Linux Build Instructions #

Contents #

Getting the source #

Clone the source code using git, and grab all the submodules:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/PrismLauncher/PrismLauncher.git
cd PrismLauncher

The rest of the documentation assumes you have already cloned the repository.

Building #

Getting the project to build and run on Linux is easy if you use any modern and up-to-date Linux distribution.

Build dependencies #

• A C++ compiler capable of building C++17 code.
• Qt Development tools 6.0 or newer (qt6-base-dev qtchooser qt6-base-dev-tools libqt6core6 libqt6core5compat6-dev libqt6network6 on Debian (testing/unstable) based systems).
• Alternatively, you can also use Qt 5.12 or newer (qtbase5-dev qtchooser qt5-qmake qtbase5-dev-tools libqt5core5a libqt5network5 libqt5gui5 on Debian-based systems), if you prefer it.
• cmake 3.15 or newer (cmake on Debian-based system)
• ninja (ninja-build on Debian-based systems)
• extra-cmake-modules (extra-cmake-modules on Debian-based system)
• zlib (zlib1g-dev on Debian-based system)
• Java JDK (openjdk-17-jdk on Debian-based system)
• GL headers (libgl1-mesa-dev on Debian-based system)
• scdoc if you want to generate manpages (scdoc on Debian-based system)

You can use IDEs, like KDevelop, QtCreator or CLion to open the CMake project, if you want to work on the code.

Building a portable binary #

cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja \
   -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install
#  -DLauncher_QT_VERSION_MAJOR="5" # if you want to use Qt 5

cmake --build build
cmake --install build
cmake --install build --component portable

Building & installing to the system #

This is the preferred method of installation, and is suitable for packages.

cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja \
   -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
   -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="/usr" \ # Use "/usr" when building Linux packages. If building not for package, use "/usr/local"
   -DENABLE_LTO=ON # if you want to enable LTO/IPO
#  -DLauncher_QT_VERSION_MAJOR="5" # if you want to use Qt 5

cmake --build build
cmake --install build # Optionally specify DESTDIR for packages (i.e. DESTDIR=${pkgdir} cmake --install ...)

Building a .deb #

Requirements: makedeb installed on your system.

git clone https://mpr.makedeb.org/prismlauncher.git
cd prismlauncher
makedeb -s

The .deb will be located in the directory the repo was cloned in.

Building an .rpm for Fedora #

Build dependencies are automatically installed using DNF, however, you will also need the rpmdevtools package (on Fedora),
in order to fetch sources and set up your tree.
You don't need to clone the repo for this; the spec file handles that.

cd ~
# setup your ~/rpmbuild directory, required for rpmbuild to work.
rpmdev-setuptree
# get the rpm spec file from the prismlauncher on pagure
git clone https://pagure.io/prismlauncher.git
cd prismlauncher
# install build dependencies
sudo dnf builddep prismlauncher.spec
sudo dnf builddep -D "_without_qt6 1" prismlauncher.spec # if you want to use Qt 5 instead of Qt 6
# download build sources
spectool -g -R prismlauncher.spec
# move patches to rpmbuild sources directory
cp *.patch ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES
# copy any patches to rpmbuild sources directory
cp *.patch ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES 
# now build!
rpmbuild -bb prismlauncher.spec
rpmbuild -bb --without qt6 prismlauncher.spec # if you want to use Qt 5 instead of Qt 6

The path to the .rpm packages will be printed once the build is complete.

Building an .rpm for openSUSE #

Unlike Fedora, the openSUSE packages depend on the Open Build Service, so you will need to install the command line tool osc by following this guide.
It also uses the obs_scm service, which is available in the obs-service-obs_scm package if it's not already installed.

osc checkout home:getchoo

# there will be 4 directories in home:getchoo, with some having a -qt5 and/or -nightly suffix
# -qt5 packages will build with Qt 5 instead of Qt 6, while -nightly packages will build with the latest commit (updated every 24h)
# for this example, we're just using the stable release package that builds with Qt 6
# NOTE: only -qt5 will build on Leap
cd home:getchoo/prismlauncher

# to build against the current version of Leap, replace `openSUSE_Tumbleweed` with 15.4
osc build --sccache openSUSE_Tumbleweed

The path to the .rpm packages will be printed once the build is complete.

Building a Flatpak #

You don't need to clone the entire Prism Launcher repo for the latest stable version; the Flatpak file handles that. However, cloning the source repository is necessary to build from the latest commit (contains upstream manifest).
Both flatpak and flatpak-builder packages must be installed on your system to proceed, including all build dependencies previously mentioned (at the top of page).

Latest Stable Release #

git clone --recursive https://github.com/flathub/org.prismlauncher.PrismLauncher
cd org.prismlauncher.PrismLauncher
flatpak install org.kde.Sdk/x86_64/6.7 runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk17/x86_64/23.08 runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/23.08 runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk21/x86_64/23.08 # build requirements
# remove --user --install if you want to build without installing
flatpak-builder --user --install flatbuild org.prismlauncher.PrismLauncher.yml

Latest Commit #

git clone --recursive https://github.com/prismlauncher/PrismLauncher # source repo - contains upstream manifest
cd PrismLauncher/flatpak
flatpak install org.kde.Sdk/x86_64/6.7 runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk17/x86_64/23.08 runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/23.08 runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk21/x86_64/23.08 # build requirements
# remove --user --install if you want to build without installing
flatpak-builder --user --install flatbuild org.prismlauncher.PrismLauncher.yml

Installing Qt using the installer (optional) #

1. Run the Qt installer.

2. Choose a place to install Qt.

3. Choose the components that you wish install.

   • You need Qt 6.0.x 64-bit ticked. (or a newer version)
   • Alternatively you can choose Qt 5.12.0 or newer
   • You need Tools/Qt Creator ticked.
   • Other components are selected by default, you can un-tick them if you don't need them.

4. Accept the license agreements.

5. Double-check the install details and then click "Install".

   • Installation can take a very long time, go grab a cup of tea or something and let it work.

IDEs and Tooling #

There are a few tools that you can set up to make your development workflow smoother. In addition, some IDEs also require a bit more setup to work with Qt and CMake.

ccache #

ccache is a compiler cache. It speeds up recompilation by caching previous compilations and detecting when the same compilation is being done again.

You can download it here. After setting up, builds will be incremental, and the builds after the first one will be much faster.

VS Code #

To set up VS Code, you can download the C/C++ extension, since it provides IntelliSense auto complete, linting, formatting, and various other features.

Then, you need to set up the configuration. Go into the command palette and open up C/C++: Edit Configurations (UI). There, add a new configuration for PrismLauncher.

1. Add the path to your Qt include folder to includePath
2. Add -L/{path to your Qt installation}/lib to compilerArgs
3. Set compileCommands to ${workspaceFolder}/build/compile_commands.json
4. Set cppStandard to c++14 or higher.

For step 3 to work, you also have to reconfigure CMake to generate a compile_commands.json file. To do this, add -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON to the end of your CMake configuration command and run it again. You should see a file at build/compile_commands.json.

Now the VS Code setup should be fully working. To test, open up some files and see if any error squiggles appear. If there are none, it's working properly!

Here is an example of what .vscode/c_cpp_properties.json looks like on macOS with Qt installed via Homebrew:

{
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Mac (PrismLauncher)",
            "includePath": [
                "${workspaceFolder}/**",
                "/opt/homebrew/opt/qt@6/include/**"
            ],
            "defines": [],
            "macFrameworkPath": [
                "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks"
            ],
            "compilerPath": "/usr/bin/clang",
            "compilerArgs": [
                "-L/opt/homebrew/opt/qt@6/lib"
            ],
            "compileCommands": "${workspaceFolder}/build/compile_commands.json",
            "cStandard": "c17",
            "cppStandard": "c++17",
            "intelliSenseMode": "macos-clang-arm64"
        }
    ],
    "version": 4
}

CLion #

1. Open CLion
2. Choose File->Open
3. Navigate to the source folder
4. Go to settings Ctrl+Alt+S
5. Navigate to Toolchains in Build, Execution, Deployment
   • Set the correct build tools (see here)
   • CMake: cmake (optional)
   • Make: make (optional)
   • C Compiler: gcc
   • C++ Compiler: g++
   • Debugger: gdb (optional)
6. Navigate to CMake in Build, Execution, Deployment
   • Set Build directory to build
7. Navigate to Edit Configurations (see here)
   • Create a new configuration
   • Name: All
   • Target: All targets
   • Choose the newly added configuration as default

Now you should be able to build and test Prism Launcher with the Build and Run buttons.

Qt Creator #

1. Open Qt Creator.

2. Choose File->Open File or Project.

3. Navigate to the Launcher source folder you cloned and choose CMakeLists.txt.

4. Read the instructions that just popped up about a build location and choose one.

5. You should see "Run CMake" in the window.

   • Make sure that Generator is set to "Unix Generator (Desktop Qt 6.x.x GCC 64bit)".
     • Alternatively this is probably "Unix Generator (Desktop Qt 5.12.x GCC 64bit)"
   • Hit the "Run CMake" button.
   • You'll see warnings, and it might not be clear that it succeeded until you scroll to the bottom of the window.
   • Hit "Finish" if CMake ran successfully.

6. Cross your fingers, and press the "Run" button (bottom left of Qt Creator).

   • If the project builds successfully it will run and the Launcher window will pop up.

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