The Meson Build System
http://mesonbuild.com/
You can not select more than 25 topics
Topics must start with a letter or number, can include dashes ('-') and can be up to 35 characters long.
154 lines
5.0 KiB
154 lines
5.0 KiB
--- |
|
short-description: Simple getting started guide |
|
... |
|
|
|
# The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Installing and Using Meson |
|
|
|
This page is meant for people who are new to using Meson and possibly |
|
even to compiling C and/or C++ code in general. It is meant to contain |
|
one simple way of getting your build environment up and running. If |
|
you are more experienced and have your own preferred way of installing |
|
and using development software, feel free to use that instead. This |
|
guide only deals with Linux, Windows and macOS platforms. If you use |
|
some other platform, such as one of the BSDs, you probably already |
|
know how to install development tools on it (probably better than we |
|
do, even). |
|
|
|
There are three phases to getting a development environment running. |
|
|
|
1. Installing a compiler toolchain |
|
2. Installing Meson |
|
3. Creating a project and building it |
|
|
|
## Installing a compiler toolchain |
|
|
|
### Linux |
|
|
|
All Linux distributions provide easy access to development tools. |
|
Typically you need to open a terminal and execute one command, which |
|
depends on your distro. |
|
|
|
- Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives: `sudo apt install build-essential` |
|
- Fedora, Centos, RHEL and derivatives: `sudo dnf install gcc-c++` |
|
- Arch: `sudo pacman -S gcc` |
|
|
|
### Windows |
|
|
|
The most common development toolchain on Windows is Visual Studio, |
|
which can be downloaded from [the Visual Studio web |
|
site](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/). Select the Community |
|
version unless you have bought a license. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Download the installer and run it. When you are given a list of things |
|
to install, select *Desktop development with C++*. This installs both |
|
a C and a C++ compiler. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Once the installer finishes the compiler toolchain is ready to use. |
|
|
|
### macOS |
|
|
|
On macOS the development toolchain must be installed via the Mac app |
|
store. Search for an app called XCode and install it. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
*Note:* Installing XCode is not sufficient by itself. You also need to |
|
start XCode' GUI application once. This will make XCode download and |
|
install more files that are needed for compilation. |
|
|
|
## Installing Meson |
|
|
|
### Linux |
|
|
|
Installing Meson is just as simple as installing the compiler toolchain. |
|
|
|
- Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives: `sudo apt install meson ninja-build` |
|
- Fedora, Centos, RHEL and derivatives: `sudo dnf install meson ninja-build` |
|
- Arch: `sudo pacman -S meson` |
|
|
|
### Windows |
|
|
|
Meson provides a standard Windows `.msi` installer that can be |
|
downloaded from [the Releases |
|
page](https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/releases). |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Download and run it to install all the necessary bits. You can verify |
|
that your installation is working by running the Visual Studio |
|
developer tools command prompt that can be found in the start menu. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
You should be able to run both `meson` and `ninja` and query their |
|
versions. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
### macOS |
|
|
|
#### With Homebrew |
|
`brew install meson ninja` |
|
|
|
#### Without Homebrew |
|
Start by downloading the installation package from [the Releases |
|
page](https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/releases). |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Double click the downloaded installer to start. If you are running a |
|
new macOS version, it might refuse to run the application with the |
|
following error message: |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
This can be fixed by starting System Preferences, selecting the |
|
Security and Privacy entry. At the bottom it shows the blocked app and |
|
you can enable it by clicking on the "Open anyway" button. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Now the installer should start. If not, double click on the downloaded |
|
installer file again. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Once the installation is finished you can verify that the system is working via the terminal app. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
## Running Meson |
|
|
|
Start a terminal application. On Windows you have to use the Visual |
|
Studio Developer Tools Command Prompt as discussed above, because the |
|
compilers are only available in that terminal. You also need to change |
|
into your home directory (Linux and macOS terminals start in the home |
|
directory by default). |
|
|
|
cd \users\username |
|
|
|
Create a new directory to hold your project. |
|
|
|
mkdir testproject |
|
cd testproject |
|
|
|
Use Meson to create and build a new sample project. |
|
|
|
meson init --name testproject --build |
|
|
|
This will create a project skeleton for you and compile it. The result |
|
is put in the `build` subdirectory and can be run directly from there. |
|
|
|
build/testproject |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
The project is now ready for development. You can edit the code with |
|
any editor and it is rebuilt by going in the `build` subdirectory and |
|
executing the `meson compile` command. If your version of Meson is too |
|
old, you can compile the project by running the command `ninja` |
|
instead.
|
|
|