Compiling Geany on Windows

Can't remember exactly how many times I've tried compiling Geany or even thought of trying to compile it on Windows.  But I remember that my last try was last 2011 -- about February or March.

It's been a while that I've been trying to find a stable and reliable free and open source (not to mention cross-platform) Source Code Editing software so I could strip it down to provide an IDE specifically functioning for my open source game creation project called KAGE.  Finally, -- finally! -- I successfully compiled it yesterday!

I know that Geany's project page has a how-to page for compiling it on Windows but I still had bumps along the way.  This tutorial is simply to compliment what seems to be missing in the official tutorial.

So, just a recap. You need to have this things done already:

• GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) , as your compiler, made available through MinGW project -- I used version 4.6.2
• MSYS, as your Shell Interface for Windows, also made available through MinGW
• GTK+, as the GUI library, available on GTK.org 
• And of course, the Geany source code

Not sure if we also need the GtkMM for Scintilla, but I did have that installed on my machine before I tried compiling Geany for the last time.

Before we proceed, let's make sure that you had the contents of GCC and GTK+ under C:\libs directory.  And that C:\libs\bin is added on your %PATH%, as well as C:\libs\msys\1.0\bin.

Now, for the `complimentary' part of my tutorial.

First, download the Manifest file from Geany's Git repo, which was not included in the downloadable zipped source code.

Rename win32-config.h to config.h then change the content of makefile.win32 from

all: config.h
 $(MAKE) -C tagmanager/ctags -f makefile.win32
 $(MAKE) -C tagmanager/mio -f makefile.win32
 $(MAKE) -C tagmanager/src -f makefile.win32
 $(MAKE) -C scintilla -f makefile.win32
 $(MAKE) -C plugins -f makefile.win32
 $(MAKE) -C src -f makefile.win32
config.h: win32-config.h
 $(CP) $< $@

to this

all: $(MAKE) -C tagmanager/ctags -f makefile.win32
 $(MAKE) -C tagmanager/mio -f makefile.win32
 $(MAKE) -C tagmanager/src -f makefile.win32
 $(MAKE) -C scintilla -f makefile.win32
 $(MAKE) -C plugins -f makefile.win32
 $(MAKE) -C src -f makefile.win32

The reason behind is that, there seems to be wrong with the makefile that the command COPY thinks config.h is supposed to be a directory.

Now, open a command line then run cd to the directory where you extracted Geany's source code.

Finally, type-in: make -f makefile.win32

Wait for it to compile and you'll then end up a very fresh build of Geany on Windows.

~creek23

What If 2012 happens?

Been months since I watched 2012 but I still can't remove it in my mind, "What if 2012 happens?"

With billions of dollars in bank, Bill Gates will surely get on board. How about Richard Stallman? Linus Torvalds perhaps?

As a developer, it makes me think, should I still be doing the "right" thing for people? Or should I do the "right" thing for me and my family -- to start hoarding tons of money by selling patented proprietary software...

Another thing that puzzles me, "What kind of software will be saved?". Or better yet, "What kind of software will power the computers of the next generation?". Microsoft's Windows and Visual Studio? Google's Chrome and Go? Perhaps Canonical's Ubuntu, thanks to Mark Shuttleworth.

I hope my small programming language will be saved along with other free and open source projects on SourceForge.

So, I ask you, "What if 2012 happens?"

NSIS: How to make a required Section?

I really don't know if I should post this on my blog. It's something that almost (and I mean almost) everyone that use NSIS knows.

But, believe me, I have been looking for this how-to for years! -- literally!

Section "my_required_installs" SEC01
SectionIn RO
SectionEnd

Who would have thought that it would be all that simple?

And how in the world could I have missed the documentation on NSIS?

Now, I can update my KonsolScript Editor installer. :P