Build C++ code on Windows

The following steps describe the procedure to build BigARTM’s C++ code on Windows.

  • Download and install GitHub for Windows.

  • Clone https://github.com/bigartm/bigartm/ repository to any location on your computer. This location is further refered to as $(BIGARTM_ROOT).

  • Download and install Visual Studio 2012 or any newer version. BigARTM will compile just fine with any edition, including any Visual Studio Express edition (available at www.visualstudio.com).

  • Install CMake (at least version 3.1, Win32 Installer).

    Make sure that CMake executable is added to the PATH environmental variable. To achieve this either select the option “Add CMake to the system PATH for all users” during installation of CMake, or add it to the PATH manually.

  • Download and install Boost 1.55 or any newer version.

    We suggest to use the Prebuilt Windows Binaries. Make sure to select version that match your version of Visual Studio. You may choose to work with either x64 or Win32 configuration, both of them are supported.

  • Configure system variables BOOST_ROOT and BOOST_LIBRARYDIR.

    If you have installed boost from the link above, and used the default location, then the setting should look similar to this:

    setx BOOST_ROOT C:\local\boost_1_56_0
    setx BOOST_LIBRARYDIR C:\local\boost_1_56_0\lib32-msvc-12.0
    

    For all future details please refer to the documentation of FindBoost module. We also encourage new CMake users to step through CMake tutorial.

  • Install Python 2.7 (tested with Python 2.7.6).

    You may choose to work with either x64 or Win32 version of the Python, but make sure this matches the configuration of BigARTM you have choosed earlier. The x64 installation of python will be incompatible with 32 bit BigARTM, and virse versus.

  • Use CMake to generate Visual Studio projects and solution files. To do so, open a command prompt, change working directory to $(BIGARTM_ROOT) and execute the following commands:

    mkdir build
    cd build
    cmake ..
    

    You might have to explicitly specify the cmake generator, especially if you are working with x64 configuration. To do so, use the following syntax:

    cmake .. -G"Visual Studio 12 2013 Win64"
    

    CMake will generate Visual Studio under $(BIGARTM_ROOT)/build/.

  • Open generated solution in Visual Studio and build it as you would usually build any other Visual Studio solution. You may also use MSBuild from Visual Studio command prompt.

    The build will output result into the following folders:

    • $(BIGARTM_ROOT)/build/bin/[Debug|Release] — binaries (.dll and .exe)
    • $(BIGARTM_ROOT)/build/lib/[Debug|Release] — static libraries

At this point you should be able to run BigARTM tests, located here: $(BIGARTM_ROOT)/build/bin/*/artm_tests.exe.