Introduction

This page will walk you through the process of building the Syntacts libraries and GUI from the C++ source files. Syntacts uses CMake as its build system, which is scripted through a file named CMakeLists.txt. The build process creates three binary objects:

  • syntacts.lib, the main Syntacts C++ static library
  • syntacts_c.dll, the Syntacts library exported to a C dynamic library (basis for all language bindings)
  • syntacts_gui.exe, the Syntacts GUI application

When the build completes, the binaries and Syntacts C++ headers will be installed to your system for use. Note that if you don’t intend to use the C++ API, you can skip this build process by downloading the latest pre-compiled Release.

Requirements

Make sure git and CMake are added to your system PATH. To add CMake to your PATH on macOS, open a Terminal and enter the following command:

 PATH="/Applications/CMake.app/Contents/bin":"$PATH"

Building on Windows

  • The recommended C++ compiler on Windows is Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC). You can acquire the compiler by installing the Visual Studio IDE or the standalone MSVC build tools.
  • Open PowerShell as an administrator in a directory of your choice and run the following commands: 
    git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/mahilab/Syntacts 
cd Syntacts
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -A x64
cmake --build . --target install --config Release
  • When the build completes, Syntacts will be installed to C:\Program Files (x86)\Syntacts.

You may need to specify a different CMake generator with -G if you have a another version of Visual Studio installed (e.g. cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64").

Building on macOS

  • The recommended C++ compiler on macOS is the Apple supplied Clang compiler shipped with Xcode. Syntacts has been tested on macOS Catalina with Apple Clang 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.0.33.17). To check if you have Clang, open a Terminal and enter the command clang --version . You may also consider using a mainline version of Clang.
  • Open a Terminal in a directory of your choice and run the following commands: 
    > git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/mahilab/Syntacts 
> cd Syntacts
> mkdir build && cd build
> cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="Release"
> sudo cmake --build . --target install
  • When the build completes, Syntacts will be installed to /user/local/....

Building on Linux

  • Both the Clang and GNU C++ compilers should work on Linux. Syntacts has been tested on Debian Bullseye with GCC 10.2 and with Clang 9.0 and 11.0.
  • Note that you’ll need to install additional development files for any features you want to support (e.g., GTK+3, JACK).
  • Open the terminal of your choice and run the following commands: 
    > git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/mahilab/Syntacts
> cd Syntacts
> mkdir build && cd build
> cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="Release"
> sudo cmake --build . --target install
  • When the build completes, Syntacts will be installed to /usr/local/....