Slicer3:Build Instructions Windows

Note: this process can take several hours to complete.

Prerequisites

• • Windows XP or Vista
  • Fast network connection
  • About 10G free disk space
  • Fast CPU and Disk

Installing Cygwin

Go to the following web page

You will get a pop-up window asking if you want to run or save this file. Click 'Run'. If a security warning pops up asking if you are sure you want to run the software, click 'Run' again.

If you minimize your web browser window, you should now see a window titled 'Cygwin Net Release Setup Program'. Click 'Next.'

Select 'Install from Internet', and click 'Next.'

The defaults are fine for the Choose Installation Directory page, click 'Next'

The default for Select Local Package Directory is also fine, click 'Next'

For 'Select Your Internet Connection', choose 'Direct Connection' and click 'Next'

Any of the download sites are fine to use. Click 'Next'

You will now see a page titled 'Select Packages'. In the upper right hand corner, there is a button labeled 'View'. Click the 'View' button once to change the view to 'Full', and maximize the window so you can see all of the columns.

The package names are on the right. On the left, you'll see that each package is labeled 'Skip', 'Keep', or has a version number. We want to install these packages in addition to the defaults:

• curl
• cvs
• subversion
• tcltk
• unzip

For each of these packages, click on 'Skip' so that a version number appears. After you have clicked on all of the above packages, click 'Next'.

At this point, Cygwin will start the download and install.

After the installation, you will see a 'Create Icons' screen. The defaults are fine; click 'Finish'

You should now have an icon on your desktop that looks like a black C with a green arrow. Double click the icon to start Cygwin.

Installing Microsoft Visual Studio Express

Go to the following webpage.

A window may pop up saying that you need to install Microsoft Silverlight. Click 'Enable Silverlight'

Halfway down the page, there is a brown box labeled Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition. Click the 'Download' link inside that box.

A pop up window will ask if you want to run or save this file. Click 'Run'

A setup window and progress bar will now appear. After that finishes, you will see a 'Welcome to Setup' page. Click 'Next'

Select 'I have read and accept the license terms' and click 'Next'

Don't select MSDN Express, SQL server, or Microsoft Silverlight Runtime. Click 'Next'

The default Destination Folder is fine. Click 'Next'

You will now see another progress bar, and the compiler will begin installing.

When the Setup Complete window appears, click 'Exit'. You will now have to restart your computer to finish the installation.

Building Slicer

After your computer reboots, double-click on the Cygwin icon on your desktop to open a Cygwin shell.

Type the following command at the Cygwin prompt:

svn co http://svn.slicer.org/Slicer3/trunk Slicer3

After the checkout completes, type:

./Slicer3/Scripts/getbuildtest.tcl

This will fail, but will set up a mostly correct directory structure. Type:

rm -rf Slicer3-lib/CMake-build

Go to the following webpage. If that Windows installer for CMake 2.7 has been moved, you can go here and pick a 2.7 nightly build that's from 2008/04/10 or later.

When prompted whether to run or save the program, click 'Run', and then 'Run' again when you see the security warning. Minimize your browser window so you can see the CMake 2.7 Setup window. Click 'Next', 'I Agree'.

Select 'Do not add CMake to the system PATH' and click 'Next'

Set destination folder to:

C:\cygwin\home\username\Slicer3-lib\CMake-build and click 'Next'

Leave the default Start Menu Folder, and click 'Install' When the installation finishes, go back to your Cygwin window.

Now, type:

./Slicer3/Scripts/getbuildtest.tcl

A word of warning about Python (added by A.Fedorov as of 06/05/2009)

Python support is by default enabled when you download Slicer source code. However, it is not fully supported on Windows. If your objectives do not include developing with Python, or using Python-based modules and functionality, it may save you a lot of time if you disable Python before you start building Slicer. You can do this by editing file

./Slicer3/slicer_settings.tcl

# getbuildtest Option for build using system Python, should be "true" or "false"
set ::USE_SYSTEM_PYTHON "false"
# CMake option for Python, must be "OFF" on "ON", default is "ON"
set ::USE_PYTHON "ON"

# CMake option for numerical Python, only matters if Python is on
set ::USE_NUMPY "ON"
# getbuildtest option for SCIPY - also build support libraries (blas and lapack) needed for scipy
# - should be off except for experimentation (does not work on all plaftorms - requires fortran)
# - should be "true" or "false"
set ::USE_SCIPY "false"

and setting USE_PYTHON to "OFF".

Notes on Vista build

It may be necessary to add the option -t "" to the getbuildtest.tcl calls:

./Slicer3/Scripts/getbuildtest.tcl -t ""

This disables Dart submissions, which initially caused an error for me due to missing file "DartConfiguration.tcl" (though this was probably due to the permissions issue next).

Depending on account permissions, the final getbuildtest.tcl step may fail on Vista with the message 'Fatal error: lnk1104 cannot open file "TempFile"' when CMake attempts to build the compiler test "cmTryCompileExec". This seems to be due to Vista 'User Account Control' blocking access to temp directories.

If Administrator account is available, one option is to disable UAC. Go to Control Panel->User Accounts->"Turn User Account Control on or off" (see forum posting) This requires a computer restart.

This is how I was able to successfully build on Vista (inorton):

Another option is to run cygwin xterm as administrator. Go to *\Cygwin\bin (for new installs; old installs it will be in *\Cygwin\usr\X11R6\bin). Right-click on "xterm" and select "Run as administrator". A wrapper script may be needed to run xterm with correct DISPLAY, see Slicer3:xterm wrapper. Confirm Run-as. Once xterm is running as Administrator, follow the above steps to run getbuildtest.tcl. I had to run the final getbuildtest.tcl step twice to get a successful build. The first time, all of the libraries built correctly but GenerateLM ran all night at 80% CPU and seemed.. stuck in the morning. I killed the process (through Task Manager, the processes are detached from cygwin); then re-ran getbuildtest. The second time, all libraries were skipped (correctly) and GenerateLM finished in 15 minutes (this produced a functioning binary). I ran a third time without the -t "" option, in order to try the tests and Dashboard submission (which worked).

A third option would be to change CMake and/or getbuildtest to use a known-writable TMP and TEMP directory (within the Slicer build tree?). Not sure how to do this yet.