Compiling in Windows

This page explains how to compile code engines using Windows. To compile and run in Windows, you need some kind of Linux/Unix environment. The recommended option is to use cygwin and this documentation is based on its use.

Installing and Setting Up cygwin

The nairn-mpm-fea project runs well in Windows by using the cygwin system. You can check out the project, compile the code, run calculations, and visualize the results. This section gives the step-by-step process for the required cygwin setup. This process has been verified in Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (although you may need the latest `cygwin 1.7` for Windows 7).

1. Download the cygwin setup.exe application and run it (to install cygwin or, if you already have cygwin installed, you still might need to install plug-ins listed below, if you do not have them already). Note that cygwin is now available in either 32 or 64 bit versions. The 64 bit version is preferred (if you can use it), but both should work.
2. Follow the default options until you reach the "Packages" step of the cygwin setup wizard. In that step, expand the "Devel" category and select:
   • g++ - the gnu c++ compiler
   • gdb - the gnu debugger (optional)
   • make - program for making files (the OSParticulas, NairnMPM, and NairnFEA binaries)
   • Subversion - the version control system needed to download code from google.code.
3. Next, expand the "Net" category and select:
   • openssh - ssh command for secure remote connections (optional).
4. Finally, expand the "Editors" section and select a command-line editer (e.g., vim). Such an editor is useful because editing cygwin files with Microsoft software (e.g., NotePad) can seriously corrupt files by changing line endings from Unix-style line feeds to Windows style carriage returns and line feeds.

The basic cygwin should now be set up. You can run it to open a cygwin command-line window and browse your files. By the default, all cygwin files will be in the folder C:\cygwin or C:\cygwin64 for the 64 bit version. Your home folder will usually be at /home/YOURUSERNAME.

Installing xerces

The first time you download the project, you will need to install xerces in your cygwin environment (if you already have xerces installed, you can skip to compiling now). Although cygwin has an option to install the xerces binary, it usually has an out-dated version. You therefore will need to download the xerces source code, build it, and install it. Since revision 274 of the nairn-mpm-fea project, the code requires xerces 3.0 or newer. The procedure for xerces 3.0 or newer is:

1. Download the xerces source code, which will be in a file such as xerces-c-3.x.x.tar.gz (with x being some numbers). Note that you should get the .tar.gz file instead of the .zip version because the .zip version has DOS files with carriage returns and line feeds (either in the source or inserted by Windows' zip methods) that may complicate compiliation. The .tar.gz file is also smaller.
2. Move the downloaded file to a folder such as the root cygwin folder, which by default is at Windows path C:\cygwin\ or C:\cygwin64\ (warning: the xerces install will fail if the path to the folder in cygwin contains any spaces; if you use the recommended root folder, the path will be "/" which has no spaces and is therefore safe).
3. Start a cygwin shell and and extract the files with:

   cd /
   gunzip xerces-c-3.x.x.tar.gz
   tar xvf xerces-c-3.x.x.tar

   where the x's are replaced by numbers in your downloaded file.
4. Go to the new folder and configure the code with:

   cd xerces-c-3.x.x
   ./configure LDFLAGS=-no-undefined
   

   This step will prepare the xerces source code for building. Note: if you get error messages saying that $'\r'$ command is not found it means your files are DOS files rather than Unix files. Consult a Unix expert on how to fix them or go back to step 1 and get the .tar.gz file this time.

5. When this configuring step is done, enter the commands

   cd src
   make

   This step will compile xerces and save the librarys in the xerces-c-3.x.x/.libs folder.
6. Finally, enter the command make install (still in the same folder). This step will install the compiled xerces libraries and needed header files in the default locations of /usr/local/lib and /usr/local/include folders, respectively.

Compiling in cygwin

You are now ready to compile the nairn-mpm-fea code. In a cygwin shell, navigate to the checked out nairn-mpm-fea folder and proceed as follows. To compile OSParticulas and NairnMPM use:

cd nairn-mpm-fea/NairnMPM/build
make SYSTEM=cygwin

and to compile NairnFEA use:

cd nairn-mpm-fea/NairnFEA/build
make SYSTEM=cygwin

All source code will be compiled and the executables will be installed in nairn-mpm-fea/NairnMPM/input or nairn-mpm-fea/NairnFEA/input, respectively. You can use an additional make install command to copy each compiled executable to your ~/bin folder if desired.

If the command-line compile does not work, the most likely explanation is a problem with the xerces installation. You either have to install it as specified above or edit the makefile to recognize your custom installation. The process is documented in the makefile and involves editing the xercesSo and headersPath variables for your different settings. Another possible reason is a potential conflict with some cygwin/Windows combinations. If you get a linking error about undefined references to typeinfo, you have encountered a dynamic linking problem. It can be fixed by deleting the dynamic library at /usr/local/lib/libserces-c.dll.a and then use the make SYSTEM=cygwin command to link again. This change will cause the code to link statically. The resulting executables will be much larger but should work fine.

You can pass additional parameters to the make command to alter the compilation process. See comments in the makefile for all the latest options.

Using Eclipse IDE

Because the Eclipse IDE can run on multiple platforms, you can use it on Windows for compiling as well. For details, see help on compiling using Eclipse IDE.