Build Options ============= Instead of using this source repository, consider getting source for the current Racket release from http://download.racket-lang.org/ or get a source snapshot (updated daily) from http://pre.racket-lang.org/installers/ The "Source + built packages" options from those sites will build and install especially quickly, because platform-independent bytecode and documentation are pre-built. In contrast to this repository, release and snapshot source distributions will work in the configure --prefix=... && make && make install way that you probably expect. If you stick with this repository, then you have several options: * In-place build --- the default, creates a build in the "racket" subdirectory and installs packages that you specify, or "main-distribution" plus "main-distribution-test" by default. Any package implementations that reside in the "pkgs" subdirectory are linked in place. This is the most natural mode for developing Racket itself or staying on the bleeding edge. See "Quick Instructions: In-place Build" below. * Unix-style install --- installs to a given destination directory (on platforms other Windows), leaving no reference to the source directory. This is the most natural mode for installing once from the source repository. See "Quick Instructions: Unix-style Install" below. * Minimal --- as described in the "src" subdirectory of "racket" (i.e., ignore this directory and "pkgs"). You can build a minimal Racket using the usual `configure && make && make install` steps (or similar for Windows), and then you can install packages from the catalog server with `raco pkg`. * Installers --- create installers for a variety of platforms by farming out work to machines that run those platforms. This is the way that Racket snapshots and releases are created, and you can create your own. See "Building Installers" below. * In-place Racket-on-Chez build --- when you use `make cs`. Unless you use various options described in "More Instructions: Building Racket-on-Chez" below, this process downloads Chez Scheme from Github, builds a traditional `racket` with minimal packages, builds Chez Scheme, and then builds Racket-on-Chez using Racket and Chez Scheme. Final executables that end in "cs" or "CS" are the Racket-on-Chez variants. Quick Instructions: In-place Build ================================== On Unix (including Linux) and Mac OS, `make` (or `make in-place`) creates a build in the "racket" directory. On Windows with Microsoft Visual Studio (any version between 2008/9.0 and 2015/14.0), `nmake win32-in-place` creates a build in the "racket" directory. For information on configuring your command-line environment for Visual Studio, see "racket/src/worksp/README". On Windows with MinGW, `make PLAIN_RACKET=racket/racket`, since MinGW uses Unix-style tools but generates a Windows-layout Racket build. In all cases, an in-place build includes (via links) a few packages that are in the "pkgs" directory. To get new versions of those packages, as well as the Racket core, then use `git pull`. Afterward, or to get new versions of any other package, use `make in-place` again, which includes a `raco pkg update` step. See "More Instructions: Building Racket" below for more information. Quick Instructions: Unix-style Install ====================================== On Unix (including Linux), `make unix-style PREFIX=` builds and installs into "" (which must be an absolute path) with binaries in "/bin", packages in "/share/racket/pkgs", documentation in "/share/racket/doc", etc. On Mac OS, `make unix-style PREFIX=` builds and installs into "" (which must be an absolute path) with binaries in "/bin", packages in "/share/pkgs", documentation in "/doc", etc. On Windows, Unix-style install is not supported. A Unix-style install leaves no reference to this source directory. To split the build and install steps of a Unix-style installation, supply `DESTDIR=` with `make unix-style PREFIX=`, which assembles the installation in "" (which must be an absolute path). Then, copy the content of "" to the target root "". See "More Instructions: Building Racket" below for more information. More Instructions: Building Racket ================================== The "racket" directory contains minimal Racket, which is just enough to run `raco pkg` to install everything else. The first step of `make in-place` or `make unix-style` is to build minimal Racket, and you can read "racket/src/README" for more information. If you would like to provide arguments to `configure` for the minimal Racket build, then you can supply them with by adding `CONFIGURE_ARGS_qq="..."` to `make in-place` or `make unix-style`. (The `_qq` suffix on the variable name is a convention that indicates that single- and double-quote marks are allowed in the value.) The "pkgs" directory contains packages that are tied to the Racket core implementation and are therefore kept in the same Git repository. A `make in-place` links to the package in-place, while `make unix-style` copies packages out of "pkgs" to install them. To install a subset of the packages in "pkgs", supply `PKGS` value to `make`. For example, make PKGS="gui-lib readline-lib" links only the "gui-lib" and "readline-lib" packages and their dependencies. The default value of `PKGS` is "main-distribution main-distribution-test". If you run `make` a second time, all previously installed packages remain installed and are updated, while new packages are added. To uninstall previously selected package, use `raco pkg remove`. To build anything other than the latest sources in the repository (e.g., when building from the "v6.2.1" tag), you need a catalog that's compatible with those sources. Note that a release distribution is configured to use a catalog specific to that release, so you can extract the catalog's URL from there. Using `make` (or `make in-place`) sets the installation's name to "development", unless the installation has been previously configured (i.e., unless the "racket/etc/config.rktd" file exists). The installation name affects, for example, the directory where user-specific documentation is installed. Using `make` also sets the default package scope to `installation`, which means that packages are installed by default into the installation's space instead of user-specific space. The name and/or default-scope configuration can be changed through `raco pkg config`. Note that `make -j ` controls parallelism for the makefile part of a build, but not for the `raco setup` part. To control both the makefile and the `raco setup` part, use make CPUS= which recurs with `make -j JOB_OPTIONS="-j "`. Setting `CPUS` also works with `make unix-style`. Use `make as-is` (or `nmake win32-as-is`) to perform the same build actions as `make in-place`, but without consulting any package catalogs or package sources to install or update packages. In other words, use `make as-is` to rebuild after local changes that could include changes to the Racket core. (If you change only packages, then `raco setup` should suffice.) If you need even more control over the build, carry on to "Even More Instructions: Building Racket Pieces" further below. More Instructions: Building Racket-on-Chez ========================================== The `make cs` target (or `make cs-as-is` for a rebuild, or `nmake win32-cs` on Windows with Visual Studio) builds an experimental variant of Racket that runs on Chez Scheme. The executables for the Racket-on-Chez variant all have a "cs" or "CS" suffix, so they coexist with a traditional Racket build. (One day, if the experiment goes well, there will be an option or default to build Racket-on-Chez as `racket` instead of `racketcs`.) Building Racket-on-Chez requires an existing Racket and Chez Scheme. If you use `make cs` with no further arguments, then the build process will bootstrap by building a traditional variant of Racket and by downloading and building Chez Scheme. If you have a sufficiently recent Racket installation already with at least the "compiler-lib" and "parser-tools-libs" packages installed, you can supply `RACKET=...` with `make cs` to skip that part of the bootstrap. And if you have a Chez Scheme source directory already[*], you can supply that with `SCHEME_SRC=...` instead of downloading a new copy. make cs RACKET=racket SCHEME_SRC=path/to/ChezScheme [*] For now, RacketCS requires the variant of Chez Scheme at https://github.com/mflatt/ChezScheme Even More Instructions: Building Racket Pieces ============================================== Instead of just using `make in-place` or `make unix-style`, you can take more control over the build by understand how the pieces fit together. Building Minimal Racket ----------------------- Instead of using the top-level makefile, you can go into "racket/src" and follow the "README" there, which gives you more configuration options. If you don't want any special configuration and you just want the base build, you can use `make base` (or `nmake win32-base`) with the top-level makefile. Minimal Racket does not require additional native libraries to run, but under Windows, encoding-conversion, extflonum, and SSL functionality is hobbled until native libraries from the `racket-win32-i386` or `racket-win32-x86_64` package are installed. On all platforms, fom the top-level makefile, `JOB_OPTIONS` as a makefile variable and `PLT_SETUP_OPTIONS` as an environment variable are passed on to the `raco setup` that is used to build minimal-Racket libraries. See the documentation for `raco setup` for information on the options. For cross compilation, add configuration options to `CONFIGURE_ARGS_qq="..."` as described in the "README" of "racket/src", but also add a `PLAIN_RACKET=...` argument for the top-level makefile to specify the same executable as in an `--enable-racket=...` for `configure`. In general, the `PLAIN_RACKET` setting should have the form `PLAIN_RACKET="... -C"` to ensure that cross-compilation mode is used and that any foreign libraries needed for build time can be found, but many cross-compilation scenarios work without `-C`. Installing Packages ------------------- After you've built and installed minimal Racket, you could install packages via the package-catalog server, completely ignoring the content of "pkgs". If you want to install packages manually out of the "pkgs" directory, the `local-catalog` target creates a catalog as "racket/local/catalog" that merges the currently configured catalog's content with pointers to the packages in "pkgs". A Unix-style build works that way: it builds and installs minimal Racket, and then it installs packages out of a catalog that is created by `make local-catalog`. To add a package catalog that is used after the content of "pkgs" but before the default package catalogs, specify the catalog's URL as the `SRC_CATALOG` makefile variable: make .... SRC_CATALOG= Linking Packages for In-place Development Mode ---------------------------------------------- With an in-place build, you can edit packages within "pkgs" directly or update those packages with `git pull` plus `raco setup`, since the packages are installed with the equivalent of `raco pkg install -i --static-link ...`. Instead of actually using `raco pkg install --static-link ...`, the `pkgs-catalog` makefile target creates a catalog that points to the packages in "pkgs", and the catalog indicates that the packages are to be installed as links. The `pkgs-catalog` target further configures the new catalog as the first one to check when installing packages. The configuration adjustment is made only if no configuration file "racket/etc/config.rktd" exists already. All other packages (as specified by `PKGS`) are installed via the configured package catalog. They are installed in installation scope, but the content of "racket/share/pkgs" is not meant to be edited. To reinstall a package in a mode suitable for editing and manipulation with Git tools, use raco pkg update --clone extra-pkgs/ The "extra-pkgs" directory name is a convention that is supported by a ".gitignore" entry. The Whole Enchilada: Building Installers ======================================== To build installers that can be distributed to other users, do not use `make in-place` or `make unix-style`, but instead start from a clean repository. Use one non-Windows machine as a server, where packages will be pre-built. Then, as described below, create platform-specific installers on N client machines, each of which contacts the server machine to obtain pre-built packages. The server can act as a client, naturally, to create an installer for the server's platform. GNU `make` is required on the server machine, `nmake` is required on Windows client machines, and any `make` should work on other client machines. Running Build Farms ------------------- The `installers` target of the makefile will do everything to generate installers: build a server on the current machine, run clients on hosts specified via CONFIG, and start/stop VirtualBox virtual machines that act as client machines. See the documentation of the "distro-build" package for a description of the site-configuration module and requirements on client hosts. If "my-site-config.rkt" is a configuration module, then make installers CONFIG=my-site-config.rkt drives the build farm, and the resulting installers are in "build/installers", with a hash table mapping descriptions to installer filenames in "build/installer/table.rktd". A log file for each client is written to "build/log". The default CONFIG path is "build/site.rkt", so you could put your configuration file there and omit the `CONFIG` argument to `make`. A default configuration file is created there automatically. Supply `CONFIG_MODE=...` to pass a configuration mode on to your site-configuration module (accessible via the `current-mode` parameter). Supply `CLEAN_MODE=--clean` to make the default `#:clean?` configuration for a client #t instead of #f, supply `RELEASE_MODE=--release` to make the default `#:release?` configuration #t, supply `SOURCE_MODE=--source` to make the default `#:source?` configuration #t, and supply `VERSIONLESS_MODE=--version` to make the default `#:versionless?` configuration #t. A configuration file can specify the packages to include, host address of the server, distribution name, installer directory, and documentation search URL, but defaults can be provided as `make` arguments via `PKGS`, `SERVER` plus `SERVER_PORT` plus `SERVER_HOSTS`, `DIST_NAME`, `DIST_BASE`, and `DIST_DIR`, `DOC_SEARCH`, respectively. The site configuration's top-level options for packages and documentation search URL are used to configure the set of packages that are available to client machines to include in installers. For each installer written to "build/installers", the installer's name is ---. where defaults to "racket" (but can be set via `DIST_BASE`), is from `(system-library-subpath #f)` but normalizing the Windows results to "i386-win32" and "x86_63-win32", - is omitted unless a `#:dist-suffix` string is specified for the client in the site configuration, and is platform-specific: ".sh" for Unix (including Linux), ".dmg" or ".pkg" for Mac OS, and ".exe" for Windows. Generating Installer Web Sites ------------------------------ The `site` target of the makefile uses the `installers` target to generate a set of installers, and then it combines the installers, packages, a package catalog, and log files into a directory that is suitable for access via a web server. Supply the same `CONFIG=...` and `CONFIG_MODE=...` arguments for `site` as for `installers`. The configuration file should have a `#:dist-base-url` entry for the URL where installers and packages will be made available; the `installers` target uses `#:dist-base-url` to embed suitable configuration into the installers. Specifically, installers are configured to access pre-built packages and documentation from the site indicated by `#:dist-base-url`. Note that `#:dist-base-url` should almost always end with "/", since others URLs will be constructed as relative to `#:dist-base-url`. The site is generated as "build/site" by default. A `#:site-dest` entry in the configuration file can select an alternate destination. Use the `site-from-installers` makefile target to perform the part of `site` that happens after `installers` (i.e., to generate a `site` from an already-generated set of installers). Managing Snapshot Web Sites --------------------------- The `snapshot-site` makefile target uses `site` (so supply the same `CONFIG=...` and `CONFIG_MODE=...` arguments), and then treats the resulting site as a snapshot with additional snapshot-management tasks. For snapshot management, the destination of the files generated for `site` (as specified by `#:site-dest`) should be within a directory of snapshots. The configuration file can use `(current-stamp)` to get a string that represents the current build, and then use the string both for `#:dist-base-url` and `#:site-dest`. Normally, the stamp string is a combination of the date and Git commit hash. Snapshot management includes creating an "index.html" file in the snapshots directory (essentially a copy of the snapshot's own "index.html") and pruning snapshot subdirectories to keep the number of snapshots at the amount specified by `#:max-snapshots` configuration-file entry (with a default value of 5). Use the `snapshot-at-site` makefile target to perform the part of `snapshot-site that happens after `site (i.e., to manage snapshots around an already-generated site). Separate Server and Clients --------------------------- Instead of using the `installers` makefile target and a site configuration file, you can run server and client processes manually. Roughly, the steps are 1. On the server machine: make server PKGS="..." See 1b below for more information on variables other than `PKGS` that you can provide with `make`. 2. On each client machine: make client SERVER=... PKGS="..." or nmake win32-client SERVER=... PKGS="..." See 2b below for more information on variables other than `SERVER` and `PKGS` that you can provide with `make`. In more detail: 1a. Build "racket" on a server. The `base` target of the makefile will do that, if you haven't done it already. (The server only works on non-Windows platforms, currently.) 1b. On the server, build packages and start a catalog server. The `server-from-base` target of the makefile will do that. Alternatively, use the `server` target, which combines `base` and `server-from-base` (i.e., steps 1a and 1b). The `SERVER_PORT` variable of the makefile choose the port on which the server listens to clients. The default is port 9440. The `SERVER_HOSTS` variable of the makefile determines the interfaces at which the server listens. The default is "localhost" which listens only on the loopback device (for security). Supply the empty string to listen on all interfaces. Supply multiple addresses by separating them with a comma. The `PKGS` variable of the makefile determines which packages are built for potential inclusion in a distribution. The `DOC_SEARCH` variable of the makefile determine a URL that is embedded in rendered documentation for cases where a remote search is needed (because other documentation is not installed). The `SRC_CATALOG` variable determines the catalog that is used to get package sources and native-library packages. The default is "http://pkgs.racket-lang.org". The server provides README files from the "build/readmes" directory. If "README.txt" does not exist when the sever is started, a default file is created (and clients download "README.txt" by default). If you stop the server and want to restart it, use the `built-package-server` makefile target instead of starting over with the `server` target. 2a. On each client (one for each platform to bundle), build "racket". This is the same as step 1, but on each client. If the client and server are the same, there's nothing more to do for step 3. 2b. On each client, create an installer. The `client` (or `win32-client`) target of the makefile will do that. Provide `SERVER` as the hostname of the server machine, but a "localhost"-based tunnel back to the server is more secure and avoids the need to specify `SERVER_HOSTS` when starting the server in step 1b. Also, provide `SERVER_PORT` if an alternate port was specified in step 1b. Provide the same `PKGS` (or a subset) as in step 1b if you want a different set than the ones listed in the makefile. Similarly, `DOC_SEARCH` normally should be the same as in step 1b, but for a client, it affects future documentation builds in the installation. Alternatively, use the `client` target, which combines `base` and `client-from-base` (i.e., steps 2a and 2b). On Windows, you need NSIS installed, either in the usual location or with `makensis` in your command-line path. To create a release installer, provide `RELEASE_MODE` as "--release" to `make`. A release installer has slightly different defaults that are suitable for infrequently updated release installations, as opposed to frequently updated snapshot installations. To create a source archive, provide `SOURCE_MODE` as "--source" to `make`. To create an archive that omits the version number and also omit and version number in installer paths, provide `VERSIONLESS_MODE` as "--versionless" to `make`. To change the human-readable name of the distribution as embedded in the installer, provide `DIST_NAME` to `make`. The default distribution name is "Racket". Whatever name you pick, the Racket version number is automatically added for various contexts. To change the base name of the installer file, provide `DIST_BASE` to `make`. The default is "racket". To change the directory name for installation on Unix (including Linux), provide `DIST_DIR` to `make`. The default is "racket". To add an extra piece to the installer's name, such as an identifier for a variant of Linux, provide `DIST_SUFFIX` to `make`. The default is "", which omits the prefix and its preceding hyphen. To set the description string for the installer, provide `DIST_DESC` to `make`. The description string is recorded alongside the installer. To set the initial package catalogs URLs for an installation, provide `DIST_CATALOGS_q` to `make`. Separate multiple URLs with a space, and use an empty string in place of a URL to indicate that the default catalogs should be used. The "_q" in the variable name indicates that its value can include double quotes (but not single quotes) --- which are needed to specify an empty string, for example. To select a "README" file for the client, provide `README` to `make`. The `README` value is used as a file name to download from the server. To create a ".tgz" archive instead of an installer (or any platform), set `TGZ_MODE` to "--tgz". For a Mac OS installer, set `SIGN_IDENTITY` as the name to which the signing certificate is associated. Set `MAC_PKG_MODE` to "--mac-pkg" to create a ".pkg" installer instead of a ".dmg" image. For a Windows installer, set `OSSLSIGNCODE_ARGS_BASE64` as a Base64 encoding of an S-expression for a list of argument strings for `osslsigncode`. The `-n`, `-t`, `-in`, and `-out` arguments are provided to `osslsigncode` automatically, so supply the others. The `SERVER_CATALOG_PATH` and `SERVER_COLLECTS_PATH` makefile variables specify paths at `SERVER` plus `SERVER_PORT` to access the package catalog and pre-built "collects" tree needed for a client, but those paths should be empty for a server started with `make server`, and they are used mainly by `make client-from-site` (described below). The `UPLOAD` makefile variable specifies a URL to use as an upload destination for the created installed, where the installer's name is added to the end of the URL, or leave as empty for no upload. On each client, step 2b produces a "bundle/installer.txt" file that contains the path to the generated installer on one line, followed by the description on a second line. The installer is also uploaded to the server, which leaves the installer in a "build/installers" directory and records a mapping from the installer's description to its filename in "build/installers/table.rktd". If you provide `JOB_OPTIONS=...` for either a client or server build, the options are used both for `raco setup` and `raco pkg install`. Normally, `JOB_OPTIONS` is used to control parallelism. Creating a Client from an Installer Web Site -------------------------------------------- If you (or someone else) previously created an installer site with `make site`, then `make client-from-site` in a clean repository creates an installer for the current platform drawing packages from the site. At a minimum, provide `SERVER`, `SERVER_PORT` (usually 80), and `SITE_PATH` (if not empty, include a trailing "/") makefile variables to access a site at http://$(SERVER):$(SERVER_PORT)/$(SITE_PATH) The `client-from-site` makefile target chains to `make client` while passing suitable values for `DIST_CATALOGS_q`, `DOC_SEARCH`, `SERVER_CATALOG_PATH`, and `SERVER_COLLECTS_PATH`. Supply any other suitable variables, such as `DIST_NAME` or `RELEASE_MODE`, the same as for `make client`.