diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | content/docs/distributing-gtk-app-for-windows/_index.md | 78 |
1 files changed, 78 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/content/docs/distributing-gtk-app-for-windows/_index.md b/content/docs/distributing-gtk-app-for-windows/_index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d66f524 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/docs/distributing-gtk-app-for-windows/_index.md @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@ +--- +title: "Distributing a GTK App for Windows" +Description: "Building a GTK app to run natively on Windows" +date: 2023-01-02T18:01:23+05:30 +draft: true +--- + +# Setting up msys2 + +## Installation using chocolatey + +You need to install msys2 before you can start developing on windows. +The easiest way to set it up is to use the [chocolatey package manager](https://chocolatey.org). + +If you don't already have choco installed, just follow the installation instructions on <https://chocolatey.org/install> then run + +``` fish +choco install msys2 +``` + +After msys2 is set up, open a new (non-administrator) powershell window, and in that run msys2 + +## Installing necessary packages + +``` fish +sudo pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gtk3 mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain base-devel glib2-devel +``` + +Refer to the installation instructions on GTK's website on which other packages you might need. +I believe this is enough to get started. + +# Compiling your app + +Now, clone your project's repository and build the app as you normally would on linux and place the executable in the `bin` +directory inside your installation directory. Use the ldd command (`ldd bin/MyApp.exe`) to list the necessary DLLs required +by your app and copy all the DLLs starting with `"/mingw"` to the `bin` directory. This script automatically does that: + +``` fish +ldd bin/MyApp.exe | grep '\/mingw.*\.dll' -o | xargs -I{} cp "{}" ./bin +``` + +Credit goes to <https://stackoverflow.com/a/50130668>; Replace MyApp.exe with your executable's name. + +# Adding other required files + +## Icon Theme + +Create a directory for the icon theme with `mkdir -p ./share/icons`, and download the hicolor (mandatory) and another icon pack (I'll be using Adwaita) +and place both files into `share/icons`. + +Or just copy from your mingw installation + +``` fish +cp /mingw64/share/icons/* -r share/icons/ +``` + +## GLib Schemas + +Settings schemas need to be compiled in order for the app to work. The quickest way is to just copy the default ones from your mingw installation. +In a real-world scenaro you might want to edit these files and delete any irrelevant settings but just for testing I don't care. + +``` fish +mkdir -p share/glib-2.0/schemas +cp /mingw64/share/glib-2.0/schemas/* share/glib-2.0/schemas/ +glib-compile-schemas.exe share/glib-2.0/schemas/ +``` + +## Pixbuf loaders + +GTK needs Pixbuf loaders to be able to load images, else it will crash. Just copy the loaders from your mingw installation: + +``` fish +cp /mingw64/lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0 -r lib/gdk-pixbuf-2.0 +``` + +# Finishing up + +Check that your app runs, and either zip the file or create a microsoft installer to distribute the app! |