build.txt

Build instructions
==================

Compiling TortoiseGit is not very difficult, but it requires several steps
to finish, at least the first time.

Unlike other big open source projects, once you have built all the libraries
TortoiseGit depends on, you can use the familiar Visual Studio IDE to build
and debug the binaries. No need to run the build script for every little change.

So don't give up if you read through the next section and all the requirements.
You only have to do this once.

Requirements
------------

First, you need to install the compiler package:

*  You need VS2012 Professional with Update 4 to allow
   building of the full TortoiseGit package. 
   If you don't have the Update 3 installed for VS2012 you cannot build
   binaries which run on Windows XP.
   This is the recommended option, but it is not free :-(
   If you want to build the msi make sure the "Tools for Redistributing
   Applications" are installed.
*  If you do not have access to VS Professional you can download the free
   Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop.
   This will allow you to build the git libraries and the
   TortoiseGitUDiff, TortoiseGitIDiff, and ResText projects only.
   You can not build the main parts of TortoiseGit(shell extension, TortoiseGitProc,
   TGitCache, TortoiseGitMerge, and TortoiseGitBlame)
   with the Express Edition!
   - Install Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop.
     Download it from http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/products/visual-studio-express-for-windows-desktop
     Do not bother to install WiX as you cannot build very much.

Next you might need to install some utilities/programs:
*  If you want to build the MSI installer you need WiX3.8 (http://wix.codeplex.com/)
*  For building the docs you need NAnt (http://nant.sourceforge.net/) and
   http://code.google.com/p/tortoisesvn/downloads/detail?name=Tools-1.8.0.7z

Get external source code
------------------------

TortoiseGit comes with all required code in its repository included or linked as submodules:

Run

git submodule update --init

to download all linked repositories (submodules) automatically.
Alternatively, you can download submodules when cloning the main project with single command.

git clone --recursive https://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/

Building the packages
---------------------

Open TortoiseGit.sln in Visual Studio.
Build all projects.

You can also build TortoiseGit via command line by calling MSBuild 4.0.
Open Developer Command Prompt for VS2012
MSBuild TortoiseGit.sln /p:Configuration=Release;Platform=Win32
MSBuild TortoiseGit.sln /p:Configuration=Release;Platform=x64

If you want to build the installer package, make sure you build the Win32 configuration before the x64 one
Also, build the docs before before the installer packages.