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83 lines
3.3 KiB
ReStructuredText
83 lines
3.3 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _build_visualstudio:
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======================
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Visual Studio Projects
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======================
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The build system automatically generates Visual Studio project files to aid
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with development, as part of a normal ``mach build`` from the command line.
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You can find the solution file at ``$OBJDIR/msvc/mozilla.sln``.
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If you want to generate the project files before/without doing a full build,
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running ``./mach configure && ./mach build-backend -b VisualStudio`` will do
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so.
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Structure of Solution
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=====================
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The Visual Studio solution consists of hundreds of projects spanning thousands
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of files. To help with organization, the solution is divided into the following
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trees/folders:
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Build Targets
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This folder contains common build targets. The *full* project is used to
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perform a full build. The *binaries* project is used to build just binaries.
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The *visual-studio* project can be built to regenerate the Visual Studio
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project files.
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Performing the *clean* action on any of these targets will clean the
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*entire* build output.
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Binaries
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This folder contains common binaries that can be executed from within
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Visual Studio. If you are building the Firefox desktop application,
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the *firefox* project will launch firefox.exe. You probably want one of
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these set to your startup project.
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Libraries
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This folder contains entries for each static library that is produced as
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part of the build. These roughly correspond to each directory in the tree
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containing C/C++. e.g. code from ``dom/base`` will be contained in the
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``dom_base`` project.
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These projects don't do anything when built. If you build a project here,
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the *binaries* build target project is built.
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Updating Project Files
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======================
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Either re-running ``./mach build`` or ``./mach build-backend -b VisualStudio``
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will update the Visual Studio files after the tree changes.
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Moving Project Files Around
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===========================
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The produced Visual Studio solution and project files should be portable.
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If you want to move them to a non-default directory, they should continue
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to work from wherever they are. If they don't, please file a bug.
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Invoking mach through Visual Studio
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===================================
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It's possible to run mach commands via Visual Studio. There is some light magic
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involved here.
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Alongside the Visual Studio project files is a batch script named ``mach.bat``.
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This batch script sets the environment variables present in your *MozillaBuild*
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development environment at the time of Visual Studio project generation
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and invokes *mach* inside an msys shell with the arguments specified to the
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batch script. This script essentially allows you to invoke mach commands
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inside the MozillaBuild environment without having to load MozillaBuild.
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Projects currently utilize the ``mach build`` and ``mach clobber`` commands
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for building and cleaning the tree respectively. Note that running ``clobber``
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deletes the Visual Studio project files, and running ``build`` recreates them.
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This might cause issues while Visual Studio is running. Thus a full rebuild is
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currently neither recommended, nor supported, but incremental builds should work.
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The batch script does not limit its use: any mach command can be invoked.
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Developers may use this fact to add custom projects and commands that invoke
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other mach commands.
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