#endif

Change it to reads as follows (this is code from zlib-1.1.4):

#if HAVE_UNISTD_H

# include <sys/types.h> /* for off_t */

# include <unistd.h> /* for SEEK_* and off_t */

# ifdef VMS

# include <unixio.h> /* for off_t */

# endif

# define z_off_t off_t

#endif

Note that it is actually just a one line change. Save the file and

recompile rrdtool. By the time you are following these instructions

this issue with zconf.h may be resolved.

(6) At this point, you can run the executable rrdtool.exe in the

src\toolrelease subdirectory. Note that if you wish to run rrdtool

on other machines, you will need the following DLLs installed (on the

path) on those machines:

zlib1.dll

libpng12.dll

libart_lgpl.dll

freetype6.dll

msvcrt.dll

The names of the first four DLLs might vary from what is listed here

depending on the versions of the packages you downloaded from GnuWin32.

The fifth DLL, msvcrt.dll, is a system DLL for most versions of Windows.

If you are running on old version of Windows, you can install/upgrade to

IE4.0 to get this DLL.

(7) To compile the perl-shared library, open a Command Prompt (DOS box)

and cd to the bindings\perl-shared subdirectory.

(8) Run vcvars32.bat; this batch file, in your vc98\bin directory will

set necessary environment options for command line compiling.

(9) In bindings\perl-shared, run

perl ntmake-build

nmake

nmake test

If nmake test succeeds, you are good to go. RRDs.dll is in

blib\arch\auto\RRDs. If you plan to install via the Active State ppm

tool, tar and gzip the blib directory. You can use the RRDs.ppd file

in bindings\perl-shared directory. Remember that as in the case of

rrdtool.exe you will need the DLLs listed in (6) on the machine where

you are going to use RRDs.dll.

Microsoft Visual C++ 7.1 (.NET 2003):

Unfortunately, this is more difficult than with VC++ 6.0. The problem

is that by default the C runtime dll for VC++ 7.1 is msvcr71.dll rather

than msvcrt.dll. The GnuWin32 library binaries are all compiled

to use msvcrt.dll and you can't mix msvcr71.dll and msvcrt.dll in the

same process. One option is to download the source code for the libraries

(available from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net) recompile them with

VC++ 7.l. Then all the components will use msvcr71.dll. Once you are

going to go this route, you can also use static multi-threaded libraries

and use static linking between rrdtool (or RRDs.dll) and its dependencies.

To use the GnuWin32 library binaries, you need to trick VC++ 7.1 into

compiling rrdtool to use the older msvcrt.dll. Follow steps (1) - (3)

as above, then:

(4) Obtain a different version of the msvcrt.lib import library that

is compatible with vc7 and points to msvcrt.dll:

msvcrtlib_for_vc7.zip from http://xchat.org/win32/testing

Backup msvcrt.lib in your vc7\lib directory

(\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\vc7\lib)

Then extract the msvcrt.lib from the zip file into the vc7\lib directory.

WARNING: Use this msvcrt.lib at your own risk! This is not a Microsoft

supplied file nor a file supported by anyone associated with rrdtool.

(5) Start Microsoft Visual C++ 7.1. Load the solution file, rrdtool.sln,

from the src subdirectory of your rrdtool code directory. Edit zconf.h,

as needed, as described under (5) above. Compile the release build of

the rrdtool project.

Proceed with steps (6) - (9) as above, if you are using/picking up

the wrong msvcrt.lib import library then nmake test for perl-shared

will fail.

Note: it is possible in the future that GnuWin32 will provide Win32

binaries that utilize msvcr71.dll rather than msvcrt.dll.

5/14/02 Jake Brutlag

These notes share some insight I gained compiling 1.1.x with

MS Visual C++ 6.0 (using project files). This information may or

may not be accurate at the time you are reading this.

(1) freetype and rrdtool cannot use precompiled headers (which are

enabled by default for MSVC++ projects). MSVC++ 6.0 does not

support precompiled headers if #include directives contain MACROS.

(2) Compile Release build with Default optimization, not the

Maximize Speed optimization. I encountered some strange errors

(related to argument processing for complex commands like graph) with

Maximize Speed.

(3) libart relies upon config.h (ostensibly generated by the

configure script-- but of course not on Win32 platforms). ..\..\confignt

(which contains a static Win32 version of config.h) should be on

the include path.

(4) Fonts are located in the %windir%\fonts, so the default font

is c:\winnt\fonts\cour.ttf. (6/19/02) At Kerry Calvert's suggestion

this setting was moved to confignt\config.h.

(5) libart requires a custom build step to generate art_config.h; this

is done manually via the commands:

cl -I..\..\confignt gen_art_config.c

gen_art_config.exe > art_config.h

Currently, to compile rrd.lib and rrdtool.exe using

the MSVC++ project files, first start MSVC++ 6.0. Open the rrdtool

workspace (rrdtool.dsw in the src directory). The active project/

configuration should be rrdtool-Win32 Release. Select Rebuild All

from the Build menu. The static link library (rrd.lib) will

be generated in src\release directory and executable will be generated

in the src\toolrelease directory.

Compiling RRDtool on NT ... work in progress

---------------------------------------------------------------

by Tamas Kovacshazy (khazy@mit.bme.hu)

Persisting Problems with the current NT port:

Unfortunately, the RRD perl modules does not work with Perl

(ActivePerl) using the current distribution.

The RRD shared perl module can be compiled after some

modification...

Follow these steps:

0. Install perl if you do not have it!

Visit http://www.ActiveState.com/pw32/ for a complete distribution.

1. Copy ..\gd1.2\release\gd.lib to ..\gd1.2\

2. Copy ..\src\release\rrd.lib to ..\src

3. perl Makefile.pl

In this step the system complains about something I do not

understand. The error message is the following:

Note (probably harmless): No library found for '-lm'

Is a library missing? But it does not stop with an error...

4. nmake test (You must have Visual C++ on the machine!)

After these steps it generates the test files (svgs and rrds),

and they seem to be good.

The real problem in the shared perl module is the following:

I do not know how this installation stuff works. The problem is

that the installation stuff looks for the gd.lib and the

rrd.lib in the ..\gd1.2 and ..\src directory. The UNIX compile

puts the files into these directories, but the NT compile does

not.

It is all for today,

khazy

Tamas Kovacshazy E-mail: khazy@mit.bme.hu

WWW: http://www.mit.bme.hu/~khazy

Technical University of Budapest

Department of Measurement and Information Systems

Compiling RRDtool 1.2.x on Win32 with MingW32 gcc:

---------------------------------------------------------------

1. Obtain and install the current version of the MingW package.

http://www.mingw.org/download.shtml

In the MinGW set you will need the gcc and binutils as a minimum.

2. Obtain either of the following awk versions and install in a directory

on your System Path:

- awk.exe

http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/awkbook/index.html

Note: This version has no dependencies to other libs.

- gawk.exe (GnuWin32 version)

http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/gawk.htm

Note: Also fetch the dependent libraries for it from the same page.

3. If you plan to create a 'distribution' release of the RRD Tools, the

Makefile.Win32 will copy all the needed files to an output directory and

then zip the entire directory. A suitable zip utility can be obtained here:

http://www.info-zip.org/

Install in a directory on your System Path.

4. Obtain the following libraries, ideally install them all under a common

directory:

= zlib

https://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/pub/libs/zlib-1.2.3.tar.gz

http://www.zlib.net/

= libpng

https://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/pub/libs/libpng-1.2.12.tar.gz

http://libpng.sourceforge.net/

= freetype

https://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/pub/libs/freetype-2.2.1.tar.gz

http://freetype.sourceforge.net/index2.html

= libart_lgpl

https://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/pub/libs/libart_lgpl-2.3.17.tar.gz

http://www.levien.com/libart/

Note: libart_lgpl needs a special tweak because the archive contains

only the base directory, but the libart headers are usually included with

a directory prefix; therefore create a subfolder 'libart_lgpl' and move

all files into this subfolder.

5. Set up for DOS environment.

Add MingW\bin and MSYS\bin directories to your System path.

If the libraries share a common directory set the following environment var:

set LIBBASE=<shared director>

e.g set LIBBASE=C:\Libraries

If the libraries are scattered, set the following environment vers:

set ZLIBSDK=<path to zlib>

e.g set ZLIBSDK=C:\mytest\zlib-1.2.3

set LIBPNG=<path to libpng>

set LIBFT2=<path to freetype>

set LIBART=<path to libart>

If using the Gnu Awk (gawk.exe), edit the Makefile.Win32 and change the line:

AWK = awk

to

AWK = gawk

6. Compile the project.

All dependent libs are statically linked in. This has the benefit that the

binaries do not depend on any other DLLs.

In order to build the static freetype lib enter the freetype base directory

and type 'make'. If everything is fine a message appears that gcc is detected,

and that you should again type 'make'. Follow that in order to build freetype.

All other libs are build from the sources with the RRDtool Makefile.Win32.

Switch to the RRDTOOL .\src directory. Then:

make -f Makefile.Win32 help

to see the build options, or

make -f Makefile.Win32 all

should build the entire package.

6. Happy Graphing!

written by normw & gk.