Linux

Posted Thursday, 29 November, 2007 - 08:55 by objarni

Installing Mono

If you are using a recent Linux distribution, all prerequisites for OpenTK projects should be readily available: the Mono runtime and the Mono compilers. Execute "mono --version" and "gmcs --version" and check if the output looks like this:

$ mono --version
Mono JIT compiler version 1.2.6 (tarball)
Copyright (C) 2002-2007 Novell, Inc and Contributors. www.mono-project.com
        TLS:           __thread
        GC:            Included Boehm (with typed GC)
        SIGSEGV:       altstack
        Notifications: epoll
        Architecture:  amd64
        Disabled:      none

$ gmcs --version
Mono C# compiler version 1.2.6.0

If one or both of these commands fail, you'll have to install Mono. Mono packages should be readily available through your distribution's package manager, so a line like the following should work:

# Ubuntu and other .deb-based distributions
sudo apt-get install mono mono-gmcs
# or
su -c "apt-get install mono mono-gmcs"

# Fedora Core and .rpm-based distributions
su -c "yum install mono mono-gmcs"
If no Mono packages are available, or they are outdated (mono --version returns something less than 1.2.6), you should build Mono from source. There is a message in the support forum describing the process of building mono from source here.

Alternatively, you can find binary packages at Mono Project's download page.

Using a binary release

Download the latest opentk-x.y.z-mono.tar.gz release from Sourceforge and untar it:

tar -xvf opentk-0.3.13-mono.tar.gz
A new opentk-x.y.z will be created with four subfolders: "Documentation", "Examples", "Libraries" and "QuickStart". Try running the examples contained in the second folder to make sure everything works alright:
cd opentk-0.3.13/Examples
mono Examples.exe
A new window will hopefully show up, listing all available examples. If not, check the troubleshooting section below.

The "Libraries" folder contains the main OpenTK assembly (OpenTK.dll) and the OpenTK.dll.config file - these are all you need to run OpenTK projects. If you are using MonoDevelop, check the "QuickStart" folder for a ready-to-use project. Last, don't forget to take a look at the release notes contained in the "Documentation" folder.

Troubleshooting

The following error has been reported on Fedora Core 8, when running Examples.exe:

Unhandled Exception: System.TypeInitializationException: An exception was thrown by the type initializer for System.Windows.Forms.Form ---> System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> System.TypeInitializationException: An exception was thrown by the type initializer for System.Drawing.GDIPlus ---> System.DllNotFoundException: gdiplus.dll
  at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Drawing.GDIPlus:GdiplusStartup (ulong&,System.Drawing.GdiplusStartupInput&,System.Drawing.GdiplusStartupOutput&)
  at System.Drawing.GDIPlus..cctor () [0x00000] --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
This is caused by a missing entry in "/etc/mono/config". To correct this issue, open the aforementioned file (you must be root!), and add this line: <dllmap dll="gdiplus.dll" target="/usr/lib/libgdiplus.so.0" />. Now, Examples.exe should work.

Building OpenTK from source

OpenTK's build system currently uses NAnt, so you'll need to install that:
# Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install nant

# Debian
su -c "apt-get install nant"

# Fedora
su -c "yum install nant"
Once that is out of the way, untar the source release and cd to the Build folder:
unzip opentk-0.3.13.zip
cd opentk-0.3.13/Build
mono Build.exe mono
Wait a few seconds for the compilation to end, and check the "Binaries" folder that just appeared in the base OpenTK directory. To build the debug version, append "debug" so that the last command looks like:
mono Build.exe mono debug

[Add an appendix that describes how to build Mono from source, in case there is no package available]
‹ Chapter 1: InstallationupWindows ›

Comments

Dec 30
 21:07:09
Does not work out-of-the-box
posted by objarni

Does not work out-of-the-box in Ubuntu7.10 or earlier! For example Ubuntu7.10 uses mono1.2.4 which does not cooperate well with OpenTK0.3.13.

Dec 30
 21:13:54
Is there any chance NAnt
posted by objarni

Is there any chance NAnt could be included into the source tree of OpenTK? That is, removing the need for installing NAnt, making it part of the build-process so to speak. (I think such a method is OK by both sf.net and NAnt license). This would really lower the threshold for helping out/making patches to OpenTK, that is only needing a compiler to build OpenTK.

Dec 30
 23:52:16
Problem is, nant is about
posted by the Fiddler

Problem is, nant is about two to three times bigger than OpenTK so it wouldn't look very nice. I've been planning a pure makefile-based build system for Linux (make && make install), but there are more pressing matters to take care of first.

Indeed a visual studio project should be enough for Windows, and a makefile system for everything else. Since MonoDevelop/SharpDevelop can open visual studio projects now, there's no reason for the custom Build/Prebuild/Nant build system anymore.

Dec 31
 11:16:19
NAnt bin-folder version 0.86
posted by objarni

NAnt bin-folder version 0.86 is approximately 7 mb big. As OpenTK grows, the ratio NAnt/OpenTK will be less of an issue anyway. Just removing 1.0 and 1.1 build targets and .xml-intellisense-files from NAnt/bin brought it down to 3.5 mb. Maybe thats more feasible?

Dec 31
 11:29:00
OpenTK now is 1MB (*), and
posted by the Fiddler

OpenTK now is 1MB (*), and since nant packages are readily available I don't really see the point in making it bigger than it already is. If installing nant system-wide is a problem, you can create a SharpDevelop project (mono Build.exe sharpdev) and build through the IDE.

(*) I hope to get the next release down to 500-600KB.

Dec 31
 13:06:57
OpenTK now is 1MB (*), and
posted by objarni

OpenTK now is 1MB (*), and since nant packages are readily available I don't really see the point in making it bigger than it already is.
Including NAnt binaries in the OpenTK source distribution does not affect OpenTK.dll size, I presume..? After all, OpenTK binary distribution (including OpenTK.xml) should still be the primary way of developing for OpenTK, at least that's my opinion. What I'm trying to say, there is a difference between developing applications for OpenTK, and developing OpenTK. When developing OpenTK, 3-4 mb extra is not that much..

Or I'll just shut up and install NAnt. But you must admit I made a fair argument ;)

Dec 31
 13:19:00
I was talking about the
posted by the Fiddler.

I was talking about the download size, not the dll itself, but you do have a point. However, I just found out that Prebuild can generate makefiles, which means Nant's days are numbered anyway :)

I haven't tested that yet, but can you try running "mono Prebuild.exe" with the option to create makefiles? (I don't know which one that is off-hand, but it should list available options anyway). You should then be able to "make" OpenTK.

Dec 31
 13:45:45
[mono Prebuild.exe] Sorry I
posted by objarni

[mono Prebuild.exe]
Sorry I don't have the time right now going out for new years eve celebration!

Happy new year everybody!