[ft-devel] Builind for windows Re: Freetype-devel Digest, Vol 131, Issue 16

[Hin-Tak Leung]

Hi James,

Your freetype-devel post is missing one crucial detail from your
stackoverflow post - you want to generate *.lib for linking with
visual studio. In that case, you are going about it completely the wrong
way using msys or cygwin. gcc (on both msys and cygwin)
does not need *.lib for linking, and therefore won't generate such
by default. You have two options:

1. build freetype with visual studio and follow the visual studio-related 
instructions,
as Werner suggested. Visual studio should generate a *.lib, I think.

2. If you insist on build freetype with msys or cygwin to generate
dll's intended to be use with visual studio, you need to
use an additional tool called "dlltool" from the cygwin people
to generate the *.lib stub . This is one of cygwin/mingw's FAQ, I think.
Do a search on "dlltool" and "how to create import library with dlltool".
dlltool should be in both your cygwin and your msys installation.
(But as I said, you would be happier just going the visual studio route
all the way!).

Good luck.

Hin-Tak


 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 Message: 1
 Date: Sat, 19 Dec 2015 05:23:52 +0000
 From: "Warton, James" <address@hidden>

 I've tried to compile FreeType2 using MSYS on a windows7
 machine without success.  I'm not that experienced with
 compiling libraries, but would really like to implement
 freetype2 into my project.  The project is managed
 through VS2015 and have not had a successful build that can
 be linked.  I've read through the various installation
 files, and am not sure what I've missed.
 
 Can someone walk me through this process?
 
 I posted a more detailed description of my attempts here:
 
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34365387/freetype2-clarification-for-compile-process
 
 The version I'm trying to build from is:
 freetype-2.5.2
 
 I also attempted 2.6.3, with similar issues, and opted to
 test the build process on an older version to avoid
 dependency issues with HarfBuzz.  The application is
 very basic, so it may not be required.  I can upgrade
 to the latest version once I fully understand the build
 process.
 
 I also tried to build the projects provided in
 builds/windows directory without success.  If this is a
 preferable method, I'd gladly take that approach.