$File: //depot/povray/smp/windows/readme.html $
$Revision: #4 $
$Change: 4721 $
$DateTime: 2009/02/22 01:28:30 $
$Author: chrisc $
NOTE: use of our source code in any other project (other than a fully-functional custom version of POV-Ray) is prohibited. In other words you may make your own derivitive version (subject to the license conditions referenced below), but you may not remove functionality or incorporate the source code into another program.
Use of the POV-Ray source code is governed by the conditions laid out in distribution-license.txt and source-license.txt. Be sure you read these files (which are included in this source archive, and also linked from http://www.povray.org/povlegal.html) before doing anything with this source.
Furthermore, as this source code is a beta distribution, further conditions are added. These further conditions are documented near the start of most source files. One of these notices is reproduced at the end of this file for your reference.
This document does not attempt to explain how POV-Ray works or how to make modifications to it. Some of the internals of POV-Ray are highly complex; if you wish to gain a better understanding of that topic, please follow the link provided on the source code page mentioned below. This document is intended only to assist you in getting the POV-Ray source code built using an officially- supported compiler on Win32 or Win64. Furthermore, no attempt is made to cover advanced subjects such as profile-guided optimization (though we will point out that the latter is definitely worthwhile, if you have the time and patience).
Please use our support groups at http://news.povray.org/ or
news://news.povray.org/. These groups provide the best means for support with
relation to this subject. We recommend you visit the povray.beta-test group
there (presuming the beta is still current - if we have gone to a release of
3.7, you should update your source with that version).
This section isn't a substitute for reading the entire document. However, here's a quick list of things to get you going, provided you are using a supported compiler (VS 2005 or 2008 full versions, not express - read the full instructions if you are), are building a 32-bit target, and do not wish to build the editor DLL's:
BOOST_ROOT as described in the boost section, and make sure you have logged out and back in to Windows.povray.h as described hereCurrently the only officially-supported means of building the Windows version of POV-Ray is via the Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio 2008 project using a full version of Visual Studio and the compilers provided with it or with the platform SDK.
The express edition is reported to work in building 32-bit executables but this is not officially supported, and additionally takes some effort to get set up, especially if you want to build the editor DLL's (these are optional).
At the minimum, you will need to download and install the Platform SDK as this
is not supplied with VS Express. It has also been reported that to obtain the
shlwapi.h header file (which provides functions such as GetDLLVersion etc), you
will need to allow the SDK setup to install the "Microsoft Web Workshop Build
Environment".
That said, we will - time permitting - endeavour to assist express edition users in building 32-bit versions of POV-Ray, but make no promises. We do not recommend that express edition users attempt to build a 64-bit executable as the requisite compilers are not supplied with VSE.
Note that versions of Visual Studio prior to 8.0 (VS 2005) are not supported at all and furthermore will not work. The code in POV-Ray 3.7 requires a reasonably up-to-date C++ compiler and STL, and earlier versions of VC++ are not compatible.
There are template config files for borland, mingw32, and watcom (aka openwatcom) compilers, but these have not been updated for 3.7 and thus will require some (possibly considerable) work to get going. See the vfe\win\compilers\ directory for more information if you wish to attempt this (plus be sure to read the rest of this document, particularly the remarks about the custom entry point).
The official beta binaries of POV-Ray are linked with the OpenEXR library
(http://www.openexr.com/). As with boost (mentioned below), we do not include
this library in our source tree, and if you want to use it, you will need to
obtain and build it yourself. However, there is a problem in that the openexr
projects for Windows do not build static libraries. POV-Ray does not currently
depend on any non-os DLL's (it will even work without the editor DLL's present),
and we do not want to change this policy at this point. Thus, to make building
this beta source easier, we have disabled the use of OpenEXR for the time being
(this is controlled by the macro OPENEXR_MISSING in vfe\win\syspovconfig.h).
If you wish to include OpenEXR support, please remove the above macro and build suitable openexr libraries (make sure they are set for static RTL linking). You'll also need to place the path to the openexr include files into your VS path setup as per the instructions for boost below.
Please note that versions built without OpenEXR support may not be re-distributed.
Express edition users should not try to build the editor DLL's (cmedit and codemax projects) unless you have read this document in full and installed the ATL libs. These DLL's are not built by default, so you don't need to do anything about this unless you want to include them in the build automatically.
If you do want to compile the editors, you will need a file (atlthunk.lib) that does not ship with the express edition or in the platform SDK. A solution is listed at http://www.codeproject.com/KB/wtl/WTLExpress.aspx..
In either event, you will need to install the Platform SDK. When doing so, make sure you select "Microsoft Web Workshop Build Environment" at it (perhaps non- intuitively) brings in shlwapi.h, which is needed for POVWIN to build.
NOTE: it is not necessary to build the DLL's unless you want to modify
the editor. They are loaded via LoadLibrary() and thus no import
library is required. You can just use the DLL's included with the beta
binary distribution.
Select the Configuration Manager (found in the Build menu) and for each configuration that you wish to build the editors with, tick the cmedit and codemax checkboxes.
Look at http://www.povray.org/beta/source/ for an updated version of these instructions or of the source itself. This is important if you wish to avoid potential frustration! As we get feedback from others we will be improving the build instructions and project files - if you strike a problem in building the code, it could very well have been already solved. [Check the revision number at the head of this document against the version supplied via the above web page if you want to know if it's different].
Make sure you have a working copy of the beta binary as supplied by the POV-Team installed. This ensures that the appropriate registry settings and support files are present. If you don't do this, your compiled code will not work on your machine.
Before attempting a compile you must obtain a recent version of the
boost libraries (http://www.boost.org/). We do not recommend use of any version
other than 1.37. At the very least you require the full set of headers plus
a version of the boost::thread and boost::datetime library compiled for your target
architecture (32 or 64-bit). The library must be built for static linking with the
compiler run-time libraries. For Visual Studio 2005 and a 32-bit windows target, an example
of the names that the linker will look for would be 'libboost_thread-vc80-mt-s-1_37.lib' and
'libboost_thread-vc80-mt-sgd-1_37.lib' (the latter being the debug version).
If you are planning on making a 32-bit executable, you can save yourself some time by downloading this file from the POV-Ray website, which contains the include files and 32-bit static libraries of boost::thread and boost::datetime for both VS 2005 and VS 2008. If unzipped into a directory called "c:\boost", you will end up with a folder called "c:\boost\boost-1_37" containing the layout expected by the project files. You will still need to set the paths as described below, though.
If you are building for 64-bit, you may either build the library from the boost source yourself, or ask in the POV-Ray beta group in case someone has made one available.
Note: we use a slightly different layout than the default boost install, so if you build your own version, note the following: With respect to the boost root directory you configure in the next section, the following folders must exist:
boost\
lib32\
lib64\
c:\boost\boost-1_37\boost\
c:\boost\boost-1_37\lib32\
c:\boost\boost-1_37\lib64\
(You don't actually need the lib64 if not building for 64-bit, and conversely
you don't need the 32-bit one if only targeting 64-bit). The boost
folder must contain the boost include files without the "include\" prefix;
i.e. you would expect there to be the folder c:\boost\boost-1_37\boost\accumulators
(amongst others). The lib dirs need to have the appropriate libraries of course.
The standard boost build/install process doesn't differentiate between 32-bit and
64-bit targets, so it's important that you copy out the 32-bit libraries from the
boost lib directory into lib32 before building the 64-bit ones - otherwise,
the libraries will be overwritten with 64-bit versions using the same names.
However you get boost installed, you need to ensure that the path to its include and library files are set up in Visual Studio's global settings, since the POV-Ray project files do not hard-code any particular path for it (apart from not knowing where you install it, we also don't know what version you would be building against).
There's several ways to provide this information: here are two of them, in order of preference.
Setting an environment variable (preferred method).
The project files include a reference to an environment variable named
BOOST_ROOT. This is expected to refer to the base of the boost install for
the version you are using. An example is 'BOOST_ROOT=C:\Boost\boost-1_37'.
Beneath the given directory the project files expect to find directories
named 'boost', 'lib32', and 'lib64'. For example:
21/09/08 0:17 <DIR> .
21/09/08 0:17 <DIR> ..
6/02/08 23:48 <DIR> boost
21/09/08 0:16 <DIR> lib32
27/07/08 14:47 <DIR> lib64
When you build or install the boost libraries, you need to ensure that the
lib files go into either lib32 or lib64, as above. This is because currently
the boost build system does not provide different naming for different CPU
targets, and thus makes having a combined 32/64-bit lib dir impossible unless
you rename the libraries and change the boost header files to auto-link with the
new names based on the platform.
To set BOOST_ROOT, go to your control panel and double-click the 'System'
icon to open the System Properties dialog. Then, choose the 'Advanced' tab
and click the 'Environment Variables' button at the bottom. Add BOOST_ROOT
to either user or system variables.
Note: it may be required to log out and then in again, or possibly even reboot Windows to get Visual Studio to pick up the new env var.
Setting the global VS paths (alternative, not needed if using BOOST_ROOT).
To set these in VS 2005, select the Tools menu, then Options, and from the dialog that appears, expand 'Projects and Solutions' in the left pane and select the 'VC++ Directories' sub-item. For each of 'Include Files' and 'Library Files' in the right-hand combo-box, ensure that the appropriate paths are set. You should do this for both Win32 and Win64 targets for consistency.
NB: the include path should be set to the root of the boost install. If you
choose to use the default location suggested by the boostpro installer,
this will probably be "C:\Program Files\boost\boost_1_37" or similar
(depending on the version).
Open windows\vs8\povray.sln in Visual Studio 2005 (or
windows\vs9\povray.sln if using Visual Studio 2008).
Set 'povwin' as the start-up project if it is not already selected. Then,
select the 'povcore' project and expand 'Backend Headers', then open the file
'povray.h' listed within it. Please set DISTRIBUTION_MESSAGE_2 to your real
name to make unofficial versions distinguishable from each other. Remove the
#error directive afterwards to proceed with the build. Note that if you do not
do this you will get compile errors.
Once you have taken whatever steps are needed as set out above, select your desired build (e.g. Win32 release - anything except SSE2|x64), hit F7, and wait. We recommend that you read the rest of this document while you are waiting.
If all goes well, you should end up with the POV-Ray for Windows executable as
well as (if you selected to build them) the two editor DLL's. All 32-bit
binaries should end up in windows\vs8\bin32, and the 64-bit ones should be in
windows\vs8\bin64.
Note: if you are building a DEBUG version of POV-Ray, be aware that that the
executable will attempt to load the debug version of the DLL's. This will be an
issue if you did not build them, since POV-Ray will complain (but will still
work - you just won't have the editor). There is however a simple solution to
this that doesn't require you to modify the source or build the DLL's: simply
copy the standard editor DLL's that come with the official beta distribution to
their debug equivalent names (e.g. copy cmedit32.dll to cmedit32d.dll, etc).
Note that the copied cmedit32.dll will still attempt to load povcmax32.dll (i.e. the non-debug version), so it's not necessary to copy povcmax32 to its debug equivalent.
NB you should never attempt to build the 'x64 SSE2' configuration: apart from the fact that this is by default excluded from the build in the configuration manager, it simply won't work. The only reason it is there at all is that Visual Studio 2005 insists on cloning the Win32 SSE2 project, no matter how hard we try to get rid of it. SSE2 is always enabled for x64 targets (it can't be turned off as it's a standard feature of all x64 CPU's) and thus the x64 release project is all that is needed.
Please read the rest of this document while you're waiting for your compile to finish, particularly the 'other stuff to keep in mind' at the end.
You really don't need to worry about any of the following section unless you want to do editor hacking ; the DLL's provided with the POV-Ray for Windows binaries are sufficient, and therefore you don't need to compile them at all if you don't want to.
The editor used in POV-Ray for Windows is based around a custom control called
CodeMax, supplied courtesy of Barry Allyn. Our implementation consists of two
DLL's: cmedit32.dll and povcmax32.dll (in this case, as for the rest of the
instructions, we will refer to the 32-bit versions; if building for Win64 then
just replace the '32' with '64'). If you are building debug versions, the DLL's
will be suffixed with a 'd' (for example, 'cmedit32d.dll').
The editor control itself is povcmax32.dll, and is built by the 'codemax'
project in povray.sln. The other DLL, cmedit32, consists of support code that
wraps and enhances the custom control, and provides services such as file I/O,
menus, state storage/restore, and many other things. This DLL is built by the
'cmedit' project.
For reference, while most of the POV-Ray-specific customization is done within
cmedit, there are some POV-Ray specific modifications made to codemax itself,
particularly with respect to the code completion support. However, for the most
part, if you are intending to modify some aspect of the POV-Ray interface to
the editor, you will find you will want to modify the contents of the cmedit
project (or, possibly, pvedit.cpp in the windows directory - this implements
the API between the POV-Ray executable and cmedit32.dll). Note that if you
alter this API at all, you must change the editor version (EDITDLLVERSION in
windows\pvedit.h).
By default (as of 3.7 beta 25b), POV-Ray will attempt to load the editor DLL's from the directory in which the EXE resides first. The previous strategy was to look in the current working directory first. POV-Ray no longer checks the CWD by default, though you can force that behaviour if you wish by using the switch mentioned below.
If a DLL with the right name is found with the EXE it will be used; otherwise,
the default binary directory is used. If you are not sure where it's looking,
run pvengine with the /debug switch, then have a look at c:\povdebug.txt. It
will list the search paths attempted.
There is a switch available on the command-line which can alter the search
path. If you specify /EDITDLLPATH on the command-line and follow it with a
path, that path will be the only one checked. To force POV-Ray to look in the
current directory (i.e. the one the EXE is launched from, which may not be the
one the EXE is stored in), you can pass "." as the edit DLL path.
NOTE: currently POV-Ray for Windows has no way of differentiating the official
editor DLL's from custom ones. We may at a future point provide a means for
unofficial DLL's to be loaded by the official PVENGINE binary. In the meantime,
if you want to make absolutely sure that your unofficial binary doesn't load
the official DLL's, and vice-versa, you can rename the DLL's. Doing this
requires you to tell the EXE of course - to do this, open windows\pvengine.h
and look for where EDITDLLNAME is defined. Just change that to suit, re-compile,
and rename the DLL's manually (or change the project to output different names).
If porting POV-Ray for Windows to another compiler, or even if you're just writing a makefile for the Visual Studio 2005 version, be aware that there is some special configuration in the project settings. The most critical one to replicate is the entry point - POVWIN uses a custom entry point, and unless you adjust the code, it is essential this is called prior to the C run-time library startup code. It's also highly likely that you will need to change the code that calls the RTL from within POV-Ray as well, unless you are using the Microsoft RTL (or a compatible one).
Currently, the entry point is POVWINStartup, which is declared in pvmem.cpp.
We use this to set up a private heap prior to any memory allocation occurring
(including even allocations done to construct any global or static classes).
If WIN_MEM_TRACKING is defined (which it is by default), pvmem.cpp replaces
the standard new, new[], delete, and delete[] operators with its own ones. The
POV-Ray code already uses custom malloc and free functions which also pass
through pvmem.cpp.
Apart from tracking the amount of memory used and freed, the above tracking
code, when _DEBUG is defined, will also provide a custom wrapper around each
memory block which records where the new or malloc occurred. By default, _DEBUG
also causes EXTRA_VALIDATION to be defined. When this is present, each block
allocated has, in addition to the standard extra fields added to the start,
a single field of length sizeof(ptrdiff_t) added to the end of the block.
This is then initialized with a simple hash made up from various aspects of
the block, including its address, length, and the source line it was allocated
from. This is able to be checked at any time using the Validate() method to see
if it has been altered since the block was allocated (e.g. by an overrun).
Additionally, while it has not yet been implemented, the memory hooks give us the opportunity to provide access to a low-fragmentation heap or other useful memory allocation techniques (e.g. handling allocations differently during renders, if we want) for the purpose of improving performance.
The POV-Team would like to thank all those who have assisted in bringing POV-Ray 3.7 and its predecessors to the public - you know who you are, and we salute you.
/*********************************************************************************
* NOTICE
*
* This file is part of a BETA-TEST version of POV-Ray version 3.7. It is not
* final code. Use of this source file is governed by both the standard POV-Ray
* licences referred to in the copyright header block above this notice, and the
* following additional restrictions numbered 1 through 4 below:
*
* 1. This source file may not be re-distributed without the written permission
* of Persistence of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd.
*
* 2. This notice may not be altered or removed.
*
* 3. Binaries generated from this source file by individuals for their own
* personal use may not be re-distributed without the written permission
* of Persistence of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd. Such personal-use binaries
* are not required to have a timeout, and thus permission is granted in
* these circumstances only to disable the timeout code contained within
* the beta software.
*
* 4. Binaries generated from this source file for use within an organizational
* unit (such as, but not limited to, a company or university) may not be
* distributed beyond the local organizational unit in which they were made,
* unless written permission is obtained from Persistence of Vision Raytracer
* Pty. Ltd. Additionally, the timeout code implemented within the beta may
* not be disabled or otherwise bypassed in any manner.
*
* The following text is not part of the above conditions and is provided for
* informational purposes only.
*
* The purpose of the no-redistribution clause is to attempt to keep the
* circulating copies of the beta source fresh. The only authorized distribution
* point for the source code is the POV-Ray website and Perforce server, where
* the code will be kept up to date with recent fixes. Additionally the beta
* timeout code mentioned above has been a standard part of POV-Ray betas since
* version 1.0, and is intended to reduce bug reports from old betas as well as
* keep any circulating beta binaries relatively fresh.
*
* All said, however, the POV-Ray developers are open to any reasonable request
* for variations to the above conditions and will consider them on a case-by-case
* basis.
*
* Additionally, the developers request your co-operation in fixing bugs and
* generally improving the program. If submitting a bug-fix, please ensure that
* you quote the revision number of the file shown above in the copyright header
* (see the '$Revision:' field). This ensures that it is possible to determine
* what specific copy of the file you are working with. The developers also would
* like to make it known that until POV-Ray 3.7 is out of beta, they would prefer
* to emphasize the provision of bug fixes over the addition of new features.
*
* Persons wishing to enhance this source are requested to take the above into
* account. It is also strongly suggested that such enhancements are started with
* a recent copy of the source.
*
* The source code page (see http://www.povray.org/beta/source/) sets out the
* conditions under which the developers are willing to accept contributions back
* into the primary source tree. Please refer to those conditions prior to making
* any changes to this source, if you wish to submit those changes for inclusion
* with POV-Ray.
*
*********************************************************************************/