Linux

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 package manager:

# 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If no Mono packages are available, or they are outdated (mono --version returns something less than 1.2.6), you should build Mono from source.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 use one of the Mono binary packages on the Mono download page.

Using a binary release

Download the latest opentk-x.y.z.zip release from Sourceforge and unzip it.

A new opentk-x.y.z will be created with four subfolders: "Binaries", "Documentation", "Source" and "Installers". Try running the examples binary to make sure everything works alright:

unzip opentk-1.0-2010-10-06.zip
cd opentk-1.0-2010-10-06/Binaries/OpenTK/Release
mono Examples.exe

A new window will hopefully show up, listing all available examples. If not, check the troubleshooting section below.

The "Binaries/OpenTK/Release" 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.sln" solution 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 relies on xbuild, so you'll need to install that:

# Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install xbuild
 
# Debian
su -c "apt-get install xbuild"
 
# Fedora
su -c "yum install xbuild"

Note that xbuild versions earlier than 2.6.7 are quite buggy and may fail to build OpenTK.

Once xbuild is installed, unzip the source release and cd to the Build folder:

unzip opentk-1.0-2010-10-06.zip
cd opentk-1.0-2010-10-06/
xbuild OpenTK.sln /p:Configuration=Release

Wait a few seconds for the compilation to end, and check the "Binaries" folder that just appeared in the base OpenTK directory.