Get source and compile
Even if you don't plan to develop, just the act of downloading and compiling can uncover problems. If the version you download doesn't build on your platform, file a bug.
Getting the source
The Second Life source code can be downloaded from our Subversion repository at
https://www.lindenlab.dreamhosters.com/svn/linden/release/
You can download the files using your web browser, but it is recommended that you use a Subversion Client You can download a command line client for most operating systems at the Subversion web site. If you are more comfortable with Graphical interfaces, you can also use TortoiseSVN, or RapidSVN
Get a Subversion account from Rob Linden and check out using the following command
svn co https://www.lindenlab.dreamhosters.com/svn/linden/release/
To understand what you are looking at after you check out the code, see viewer source.
Setting up the development environment w/libraries
Windows
Development Environment
The following dev environment is what LL uses for Windows development. There is no reason that the Second Life viewer can not be built using other enviroments, but it will take some extra work. We should soon have instructions for building the viewer using Microsoft's Visual Studio .NET 2005 Express, which at the time of writing, was freely available.
- Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional
- Microsoft Platform SDK
- DirectX 9.0 SDK Update (Summer 2003)
- Set up the project globals:
- Start Visual C++
- Go to Tools/Options/Projects/VC++ Directories
- Make sure that the includes and libraries paths have the DirectX SDK paths first, then the Platform SDK paths, and then the Visual C++ paths.
- ActivePython 2.3x
Libraries
In the source directory, there are several empty placeholder folders for libraries which the Second Life viewer relies upon, but which Linden Lab can not ship the source. This section describes how to acquire the code, and how to install it.
Boost
- Download & extract Boost source for win32.
- Copy the "boost_X_XX_X\boost" folder to "libraries\include\".
- Run "boost_X_XX_X\tools\build\jam_src\build".
- Copy "boost_X_XX_X\tools\build\jam_src\bin.ntx86\bjam.exe" to "boost_X_XX_X\".
- Using the command prompt:
- cd linden\libraries\boost-X_XX_X\
- set PYTHON_ROOT=C:\Python23
- set PYTHON_VERSION=2.3
- bjam stage
- copy "boost_X_XX_X\stage\lib\libboost_python-vc71-mt.lib" to "\libraries\i686-win32\lib_release\"
- copy "boost_X_XX_X\stage\lib\libboost_python-vc71-mt-gd.lib" to "\libraries\i686-win32\lib_release\libboost_python-vc71-mt.lib"
- copy "boost_X_XX_X\stage\lib\libboost_regex-vc71-mt-s.lib" to "\libraries\i686-win32\lib_release\"
- copy "boost_X_XX_X\stage\lib\libboost_regex-vc71-mt-sgd.lib" to "\libraries\i686-win32\lib_release\libboost_regex-vc71-mt-s.lib"
Expat
- Create a "expat" folder inside of the "include" folder.
- Download Expat Win32 Binary
- Run Setup, and install to a convenient location (I installed to my desktop)
- Open the installed directory, and in "Source\lib\" copy the "expat.h" and "expat_external.h" files to the "include\expat\" folder.
ZLib
- Create a "zlib" folder inside of the "include" folder.
- Download Zlib
- Extract the archive to a convenient location.
- Open the extracted firectory, and copy the "zlib.h" and "zconf.h" files to the "include\zlib" folder.
Platform notes
Linux
Ubuntu build notes
Ubuntu 5.10 and higher uses a newer version of libc6 with a bug fix that breaks our codebase.
If you see errors of the form:
obj_dat.c:(.text+0x857): undefined reference to `__ctype_b'
...when you try to build our codebase then you need to enable the CTYPE_WORKAROUND. If you use 'make' or 'dmake', add the
following lines to your ~/.bashrc file:
export SIMULATOR_CPPFLAGS="-DCTYPE_WORKAROUND"
export RPCSERVER_CPPFLAGS="-DCTYPE_WORKAROUND"
export DATASERVER_CPPFLAGS="-DCTYPE_WORKAROUND"
export USERSERVER_CPPFLAGS="-DCTYPE_WORKAROUND"
export TEST_CPPFLAGS="-DCTYPE_WORKAROUND"
If you use 'scons', add the follow line to your ~/.bashrc file:
export SERVER_CPPFLAGS="-DCTYPE_WORKAROUND"
Source your ~/.bashrc, or open a new terminal, and build again.