The R Project SVN R

R @RVER@ for Windows
====================

This distribution contains the sources to build a port of R-@RVER@ to
run on Windows 95, 98, NT4 and 2000 on Intel/clone chips. See readme
for fuller details, including how to install the binary versions.


Building From Source
====================

[Some further details, including how to debug, are given in the rw-FAQ.]

First collect the tools that you need.

Building on Windows
-------------------

We recommend that you use the mingw32 port of gcc-2.95.2 by Mumit Khan
from http://www.mingw.org/ or
ftp://ftp.xraylith.wisc.edu/pub/khan/gnu-win32/mingw32.  You will also
need suitable versions of at least make, sh, cat, cp, cut, diff, echo,
egrep, expr, g(awk), grep, ls, mkdir, mv, rm, sed; we use those from
the cygwin distribution (http://sourceware.cygnus.com/cygwin and
several mirrors) or (make) compiled from the GNU sources ourselves.
We have packaged a set at
CRAN/bin/windows/windows-NT/base/etc/tools.zip.  BEWARE: Most `native'
ports of make are not suitable (including that at the mingw32 site),
nor is the make dated 18-Jan-2000 in the Cygwin 1.1.0 net release.

It is also possible to use the compilers from the cygwin 1.1 release
with the -mno-cygwin flag.  (You will need the cygwin*, gcc* and
binutils* bundles.)   As of R 1.1.0 it is no longer possible to build
R with the cygwin-b20.1 release, but you will probably be able to use
that to build packages.

We have also successfully used the variant of
mingw32 that uses the MSVCRT run-time system.  Be aware that many
Windows 95 machines do not have MSVCRT.DLL installed.

perl5, available via http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports/.

zip and unzip from the Info-ZIP project (http://www.info-zip.org and
mirrors).

If you want to make compiled html (.chm) files you will need the
Microsoft HTML Help Workshop, available for download at 
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/htmlhelp.

If you want to make Windows (.hlp) files you will need a Windows help
compiler, preferably hcrtf.exe. This has been available for download at
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/hcwsetup.exe.

All of these need to be installed and in your path, and the
appropriate environment variables set.

You also need: the R source (R-@RVER@.tgz), and to build the
installer, unzip541.zip from any Info-Zip mirror.  Do remember to set
MAKE_MODE to UNIX (set MAKE_MODE=UNIX at the Windows command-line)
if using a cygwin version of make.

Then: untar R-@RVER@.tgz somewhere (with no spaces in the path names),

    cd /somewhere/R-@RVER@/src/gnuwin32

edit MkRules to set the appropriate paths as needed
edit Makefile to set the type(s) of help that you want built.

and run

    make BUILD=MINGW32 or CYGWIN


Note 1: the file @RWVER@\unzip\unzip32static.dll is not in the source
distribution. It can be found in file unz541dN.zip at any INFO-ZIP
mirror, or you can copy it from a binary distribution.

The file @RWVER@\bin\Rchtml.dll is only built if CHM help is specifed
in the main Makefile. Its source is the help directory, and you need
the HTML Help Workshop files to build it. It contains instructions
to build it under VC++6, and it is preferable to use that as the 
VC++ library will check versions of the components needed. You can just
copy this from a binary distribution.

The file @RWVER@\bin\Rbitmap.dll is not built automatically:
instructions on how to build it are in the file bitmap\INSTALL.  You
can just copy this from a binary distribution.


Note 2: we are aware that because of limitations in line length or in
the shell used that the Makefiles do not work unchanged on all the
possible combinations of tools, compilers and OSes.  We have tested
the tools in tools.zip under NT with the mingw32 and cygwin 1.1
compilers, and cross-building (see below).


Note 3: building libR.a is highly disk intensive and can take several
minutes even on a local disc. We have seen times from 30 secs to 20
minutes. Using a network file system is likely to take longer.


You can test a build by `make check': expect some differences in the tests
of the print routines.


Cross-building on i586 Linux
----------------------------

You will need i386-mingw32 cross-compilers installed and in your path.

A pre-built set of cross-tools based on gcc-2.95.2 is currently
available from

    http://www.devolution.com/~slouken/SDL/Xmingw32/

Unfortunately these did not include a Fortran compiler, but may suffice for
building some packages.

Instructions for building a cross-compiler are given at

    http://www.nanotech.wisc.edu/~khan/software/gnu-win32/mingw-cross-howto.txt

At the time of writing these were somewhat outdated, and we suggest
you build a gcc-2.95.2 cross-compiler (sources from any GNU mirror and
patches from

    ftp://ftp.xraylith.wisc.edu/pub/khan/gnu-win32/cygwin/gcc-2.95.2/patches/

).  Apart from the compiler, you need the mingw32 runtime system and
a cross-built version of binutils 2.9.4.  There may well be a complete
set of tools at

    http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/pub/bdr/RWin/i386cross.tar.bz2

(Just unpack this somewhere and put its bin directory in your path.)

You will need Perl, zip and unzip installed.

You also need: the R source (R-@RVER@.tgz), and to build the installer,
unzip541.zip from any Info-ZIP mirror.

Then: untar R-@RVER@.tgz somewhere

    cd /somewhere/R-@RVER@/src/gnuwin32

Edit MkRules to set BUILD=CROSS and the appropriate paths (including
HEADER) as needed.

Edit Makefile to set the type(s) of help that you want built. (You
will not be able to cross-build .chm or .hlp files, nor Rchmtl.dll,
so set WINHELP to NO.)

Packages can be made in the same way as natively: see the file
readme.packages.


Building the Manuals
====================

To make the PDF versions of the manuals you will need pdftex installed
and configured to work with a large file: see doc/manual/README.  Then the
pdf manuals can be made by

    make docs

If you want to make the info versions, you will need a version of
makeinfo 4.0 for Windows and texindex. Then

    cd ../../doc/manuals
    make -f Makefile.win info

will make the info files.

There is no provision to make DVI versions of the manuals, although
../../doc/manuals/Makefile.win could easily be edited to do so.

The fptex distribution of TeX (from
ftp://ftp.ese-metz.fr/pub/tex/win32-beta/fptex-0.4alpha3/ at present)
includes both pdftex and makeinfo 4.0 (in texinfo.zip).  (The cygwin
one, even in release 1.1, is 3.12.)



Feedback
========

Please send comments and bug reports to (preferably both of)

    Guido Masarotto <guido@hal.stat.unipd.it>
    Brian Ripley <ripley@stats.ox.ac.uk>