1.3.InstallUnderWindows

Table of contents

• Overview
• Video
• Steps
  • 1.3.1. Find MSYS2
  • 1.3.2. Download MSYS2
  • 1.3.3. Install MSYS2
  • 1.3.4. Update MSYS2 core packages
  • 1.3.5. Update MSYS2 system packages
  • 1.3.6. Find MinGW-w64 CMake
  • 1.3.7. Install build tools
  • 1.3.8. Find OpenSceneGraph repository
  • 1.3.9. Install git to get OpenSceneGraph
  • 1.3.10. Get latest OpenSceneGraph
  • 1.3.11. Create build directory
  • 1.3.12. Try to configure OpenSceneGraph with CMake
  • 1.3.13. Add MinGW-w64 bin directory to PATH
  • 1.3.14. Try to configure OpenSceneGraph once again
  • 1.3.15. Observe configuration errors
  • 1.3.16. Try to configure OpenSceneGraph for MinGW
  • 1.3.17. Observe generator error
  • 1.3.18. Clean build directory
  • 1.3.19. Try to configure OpenSceneGraph for MinGW once again
  • 1.3.20. Observe sh error
  • 1.3.21. Update CMake MinGW script
  • 1.3.22. Configure OpenSceneGraph
  • 1.3.23. Build OpenSceneGraph
  • 1.3.24. Try to install OpenSceneGraph
  • 1.3.25. Observe installation error
  • 1.3.26. Install OpenSceneGraph
  • 1.3.27. Try to run 'osgviewer'
  • 1.3.28. Observe missing library
  • 1.3.29. Find MinGW libraries
  • 1.3.30. Copy MinGW libraries
  • 1.3.31. Go to the directory with 'osgviewer'
  • 1.3.32. Check 'box.osgt' with 'osgviewer'

Overview

This tutorial is part of OpenSceneGraph cross-platform guide.

In this tutorial we install OpenSceneGraph under Windows and take a look at the cube with osgviewer tool.

Note: this tutorial requires OpenSceneGraph model created in 1.1. Create a cube.

Video

YouTube | Download

Video depicts OpenSceneGraph installation under 64-bit Windows 7.

Steps

Note: steps below use frames from the video as screenshots. Watch the video to see all details.

1.3.1. Find MSYS2

MSYS2 is a software distro and building platform for Windows.

We use MSYS2 to build and install OpenSceneGraph, because it provides Unix-like environment with everything that is necessary to build Windows applications: Git, CMake, GCC and a lot more.

1.3.2. Download MSYS2

Choose package suitable for your version of Windows. In case of 64-bit Windows, it's MSYS2 x86_64.

1.3.3. Install MSYS2

Run the downloaded package.

1.3.4. Update MSYS2 core packages

Run the following command in MSYS2:

pacman -Syu

Once finished, close MSYS2.

1.3.5. Update MSYS2 system packages

Reopen MSYS2 and run the following command:

pacman -Su

Now, MSYS2 is ready for us.

1.3.6. Find MinGW-w64 CMake

In order to build Windows applications, we need to use MinGW-w64 tools. MinGW-w64 is an advancement of the original MinGW project, created to support the GCC compiler on Windows.

To find relevant CMake package, run the following command:

pacman -Ss mingw-w64 | grep cmake

1.3.7. Install build tools

To install CMake, Make, and GCC, run the following command:

pacman -S mingw-w64-i686-cmake mingw-w64-i686-make mingw-w64-i686-gcc

We use 32-bit versions, because we want to build 32-bit OpenSceneGraph, which would work on both 32- and 64-bit Windows.

1.3.8. Find OpenSceneGraph repository

Find OpenSceneGraph repository at the website.

1.3.9. Install git to get OpenSceneGraph

Since OpenSceneGraph is hosted at GitHub, we need to install git.

To install git, run the following command:

pacman -S git

1.3.10. Get latest OpenSceneGraph

Get the latest copy of OpenSceneGraph with the following command:

git clone https://github.com/openscenegraph/OpenSceneGraph.git

1.3.11. Create build directory

OpenSceneGraph uses CMake build system, which supports out-of-source builds. We create a build directory to keep generated (built) content separate from the original source.

1.3.12. Try to configure OpenSceneGraph with CMake

Before we can build OpenSceneGraph, we need to configure the build.

However, CMake is not yet reachable.

1.3.13. Add MinGW-w64 bin directory to PATH

CMake is not yet reachable, because it's a MinGW package. MinGW packages reside in a non-standard path.

To make MinGW CMake (and other MinGW executables) accessible, we need to add MinGW bin directory to PATH environment variable. Do it by appending the following line:

export PATH=$PATH:/mingw32/bin

to ~/.bashrc file.

Restart MSYS2 for the changes to take effect.

1.3.14. Try to configure OpenSceneGraph once again

Try to configure OpenSceneGraph build with the following commands:

cd /path/to/build/dir

cmake /path/to/source/dir

We use default configuration without specifying anything.

1.3.15. Observe configuration errors

As you see, configuration process could not find valid compiler for NMake Makefiles. That's because NMake Makefiles are for Visual Studio, but we use MinGW's GCC.

1.3.16. Try to configure OpenSceneGraph for MinGW

Since we want to use MinGW's GCC, we need to tell CMake to generate MinGW Makefiles. We do it by adding -G "MinGW Makefiles" to the configuration command:

cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" ~/p/OpenSceneGraph

1.3.17. Observe generator error

CMake complains about using a generator that is different from the one used before.

1.3.18. Clean build directory

To fix generator error, we need to clean build directory with the following commands:

cd /path/to/build/dir

rm -R *

Warning: make sure you run rm command from the build directory only! This command removes all files in the current directory and descendant ones.

1.3.19. Try to configure OpenSceneGraph for MinGW once again

Configure OpenSceneGraph for MinGW once again.

1.3.20. Observe sh error

CMake complains about sh.exe presence in PATH. As we seen before, MinGW resides in a non-standard path to make sure MinGW executables do not conflict with Cygwin executables.

Since MSYS2 uses Cygwin underneath, CMake detected MinGW and Cygwin mix.

1.3.21. Update CMake MinGW script

Since we only installed MinGW build tools, we can remove sh.exe check by commenting out relevant lines in /mingw32/share/cmake-*/Modules/CMakeMinGWFindMake.cmake file.

1.3.22. Configure OpenSceneGraph

Configure OpenSceneGraph once again. There are no more errors.

1.3.23. Build OpenSceneGraph

We are finally ready to build OpenSceneGraph with the following command:

mingw32-make -j10

We use -j10 to run 10 parallel jobs. This makes building faster.

1.3.24. Try to install OpenSceneGraph

Try to install with the following commands:

cd /path/to/build/dir

mingw32-make install

1.3.25. Observe installation error

Installation failed, because MSYS2 needs administrative privileges to install OpenSceneGraph into C:\Program Files (x86).

1.3.26. Install OpenSceneGraph

Restart MSYS2 with administrative privilegies and run the following commands:

cd /path/to/build/dir

mingw32-make install

1.3.27. Try to run 'osgviewer'

Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenSceneGraph, which contains OpenSceneGraph installation.

Try to run 'osgviewer' from bin subdirectory.

1.3.28. Observe missing library

You cannot run 'osgviewer' at this time, because it misses several libraries.

Those libraries are part of MinGW installation. However, since they reside in non-standard place, 'osgviewer' executable can't find them.

1.3.29. Find MinGW libraries

The easiest way to locate MinGW installation directory, is to run the following command from within MSYS2:

explorer .

This will open your current directory in Explorer.

From there, you can navigate to mingw32/bin directory. This is the place where MinGW libraries reside.

1.3.30. Copy MinGW libraries

Copy all files with dll extension to the directory, where osgviewer resides.

Note: you don't really need all MinGW libraries. We copy all libraries just to keep this tutorial simpler.

1.3.31. Go to the directory with 'osgviewer'

With MSYS2, go to C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenSceneGraph\bin, where osgviewer resides.

1.3.32. Check 'box.osgt' with 'osgviewer'

Finally, take a look at the cube with osgviewer:

./osgviewer /path/to/box.osgt