@ -3,29 +3,28 @@ WINDOWS BUILD NOTES
Below are some notes on how to build Bitcoin Core for Windows.
Most developers use cross-compilation from Ubuntu to build executables for
Windows. This is also used to build the release binaries.
Building on Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 is recommended.
At the time of writing the Windows Subsystem for Linux installs Ubuntu Xenial 16.04. The default cross
compiler package for Ubuntu Xenial does not produce working executables for some of the bitcoin applications.
It is possible to build on Ubuntu Xenial by installing the cross compiler packages from
Ubuntu Zesty, see the steps below.
Building on Ubuntu Zesty 17.04 up to 17.10 has been verified to work.
The options known to work for building Bitcoin Core on Windows are:
* On Linux using the [Mingw-w64 ](https://mingw-w64.org/doku.php ) cross compiler tool chain. Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 is recommended
and is the platform used to build the Bitcoin Core Windows release binaries.
* On Windows using [Windows
Subsystem for Linux (WSL)](https://msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/wsl/about) and the Mingw-w64 cross compiler tool chain.
Other options which may work but which have not been extensively tested are (please contribute instructions):
While there are potentially a number of ways to build on Windows (for example using msys / mingw-w64),
using the Windows Subsystem For Linux is the most straightforward. If you are building with
another method, please contribute the instructions here for others who are running versions
of Windows that are not compatible with the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
* On Windows using a POSIX compatibility layer application such as [cygwin ](http://www.cygwin.com/ ) or [msys2 ](http://www.msys2.org/ ).
* On Windows using a native compiler tool chain such as [Visual Studio ](https://www.visualstudio.com ).
Compiling with Windows Subsystem F or Linux
-------------------------------------------
Installing Windows Subsystem for Linux
---------------------------------------
With Windows 10, Microsoft has released a new feature named the [Windows
Subsystem for Linux (WSL)](https://msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/wsl/about). This
feature allows you to run a bash shell directly on Windows in an Ubuntu-based
environment. Within this environment you can cross compile for Windows without
the need for a separate Linux VM or server.
the need for a separate Linux VM or server. Note that while WSL can be installed with
other Linux variants, such as OpenSUSE, the following instructions have only been
tested with Ubuntu.
This feature is not supported in versions of Windows prior to Windows 10 or on
Windows Server SKUs. In addition, it is available [only for 64-bit versions of
@ -50,10 +49,15 @@ After the bash shell is active, you can follow the instructions below, starting
with the "Cross-compilation" section. Compiling the 64-bit version is
recommended but it is possible to compile the 32-bit version.
Cross-compilation
-------------------
Cross-compilation for Ubuntu and Windows Subsystem for Linux
------------------------------------------------------------
These steps can be performed on, for example, an Ubuntu VM. The depends system
At the time of writing the Windows Subsystem for Linux installs Ubuntu Xenial 16.04. The Mingw-w64 package
for Ubuntu Xenial does not produce working executables for some of the Bitcoin Core applications.
It is possible to build on Ubuntu Xenial by installing the cross compiler packages from Ubuntu Zesty, see the steps below.
Building on Ubuntu Zesty 17.04 up to 17.10 has been verified to work.
The steps below can be performed on Ubuntu (including in a VM) or WSL. The depends system
will also work on other Linux distributions, however the commands for
installing the toolchain will be different.
@ -94,6 +98,18 @@ Ubuntu Zesty 17.04 <sup>[2](#footnote2)</sup>:
Once the tool chain is installed the build steps are common:
Note that for WSL the Bitcoin Core source path MUST be somewhere in the default mount file system, for
example /usr/src/bitcoin, AND not under /mnt/d/. If this is not the case the dependency autoconf scripts will fail.
This means you cannot use a directory that located directly on the host Windows file system to perform the build.
The next three steps are an example of how to acquire the source in an appropriate way.
cd /usr/src
sudo git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git
sudo chmod -R a+rw bitcoin
Once the source code is ready the build steps are below.
PATH=$(echo "$PATH" | sed -e 's/:\/mnt.*//g') # strip out problematic Windows %PATH% imported var
cd depends
make HOST=x86_64-w64-mingw32
@ -112,6 +128,16 @@ For Ubuntu Xenial 16.04, Ubuntu Zesty 17.04 and Windows Subsystem for Linux <sup
sudo update-alternatives --config i686-w64-mingw32-g++ # Set the default mingw32 g++ compiler option to posix.
Note that for WSL the Bitcoin Core source path MUST be somewhere in the default mount file system, for
example /usr/src/bitcoin, AND not under /mnt/d/. If this is not the case the dependency autoconf scripts will fail.
This means you cannot use a directory that located directly on the host Windows file system to perform the build.
The next three steps are an example of how to acquire the source in an appropriate way.
cd /usr/src
sudo git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git
sudo chmod -R a+rw bitcoin
Then build using:
PATH=$(echo "$PATH" | sed -e 's/:\/mnt.*//g') # strip out problematic Windows %PATH% imported var
@ -139,16 +165,16 @@ way. This will install to `c:\workspace\bitcoin`, for example:
Footnotes
---------
< a name = "footnote1" > 1< / a > : There is currently a bug in the 64 bit m ingw-w64 cross compiler packaged for WSL/Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 that
< a name = "footnote1" > 1< / a > : There is currently a bug in the 64 bit M ingw-w64 cross compiler packaged for WSL/Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 that
causes two of the bitcoin executables to crash shortly after start up. The bug is related to the
-fstack-protector-all g++ compiler flag which is used to mitigate buffer overflows.
Installing the m ingw-w64 packages from the Ubuntu 17 distribution solves the issue, however, this is not
Installing the M ingw-w64 packages from the Ubuntu 17 distribution solves the issue, however, this is not
an officially supported approach and it's only recommended if you are prepared to reinstall WSL/Ubuntu should
something break.
< a name = "footnote2" > 2< / a > : Starting from Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 both the 32 and 64 bit m ingw-w64 packages install two different
< a name = "footnote2" > 2< / a > : Starting from Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 both the 32 and 64 bit M ingw-w64 packages install two different
compiler options to allow a choice between either posix or win32 threads. The default option is win32 threads which is the more
efficient since it will result in binary code that links directly with the Windows kernel32.lib. Unfortunately, the headers
required to support win32 threads conflict with some of the classes in the C++11 standard library in particular std::mutex.
It's not possible to build the bitcoin code using the win32 version of the m ingw-w64 cross compilers (at least not without
It's not possible to build the bitcoin code using the win32 version of the M ingw-w64 cross compilers (at least not without
modifying headers in the bitcoin source code).
Aaron Clauson
7 years ago
committed by