This directory contains

  - solution files and project files for building Racket and GRacket
    with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (a.k.a. version 9.0) and up,
    which work with the Express version of Visual Studio;

  - mzconfig.h which is a manual version of information that is gathered
    automatically when using the "configure" script;

  - scripts for building 3m variants of Racket and GRacket using Visual
    Studio command-line tools; and

  - solution files and project files for building MzCOM and MysterX with
    Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (not Express, which doesn't support ATL
    and MFC).

Visual Studio Express is available for free from Microsoft; it can be
used to build Racket and GRacket, but not MzCOM and MysterX.

Racket and GRacket also compile with Cygwin gcc (a free compiler from
GNU and Cygnus Solutions), but the result is a Unix-style installation,
not a Window-style installation.  To compile with gcc, follow the
instructions in racket\src\README (which contains a short
Windows-specific section).

With an MSVC-built Racket, compatible extensions can be built with other
compilers.  Build with Cygwin and copy the installed racket\lib\gcc to a
MSVC-based build to support Cygwin-built extensions.  To support
Borland-built extensions, cd to racket\src\racket\dynsrc and run
mkbordyn.bat (which requires bcc23.exe, of course).

As always, please report bugs via one of the following:
  - DrRacket's "submit bug report" menu          (preferred)
  - http://bugs.racket-lang.org/
  - the mailing list (users@racket-lang.org)     (last resort)

-PLT
 racket@racket-lang.org

---------------------------
Building Racket and GRacket
---------------------------

If you're using MSVC 2008 (not Express), and if `devenv.exe' is in your
path, then you can just run
    racket\src\worksp\build.bat
from its own directory to perform all steps up to "Versioning",
including the MzCOM and MysterX steps.

If your MSVC environment is configured for 64-bit builds (e.g., by
running "vcvarsall.bat" with "x64), then a 64-bit build is created.

The CGC variants of Racket, GRacket, MzCOM, and MysterX can be built via
Visual Studio projects.  The 3m variants are built by a Racket script
that runs the MSVC command-line tools.  (See "CGC versus 3m" in
racket\src\README if you don't know about the two variants.)


If you can't run "build.bat" or don't want to, you have to perform
several steps: first builg RacketCGC, then build Racket3m, etc.

Building RacketCGC and GRacketCGC
---------------------------------

The CGC source code for RacketCGC and GRacketCGC is split into several
projects that are grouped into a few solutions.  To build the `X'
solution with Visual Studio, open the file racket\src\worksp\X\X.sln.

To build RacketCGC, build the Racket solution in
  racket\src\worksp\racket - makes racket\RacketCGC.exe

  [When you open the solution, it may default to "Debug"
   configuration.  Switch to "Release" before building.]

To build GRacketCGC, build the GRacket solution:
  racket\src\worksp\gracket - makes racket\GRacketCGC.exe

  [Again, switch to the "Release" configuration if necessary.]

The build processes for RacketCGC and GRacketCGC automatically builds
  libmzgc    - makes racket\lib\libmzgcxxxxxxx.dll and
               racket\src\worksp\libmzgc\Release\libmzgcxxxxxxx.lib
  libracket  - makes racket\lib\libracketxxxxxxx.dll and
               racket\src\worksp\mzsrc\Release\mzsrcxxxxxxx.lib

In addition, building RacketCGC executes
    racket\src\racket\dynsrc\mkmzdyn.bat
which copies .exp, .obj, and .lib files into racket\lib\.

Downloading Pre-Built Binaries
-------------------------------

You must install some pre-built DLLs if you want text-encoding
converts, OpenSSL support, `racket/draw', or `racket/gui' support.
In principle, you could build them from scratch, but since they
are (mostly) maintained by people and organizations other than
PLT, we supply them in binary form.

The DLLs are available from

    http://download.racket-lang.org/libs/

and they must be installed into

    racket\lib

The "get-libs.rkt" script in "racket\src" can download the libraries,
and the script is used by "build.bat".

Building Racket3m and GRacket3m
-------------------------------

After RacketCGC and GRacketCGC are built, you can can build 3m binaries:

  1. Ensure that the Visual Studio command-line tools are in your path.
     You may need to run "vcvarsall.bat" from your Visual Studio
     installation, so that PATH and other environment variables are set.

  2. Change directories to racket\src\worksp\gc2 and run

       ..\..\..\racketcgc.exe -c make.rkt

The resulting Racket.exe and GRacket.exe will appear in the top-level
"racket" directory, along with DLLs libracket3mxxxxxxx.dll in
racket\lib.  (There is no corresponding libmzgc3mxxxxxxx.dll.  Instead,
it is merged with libracket3mxxxxxxx.dll.)

Building Collections and Other Executables
------------------------------------------

If you're building from scratch, you'll also want the starter programs
used by the launcher collection to create "raco.exe".  Build the
following solutions:

  racket\src\worksp\mzstart - makes racket\collects\launcher\mzstart.exe
  racket\src\worksp\mrstart - makes racket\collects\launcher\mrstart.exe

  [The "mzstart" and "mrstart" programs have no CGC versus 3m
   distinction.]

Then, set up all the other executables (besides GRacket[CGC].exe and
Racket[CGC].exe) by running

    racket.exe -l- setup

This last step makes the .zo files, too.  To skip compiling .zos, add
`-n' to the end of the above command.

If you've already built before, then this step can be simplied: just
re-run `raco setup', where "raco.exe" was created the first time.

Versioning
----------

[If you're going to build MzCOM and/or MysterX, do that before running
 the version-changing script.  See instructions below.]

The obnoxious "xxxxxxx" in the DLL names is a placeholder for a version
number.  Embedding a version number in a DLL name appears to be the
simplest and surest way to avoid version confusion.

For local testing, you can use the "xxxxxxx" libraries directly.  For
any binaries that will be distributed, however, the placeholder should
be replaced with a specific version.

To replace the "xxxxxxx" with a specific version, run

    racket -l setup/winvers

in a shell.

The "winvers.rkt" program will have to make a temporary copy of
racket.exe and the "lib" sub-directory (into the temporary directory),
and it will re-launch Racket a couple of times.  Every ".exe", ".dll",
".lib", ".def", ".exp", and ".pdb" file within the "racket" tree is
updated to replace "xxxxxxxx" with a specific version number.

--------------------------
Building MzCOM and MysterX
--------------------------

Beware that MzCOM and MysterX do not build with Express versions of
Visual Studio.  Otherwise, building MzCOMCGC and MysterXCGC is similar
to building RacketCGC.  Building the 3m variants is a little different.

Building MzCOM
--------------

To build MzCOMCGC, make the MzCOM solution in
    racket\src\worksp\mzcom - makes racket\MzCOMCGC.exe

Use the "Release" configuration.

After building MzCOMCGC, you can build the 3m variant by

  1. Change directories to racket\src\worksp\mzcom and run

       ..\..\..\racketcgc.exe -cu xform.rkt

  2. Switch to the "3m" configuration in the MzCOM solution (in Visual
     Studio).

  3. Build (in Visual Studio).

The result is racket\MzCOM.exe.

Building MysterX
----------------

To build MysterXCGC, make the MysterX solution in
    racket\src\worksp\libmysterx - makes racket\lib\myssink.dll,
           racket\lib\myspage.dll, and mxmain.dll in
           collects\mysterx\private\compiled\native\win32\i386

Use the "Release" configuration.

After building MysterXCGC, you can build the 3m variant by

  1. Change directories to racket\src\worksp\libmysterx and run

       ..\..\..\racketcgc.exe -cu xform.rkt

  2. Switch to the "3m" configuration in the libmysterx solution (in
     Visual Studio).

  3. Build (in Visual Studio).

The result is mxmain.dll (no 3m suffix) in
    collects\mysterx\private\compiled\native\win32\i386\3m

------------
Finding DLLs
------------

Since the DLL libracket3mxxxxxxx.dll (or libmzgcxxxxxxx.dll and
libracketxxxxxxx.dll) is installed into racket\lib\ instead of just
racket\, the normal search path for DLLs would not find them when
running "Racket.exe" or "GRacket.exe".  To find the DLLs, the
executables are "delayload" linked with the DLLs, and the executables
explicitly load the DLLs from racket\lib\ on start-up.

The relative DLL path is embedded in each executable, and it can be
replaced with a path of up to 512 characters.  The path is stored in the
executable in wide-character format, and it is stored immediately after
the wide-character tag "dLl dIRECTORy:" with a wide NUL terminator.  The
path can be either absolute or relative; in the latter case, the
relative path is resolved with respect to the executable.  Replacing the
first character of the path with "<" disables the explicit DLL load, so
that the DLLs must appear in the normal DLL search path.

See also ..\README for information on the embedded "collects" path in
the executables.

----------------
Embedding Racket
----------------

The Racket DLLs can be used within an embedding application.

The libraries

    racket\lib\win32\msvc\libracket3mxxxxxxx.lib
    racket\lib\win32\msvc\libracketxxxxxxx.lib
    racket\lib\win32\msvc\libmzgcxxxxxxx.lib

which are created by the libracket and libmzgc projects, provide linking
information for using the libracket3mxxxxxxx.dll, libracketxxxxxxx.dll,
and libmzgcxxxxxxx.dll DLLs.  The versioning script adjusts the names,
as described above.

See the "Inside Racket" manual for more information about using these
libraries to embed Racket in an application.

If you need Racket to link to a DLL-based C library (instead of
statically linking to the C library within the Racket DLL), then compile
Racket with the /MD flag.
