HowToCompileGimp/MicrosoftWindows

  1. How to compile GIMP 2.2 on Windows
  2. What do you need
  3. How to build GIMP
  4. How to run
  5. Building from CVS

How to compile GIMP 2.2 on Windows

This document describes how to compile GIMP 2.2 on Windows using MingW32, MSYS and ActivePerl. If you want to compile an older version than version 2.2 of the gimp, you should refer to the [WWW] old page. The [WWW] old page can also be useful if you encounter problems.

What do you need

To get the software that you need to compile GIMP, you should run the batchfile GetMingwBatch. Copy the content of the file to a local file on you computer, and give it the extension .bat. Now you should be able to execute it. Execute it as Administrator, or as a user that has Administrator rights.

During the installation, some graphical installation shields are passing. Use the default options. When installing msys, there will also pop-up a dosbox, asking you some questions. Be careful here not to mistype anything, since the program that asks these questions is poorly written. Answer like this: 

Do you wish to continue with the post install? [yn ] y
Do you have MinGW installed? [yn ] y
Where is your MinGW installation? c:/MinGW

If this script isn't working properly the FTP for getting Unzip may be down. Edit your batch file and replace these lines: 

echo> getunzip.tmp open ftp.info-zip.org
echo>>getunzip.tmp binary
echo>>getunzip.tmp get /pub/infozip/WIN32/unz552xN.exe

With a working FTP address such as: 

echo> getunzip.tmp open ftp.ktug.or.kr
echo>>getunzip.tmp binary
echo>>getunzip.tmp get /tex-archive/tools/info-zip/WIN32/unz552xN.exe

Other active FTP locations can be found on the web.

How to build GIMP

In order to build GIMP, you will still need some additional packages. Because a batchfile is not so easy to maintain, there is a shell-script witten (CompileGimpAtWindowsShellScript), that will download all needed packages for you. You can run this script as a normal user, so you do not need Administrator rights. Execute this script by copying and pasting it to a local file at your computer. Give it the extension .sh. This script currently compiles version 2.2.8. If you want to compile another version - such as a newer development snapshot - You will need to edit the shell script. Open it and replace this line: 

GIMP_BASE="http://switch.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/gimp-win/"

With a URL with the newer source code. You can find a number of mirrors [WWW] here. Next, replace this line: 

GIMP_PACKAGE="gimp-2.2.8"

With: 

GIMP_PACKAGE="gimp-2.3.3"

And save the file.

If you (for example) save it in C:/msys/1.0/Home/UserName/CompileGimp.sh, you can execute it with msys (Start->Programs->MinGW->MSys->msys) like this; 

./CompileGimp.sh

This is what the script will do;

By default, the sources of GIMP will be extracted to ~/gimp/gimp-VERSIONNR/. You can edit the shell script to your needs. If you don't have python installed on your system and you still want to compile, find this line at the end of the file: 

./configure --disable-print && make && make install

And disable python like this: 

./configure --disable-print --disable-python && make && make install

When the script is finished, you should be able to run the gimp. You can now also make changes to the sources, and apply them with 

cd ~/gimp/gimp-VERSIONNR
make && make install

How to run

You should now be able to run the gimp: 

gimp-2.2.exe

Building from CVS

If you're trying to build the Gimp source pulled from CVS, some additional horrors await you.

last edited 2007-05-23 03:47:11 by TorLillqvist3