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Building from source

If you want to build p-load from its source code, you can follow these instructions.

Building from source on Linux with nixcrpkgs

This software can be cross-compiled on a Linux machine using nixcrpkgs, a collection of tools for cross-compiling. This is how we build our official installers for all platforms.

To get started, you should first install Nix, the purely functional package manager, on a Linux machine by following the instructions on the Nix website.

Next, run the comamnds below to download the latest version of nixcrpkgs, and add nixcrpkgs to your NIX_PATH environment variable. You will need to have git installed. (If you don't want to install git, you can download Nixcrpkgs as a ZIP file from GitHub instead.)

git clone https://github.com/pololu/nixcrpkgs
export NIX_PATH=$NIX_PATH:nixcrpkgs=$(pwd)/nixcrpkgs

Now run these commands to download this software and build it:

git clone https://github.com/pololu/p-load
cd p-load
nix-build -A linux-x86

The name linux-x86 in the command above is the name of an attribute in the set defined in default.nix, which specifies that we want to build the software for a Linux machine running on an i686 processor. You can specify win32 instead to get a version for Windows, and you can look in default.nix to see the names of other supported platforms.

Note: Building for macOS requires additional setup. See the README.md file in nixcrpkgs for details.

The first time you build the software with this method, the build will take a lot of time, memory, and disk space, because it involves building a cross-compiler from source. Subsequent builds will usually be faster because the the previously-built compilers and libraries can be reused if you have not changed the recipes for building them.

Once the build is completed, there should be a symbolic link in the current directory named result that points to the compiled software.

Building from source on Linux (for Linux)

Another way to build for Linux is to use the development tools provided by your Linux distribution. Note that if you use this method, the executables you build will most likely depend on shared libraries from your Linux distribution.

You will need to install git, gcc, make, CMake, and libudev. Most Linux distributions come with a package manager that you can use to install these dependencies.

On Ubuntu, Raspbian, and other Debian-based distributions, you can install the dependencies by running:

sudo apt-get install build-essential git cmake libudev-dev

On Arch Linux, libudev should already be installed, and you can install the other dependencies by running:

pacman -Sy base-devel git cmake

For other Linux distributions, consult the documentation of your distribution for information about how to install these dependencies.

This software depends on the Pololu USB Library version 1.x.x (libusbp-1). Run the commands below to download, compile, and install the latest version of that library on your computer.

git clone https://github.com/pololu/libusbp -b v1-latest
cd libusbp
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install
cd ../..

You can test to see if libusbp-1 was installed correctly by running pkg-config --cflags libusbp-1, which should output something like -I/usr/local/include/libusbp-1. If it says that libusbp-1 was not found in the pkg-config search path, retry the instructions above.

Run these commands to build this software and install it

git clone https://github.com/pololu/p-load
cd p-load
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install
cd ../..

You will need to install a udev rule to give non-root users permission to access Pololu USB devices. Run this command from the p-load directory:

sudo cp udev-rules/99-pololu.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/

You should now be able to run p-load in your shell.

If you get an error about libusbp failing to load (for example, "cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"), then run sudo ldconfig and try again. If that does not work, it is likely that your system does not search for libraries in /usr/local/lib by default. To fix this issue for your current shell session, run:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/lib

A more permanent solution, which will affect all users of the computer, is to run:

sudo sh -c 'echo /usr/local/lib > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/local.conf'
sudo ldconfig

Building from source on Windows with MSYS2

Another way to build this software for Windows is to use MSYS2. Note that if you use this method, the executables you build will depend on DLLs from the MSYS2 environment.

If you have not done so already, follow the instructions on the MSYS2 website to download, install, and update your MSYS2 environment. In particular, be sure to update your installed packages.

Next, start a shell by selecting "MSYS2 MinGW 32-bit" from your Start menu or by running mingw32.exe. This is the right environment to use if you want to build 32-bit software that works on 32-bit or 64-bit Windows. (If you want to build 64-bit software that only works on 64-bit versions of Windows, select "MSYS2 MinGW 64-bit" or mingw64.exe.)

Run this command to install the required development tools:

pacman -S base-devel git $MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX-{toolchain,cmake}

If pacman prompts you to enter a selection of packages to install, just press enter to install all of the packages.

This software depends on the Pololu USB Library version 1.x.x (libusbp-1). Run the commands below to download, compile, and install the latest version of that library into your MSYS2 environment.

git clone https://github.com/pololu/libusbp -b v1-latest
cd libusbp
mkdir build
cd build
MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL=- cmake .. -G"MSYS Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$MINGW_PREFIX
make install DESTDIR=/
cd ../..

You can test to see if libusbp-1 was installed correctly by running pkg-config --cflags libusbp-1, which should output something like -IC:/msys64/mingw32/include/libusbp-1. If it says that libusbp-1 was not found in the pkg-config search path, retry the instructions above.

Run these commands to build this software and install it:

git clone https://github.com/pololu/p-load
cd p-load
mkdir build
cd build
MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL=- cmake .. -G"MSYS Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$MINGW_PREFIX
make install DESTDIR=/
cd ../..

You should now be able to run p-load in your shell.

Building from source on macOS with Homebrew

Another way to build this software for macOS is to use Homebrew. Note that if you use this method, the executables you build will depend on shared libraries from Homebrew.

First, install Homebrew.

Then use brew to install the dependencies:

brew install pkg-config cmake

This software depends on the Pololu USB Library version 1.x.x (libusbp-1). Run the commands below to download, compile, and install the latest version of that library on your computer.

git clone https://github.com/pololu/libusbp -b v1-latest
cd libusbp
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install
cd ../..

You can test to see if libusbp-1 was installed correctly by running pkg-config --cflags libusbp-1, which should output something like -I/usr/local/include/libusbp-1. If it says that libusbp-1 was not found in the pkg-config search path, retry the instructions above.

Run these commands to build this software and install it:

git clone https://github.com/pololu/p-load
cd p-load
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install
cd ../..

You should now be able to run p-load in your shell.