compiling - LMMS/lmms GitHub Wiki

• Dependencies
  • Dependencies Quickstart
  • Advanced - The Build Toolchain
  • Advanced - The Compiler
  • Advanced - The Libraries
• Clone Source Code
• Build Environment
  • CMake Quickstart
  • Advanced - Build Options
• Compiling
• Debugging
• Packaging
  • Windows Installer - nsis
  • MacOS Installer - appdmg
  • Linux Installer - makeself

The following packages are required for building. Since most desktops offer these libraries through package repositories, we recommend using the Dependency Quickstart for most purposes. In case you are using windows for building lmms, where package managers do not really exist, we recommend using vcpkg

If you get stuck, please ask in the #support channel on Discord.

If a package is not available for your platform, you may need to manually install.

Recommended. Each platform requires a compiler and several libraries. We've selected the most common settings for you.

Qt 5.9+ is required on the master branch. If you're using Linux and your distribution only ships older Qt versions, install Qt using the official installer at https://www.qt.io/download-open-source.

• Ubuntu | Mint
• Debian
• Fedora
• openSUSE
• Arch | Manjaro
• macOS
• Windows
  • Cross-compile using mingw

    ... platform missing? Add it here.

Alternately, you may download and compile each dependency manually. This is recommended for advanced users only.

*One or more required for audio playback

Before preparing the build environment, you must have a branch copy of the source code*.

# clone the "master" branch (e.g. "stable-1.2", etc)
git clone --recurse-submodules -b master https://github.com/lmms/lmms

* Advanced users may prefer to download a tarball instead: zip | tarball

For most users, this will create a folder ~/lmms which can be used for building. If you're already using ~/lmms for samples you'll see path 'lmms' already exists, use an alternate location e.g. ~/Desktop and try again.

    ... want to switch branches or fast-forward? See Accessing git repository.

The cmake toolchain offers several built-in configuration options. In addition, LMMS adds several options useful for building. Below are a list of the most standard options. We recommend using the CMake Quickstart for most purposes.

Assumes you've already installed dependencies and cloned the source code

1. Prepare build and, optionally, the target directories

   cd lmms
   mkdir build
   cd build

2. And then choose one of the following...

   Running CMake

   # from "lmms/build" directory
   cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../target/

   -- OR --

   Running CMake for Windows*

   # from "lmms/build" directory
   ../cmake/build_win64.sh

   * For 32-bit, use build_win32.sh instead. On stable-1.2 or older, use build_mingw64.sh or build_mingw32.sh respectively.

   Notes:

   • In case you want to build LMMS <= stable-1.2 with Qt5, see Using Qt5.
   • On macOS, adding -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="$(brew --prefix qt5)" to the end of the cmake command will point CMake to Qt5.
   • If CMake complains about not being able to find wine, add -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/usr/lib/wine to the end of the cmake command.

* When provided on command line, all options must be prefixed with -D, e.g
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug

Note: These flags are ONLY required for stable-1.2 branch. Newer branches (e.g. master) use Qt5 by default and doesn't require this.

-DWANT_QT5=ON

../cmake/build_mingw64.sh -qt5

-DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/path/to/qt5
# e.g. on Mac, -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="$(brew --prefix qt)"

Do note that this section is for linux and mac. For windows, refer here

Assumes you've already installed dependencies and cloned the source code and configured the build environment.

# from "lmms/build" directory
make -j4

... and then run by calling:

./lmms

Compilation errors are usually attributed to missing packages, misconfigured system or specific compatibility problems. Please jump to the appropriate troubleshooting guide:

Troubleshooting: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, Arch, macOS

Debugging LMMS requires a re-run of the cmake command, but with the debug symbols turned on. For a comprehensive tutorial, see also Debugging LMMS

# from "lmms/build" directory
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../target/
# -- OR for better performance --
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../target/
# re-run the build
make -j4

Assuming you have gcc (most common), you'll need gdb installed via apt-get, dnf, pacman, etc.

gdb lmms
# or alternately gdb ../target/bin/lmms
(gdb) run
# once you hit the crash, CTRL + C
backtrace full

Assuming you have clang (macOS, FreeBSD), you'll need lldb installed via brew, pkg_add, etc.

lldb lmms
# or alternately lldb ../target/bin/lmms
# macOS, use `make -j4 install` then `lldb LMMS.app/Contents/MacOS/lmms`
(lldb) run
# once you hit the crash, CTRL + C
thread backtrace all

This is the most common type for getting features and fixes out to a large number of testers. Assumes you've already installed dependencies and cloned the source code and configured the build environment. Once completed, the release should be published for others to download.

# from "lmms/build" directory
make package     # package using nsis

Try explorer . to see it in Explorer. Produces lmms-1.2.0.123-win64.exe, where 123 is the number of commits since stable release.

Assumes you've already installed dependencies and cloned the source code and configured the build environment. Once completed, the release should be published for others to download.

Warning: Must set CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX or it will attempt to bundle all of /usr/local/.

# from "lmms/build" directory
make install     # builds the app bundle
make dmg         # creates the disk image using appdmg
open .           # optional: view in Finder

Produces lmms-1.2.0.123-mac10.11.dmg, where 123 is the number of commits since stable release and mac10.11 is the macOS version which the package was built on.

Assumes you've already installed dependencies and configured the build environment. Once completed, the release should be published for others to download. This command will fail if CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX was not provided.

Due to restrictions and best practice you can't build AppImages on systems newer than the oldest still-supported Ubuntu release (not counting Extended Security Maintenance).

# from "lmms/build" directory
make install     # installs to target
make appimage    # creates a Linux AppImage

Produces lmms-1.2.0-123-linux-x86_64.AppImage, where 123 is the number of commits since stable release.

Using GitHub releases, Project administrators may wish to package a release to their personal github account or to the entire project.

• Personal Release: Used for distributing early feature or test packages.
  • URL: https://github.com/tresf/lmms/releases (replace tresf with your @github id)
• Project Release: Used for distributing official stable and release candidate packages.
  • URL: https://github.com/lmms/lmms/releases

Download statistics are available here

    ... example release notes available here.