# openMSX Compilation Guide

## Contents

## 1. Introduction

### 1.1 New Versions of this Document

The latest version of the openMSX manual can be found on the openMSX home page:

http://openmsx.sourceforge.net/manual/

You can also use this URL to get up-to-date versions of the hyperlinks if you printed out this manual.

### 1.2 Purpose

This guide is about openMSX, the open source MSX emulator that tries to achieve near-perfect emulation by using a novel emulation model. You can find more information about openMSX on the openMSX home page.

If you just want to use openMSX, there is likely a pre-packaged version you can use. This document describes how you can compile openMSX from source, which is useful if:

- There is not yet a pre-packaged version for your favourite platform.
- You want to closely follow the latest developments.
- You want to make changes to openMSX.

If you need help compiling openMSX, please contact us. If you needed any modifications to make openMSX compile, please send those modifications to us, so we can make openMSX ever more portable.

### 1.3 Contributors

The following people contributed to this document in one way or another:

- Jorrith Schaap
- Manuel Bilderbeek
- Maarten ter Huurne
- other openMSX developers

Thanks to all of them!

### 1.4 Revision History

For the revision history, please refer to the SVN log.

## 2. Preparation

Before you can start compiling openMSX, you have to make sure your system has all the necessary build tools installed, as well as the libraries openMSX depends upon. The following sections tell you how you can prepare your system.

Every section starts with generic instructions, that apply to all platforms and compilers. At the end of each section, platform specific notes cover differences or additional steps for certain platforms or compilers.

### 2.1 Build Tools

For compilation, you need Python, a C++ compiler, and some compiler-specific programs. If you have compiled packages from source before, you probably have some of these installed already.

Python
  A compact and dynamic programming language. Version 2.5 or later is required. However, Python 3.0 contains incompatible changes in the language, so make sure you install a version from the 2.x series. Eventually Python will replace Make completely in our build system, but at the moment both are required. Note: on Windows 7 you may have to add the path to Python (e.g. `C:\Python26`) to your `PATH` manually.
There are two compilers that are can be used to build openMSX: gcc and Visual C++. The gcc compiler builds openMSX on all supported platforms, while Visual C++ is the primary compiler for Windows.

#### gcc

For compilation with gcc, you need GNU Make and g++:

make
  GNU implementation of the Make tool. Make interprets rules that define how a project should be built. Version 3.79 or higher should suffice, but 3.80 or higher is recommended and even necessary if you are building a standalone binary with the method described below.
g++
  The GNU C++ compiler. Version 4.1 or later is recommended; any version lower than 3.4 will not be able to build openMSX at all.

##### Mac OS X

Install Xcode from Apple, which you can find on the Mac OS X installation DVD or download from the Apple Developer Connection (free registration required). The Xcode package contains up-to-date versions of Make, GCC and SVN. Make sure you also install support for compiling for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), which is an optional component.

If you want to do a 64-bit Intel build, you can use either Xcode 3 or 4. If you want to do a universal build or a 32-bit Intel or PowerPC build, you need Xcode 3. If you already have Xcode 4 installed, install Xcode 3 into a separate directory, for example `/Developer/Xcode3`; this allows version 3 and 4 to co-exist.

By default openMSX assumes Xcode 4 installed in `/Developer` and Xcode 3 installed in `/Developer/Xcode3`. If the installation paths you used are different, please modify `SDK_PATH` in `build/platform-darwin.mk` in the openMSX source tree accordingly.

##### Microsoft Windows

You need to install MinGW and MSYS.

You can download MinGW and MSYS from the download page of the MinGW project. Download the latest version of the "Automated MinGW Installer" (5.1.4 is the latest at the time of writing) and download also "MSYS Base System" (use 1.0.11 Release Candidate or newer, if available, because 1.0.10 is too old), i.e. the installer `.exe` file. Double click on the MinGW package after downloading, choose "Download and Install", Package "Current" and add component "g++". Use the default installation directory (`C:\MinGW`), or at least a directory without spaces and not a network folder (i.e. shared folder on another computer). For MSYS, the installer's default settings (destination directory `C:\msys\1.0`) will be OK. If you get questions in a post-install Command Prompt dialog, type: `y`, `y`, `C:/MinGW` (or the other directory you chose without spaces; but do note that you should use forward slashes in the path here!), `y`.

Note: there is a bug in the MinGW Runtime (mingwrt) package version 3.15.1, which will cause FreeType not to compile (and probably more). Make sure you have the latest (newer) version installed! (Which will be the case if you do a fresh install using the instructions above.)

##### Dingux

For compilation for Dingux (Linux for Dingoo), you need to install the OpenDingux toolchain. This toolchain is for x86 Linux; if you have an x86 machine but no Linux, you can install Linux in a virtual machine. Extract the toolchain to `/opt`; anywhere else won't work. It can be downloaded from the OpenDingux Releases page.

#### Visual C++

There are three different ways to obtain the Visual C++ compiler:

Visual C++ 20 10
  This is the professional IDE and development environment that comes with Visual Studio, as a standalone purchase or via an MSDN subscription.
Windows SDK
  This is a free (as in beer) command line environment that provides a full set of compilers, headers and libraries. This is the best option for people who wish to build openMSX with minimal hassle. We recommend using the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 or newer. (When installing, the Documentation, Samples and .NET Development Tools options are not required to build openMSX. This reduces the download size considerably, from about 1.2GB to about 100MB.)
Visual C++ 2010 Express
  This is a free (as in beer) IDE and development environment. It builds 32-bit binaries out of the box, and can be made to build 64-bit binaries with some coaxing. This is the best option for developers looking to browse the source code or use other benefits of an IDE.
For compilation with Visual C++ using any of these mechanisms, the DirectX SDK is required. To generate an MSI installation package, WiX package must be installed.

DirectX SDK
  This is the SDK that contains DirectX headers, libs, samples, documentation, etc. We recommend using the June 2010 version or newer. This is a large download, about 580MB. To build openMSX, only the headers and libs are truly required.
WiX
  This is a tool that generates MSI installer packages. We recommend using version 3.0 or later. If you see a message that the "Vortive" component won't install, that's not a problem, just continue.

### 2.2 Libraries

openMSX depends on the following libraries:

SDL
  Simple DirectMedia Layer, a cross-platform library that provides low-level access to video, audio and input devices.
SDL_ttf
  Library that provides support for TrueType Fonts in SDL.
libpng
  Library for handling PNG images.
libxml2
  XML C library, originally developed for GNOME.
zlib
  Library for file compression.
Tcl
  The Tool Command Language, an embeddable scripting language. openMSX requires Tcl 8.5; older versions will not work.
OpenGL (optional)
  Library for accelerated graphics. It is likely that OpenGL is already installed on your system. If not, you should probably get the OpenGL implementation from the manufacturer of your graphics card. On Linux, using Mesa with a DRI driver can be an alternative.
GLEW (optional)
  The OpenGL Extension Wrangler, a library that greatly simplifies the use of OpenGL extensions.
Ogg (optional)
  The Laserdisc emulation expects files in the Ogg container format for the video and audio of Laserdiscs.
Vorbis (optional)
  The Laserdisc emulation expects audio encoded with Vorbis in the ogg container format for the audio of Laserdiscs. Vorbis was chosen since it is not patent-encumbered.
Theora (optional)
  The Laserdisc emulation expects video encoded with the Theora codec in the ogg container format for the video of Laserdiscs. Again, Theora was chosen since it is not patent-encumbered.

#### gcc

You can install the required libraries systemwide, or you can use the "3rd party libraries" support in the openMSX build system and build a stand-alone binary. Systemwide is recommended if you run a modular operating system (such as Linux, BSD or Mac OS X with MacPorts or Fink) and you intend to only use the openMSX binary on your computer. The 3rd party library system is recommended if you build for other operating systems (Windows, plain Mac OS X or embedded systems) or if you want to build a binary that can be used on other computers besides your own. If you choose the latter, please skip to the Stand-alone Binary chapter.

##### Debian and Ubuntu Linux

You can easily install all required packages using the "build dependencies" feature of the APT package manager:

sudo apt-get build-dep openmsx

Do note that if the Debian/Ubuntu package that is in the version of the distribution you are currently running is older than the openMSX version you are trying to compile (which is typically so), you might miss some dependencies that were added in the newer version. The build system will complain and you will have to install the remaining (missing) packages manually. Read on to get some tips about that.

##### Dingux

We only support the Stand-alone Binary method, which means the openMSX build system will download and compile all libraries automatically.

##### Other Linux

Most Linux distributions have libraries split over two packages: a runtime package and a development package. The runtime package for the "Foo" library is typically called `libfoo`, the development package is typically named `libfoo-dev` or `libfoo-devel`. Applications that use a library only require the runtime package to be installed, but compilation requires both the runtime package and the development package to be installed.

##### Mac OS X

The easiest thing to do is to use the stand-alone binary method, which will get the libraries automatically. If you want to do things manually, you can get the libraries from either MacPorts or Fink. These are tools to give you access to a large collection of software packages (or ports). You can use them to install those packages (or ports). If you are using MacPorts, you should install the ports `libpng`, `libsdl` and `libsdl_ttf`. If you are using Fink, you should install the packages `libpng3`, `sdl` and `sdl-ttf`.

##### Microsoft Windows

We strongly recommend using the Stand-alone Binary method, which means the openMSX build system will download and compile all libraries automatically.

#### Visual C++

When building with Visual C++, the optional libraries mentioned above are arranged as follows:

- Headers and libraries for OpenGL are included with Visual C++ by default.
- The GLEW, Ogg, Theora and Vorbis libraries are required.

Also, when building with Visual C++, the "3rd party libraries" support in the openMSX build system must be used. The resulting binary statically links in all dependencies, including the C runtime. For more details, please see the Stand-alone Binary chapter.

## 3. Getting the Source Code

openMSX is developed using the tools SourceForge.net freely offers to open source projects. The code is stored in Subversion (SVN), an open source version management system. Once in a while an openMSX release is made.

There are several options for getting the source code:

Released Version
  These are tested versions, which should give you little problem compiling and running. However, as openMSX development if often quite fast, they may not have all the latest features. Also there could be bugs that have been fixed since the last release.
SVN Checkout
  Through SVN you can get the same development version the openMSX developers are using. This is the bleeding edge: the latest stuff, which may be great or may be horribly broken. Usually openMSX SVN compiles and runs fine, but we're only human, so once in a while it breaks. Also there may be changes that are not documented yet.

Releases are intended for general users, SVN is intended for (would be) developers, heavy testers and people who want to follow new developments closely. It might be a good idea to play with a release first. If you like what you see and want to get in deeper, you can switch to SVN later. An SVN checkout is very comfortable, because then you can do efficient incremental updates, saving network bandwidth and compile time.

If you downloaded a version that is either a lot older or a lot newer than this guide, it is a good idea to read the guide included in your downloaded version instead of the version you're reading right now. You can find the Compilation Guide in the directory `doc/manual`.

### 3.1 Released Version

You can download a released version of openMSX from the download page at SourceForge. The latest version is probably the best one. This guide assumes that you are using the latest release.

After downloading, type the following in a UNIX or MSYS shell, or use another decompression tool:

tar xzvf openmsx-VERSION.tar.gz

in which `VERSION` is the openMSX version you downloaded, or use the file name you saved the tar.gz file with. The directory that is created by uncompressing the `tar.gz` file is called the top of the source tree.

### 3.2 SVN Checkout

Getting a SVN checkout means you use SVN to retrieve the latest version of the source code of openMSX. This means you will need to install an SVN client. This package is usually named `subversion`. There are graphical front-ends for SVN, but this guide will tell you how to use SVN from the command line. More information about SVN can be found on the Subversion book site.

Windows users might want to look at SlikSVN for a command line tool, TortoiseSVN for Windows Explorer integration, or ankhSVN for Visual Studio integration.

With the following line you can retrieve the latest sources (also works on Windows when using SlikSVN):

svn co https://openmsx.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openmsx/openmsx/trunk openMSX

In this line you specified where you want to retrieve the files from (host name of the SVN server), what project you want to retrieve (openmsx in this case), what module you want to get (openmsx in this case, which is the module that contains the sources of the main openMSX program), which branch you want to retrieve (trunk in this case, which is the main development branch) and what directory it should be checked out to (we chose openMSX in this example).

In TortoiseSVN, use `https://openmsx.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openmsx/openmsx/trunk` as the "URL of repository" and the directory of your choice as the "Checkout directory". Use the `HEAD` revision and click OK. When compiling openMSX on Windows with gcc, it's often convenient to use `C:\msys\1.0\home\<username>\openMSX` as the checkout directory, as this is easy to reach from an MSYS shell - it's your MSYS home directory.

If you're a developer, it makes sense to add the following option to the svn commandline as well:

--username <name-of-your-sourceforge-account>

The SVN command created a directory called `openMSX` for you in the current directory (or in the "Checkout directory" you specified in TortoiseSVN). In addition to the openMSX code, you will see hidden SVN administration directories which are all called `svn` or `.svn`. Do not mess with these (nor move contents of this checkout directory around), otherwise SVN will get confused. This directory created by SVN is what we will call in this manual the top of the source tree.

If you want to update your source tree later, go to the top of the source tree and type:

svn up

or right click on the openMSX directory in Windows Explorer and select "SVN Update".

## 4. Binary for Local System

This section explains how to build openMSX for a local system. If you want to create a binary that runs everywhere, we recommend you to skip this chapter and use the stand-alone binary method. We also recommend to do that for Mac OS X and especially for Microsoft Windows systems.

### 4.1 Compilation

Now that all the necessary tools and libraries are installed, you are almost ready to start the actual compilation of openMSX.

#### gcc

The first thing you may want to know is that you can build openMSX in different flavours. The default flavour depends on the CPU, but is always one that is optimized for performance. For example for x86 processors the default flavour is "i686": i.e., with optimisations for Pentium II and higher, without any debugging stuff. Note: On an older VIA Epia (with the Samuel 2 CPU at least), a binary built with "i686" flavour will not run. Please use the "opt" flavour for that platform.

If you are testing new openMSX developments or making changes in openMSX, you can benefit from asserts and debug symbols. To get those, you should select the "devel" flavour, like this:

export OPENMSX_FLAVOUR=devel

Although the default flavours will probably be OK for most cases, you may want to write a specific flavour for your particular wishes. The flavour files are all named `build/flavour-*.mk`.

You can select the C++ compiler to be used like this:

export CXX=g++-4.2

This can be useful if the default compiler on your system is an old GCC version which is either not capable of compiling openMSX, or generates less efficient code.

Now we can let a script check if you have indeed all necessary libraries and headers installed. Go to the top of your openMSX source tree and run the following script:

./configure

This script will report what versions of libraries you have installed. It also reports which components can be built with those libraries. If the script reports that it can't build the openMSX core component, you should install the missing ones before you can continue. Otherwise, you can decide to install the libraries needed for the optional components, or to continue without building some components (e.g. the OpenGL based renderers).

If installing the correct libraries doesn't help, contact the openMSX developers. If you file a bug report, please attach the `probe.log` file that is written by the `configure` script in the directory `derived/<cpu>-<os>-<flavour>/config/`.

You can customise the build process by editing the file `build/custom.mk`. The most likely thing you might want to customise is the installation directory (`INSTALL_BASE`). If you are installing openMSX on a system on which you do not have superuser (root) privileges, you can set the installation directory to a subdirectory of your home directory.

After successfully running `configure`, it's time to compile everything. To start compilation, type:

make

Depending on how fast your system is, this may take several minutes to half an hour.

If you get errors during compilation, there may be something wrong that was not detected by configure. Verify that you installed all required libraries, both the run time and development packages. If that doesn't help, or we forgot to list a library openMSX depends on, contact the openMSX developers. Make sure you provide us with the error message you got.

##### Mac OS X

By default, openMSX is compiled for the type of CPU that is present in your Mac. If you want to build for a different CPU, use `export OPENMSX_TARGET_CPU=ppc` (PowerPC), `export OPENMSX_TARGET_CPU=x86` (32-bit Intel) or `export OPENMSX_TARGET_CPU=x86_64` (64-bit Intel). If you want to build a universal binary, use `export OPENMSX_TARGET_CPU=univ`.

If you have a G4 or better PPC CPU, using `export OPENMSX_FLAVOUR=ppcg4` may give you a faster openMSX executable.

#### Visual C++

While it is possible to configure the supplied Visual C++ project files to dynamically link against import libraries, this is not currently supported.

### 4.2 Installation

#### gcc

To install openMSX, run the following command:

make install

This installs openMSX, by default in `/opt/openMSX`. Note that only root has rights to write to system-wide directories such as `/opt`, so you may have to do `su` before `make install`, or use `sudo`.

##### Mac OS X

On Mac OS X, the build creates an application folder. You can "install" this by copying it to a different location. The application folder will depend on systemwide installed libraries, so it will not work on Macs without those libraries.

You can run openMSX from the application folder with the following command:

open derived/<cpu>-darwin-<flavour>/bindist/openMSX.app

If you want to see the messages openMSX prints to stdout and stderr, start openMSX like this:

derived/<cpu>-darwin-<flavour>/bindist/openMSX.app/Contents/MacOS/openmsx

## 5. Stand-alone Binary

This chapter describes how to build a binary of openMSX that does not depend on any library except those that are available on the platform by default. This procedure is highly recommended on Microsoft Windows. It is also recommended on Mac OS X if you are not a MacPorts or Fink user.

The stand-alone binary is made by linking statically against all libraries which are not available as part of the basic platform. The build system will automatically download the sources for these libraries and build them in the minimal configuration needed by openMSX.

### 5.1 Compilation

#### gcc

If you want to change something about this process, for example switch to a newer library release, edit the `build/3rdparty.mk` Makefile.

Just like for normal compilation, you can set environment variables such as `OPENMSX_FLAVOUR`, `CXX`, `OPENMSX_TARGET_CPU` and `OPENMSX_TARGET_OS`.

To build a stand-alone binary, run the following command at the top of the source tree:

make staticbindist

The final output files will be produced in `derived/<cpu>-<os>-<flavour>-3rd/bindist`.

##### Mac OS X

The final output is a DMG file (Mac disk image) containing the openMSX application folder and documentation. This file is internet-enabled, which means it will be automatically mounted after it is downloaded.

##### Microsoft Windows

Here's the very short version if you want quick results on Microsoft Windows with gcc:

- Open an MSYS shell
- Go to the top of the source tree (e.g.: `cd openMSX` if you chose the MSYS home directory as checkout directory)
- Type: `make staticbindist`

A complete package will be created in `derived\x86-mingw32-i686-3rd\bindist\install`.

If you additionally want to build the openMSX installer, you should refer to the `package-win32` module in our Subversion repository. It contains a README file with a manual.

Note: on a 64-bit Windows system, MinGW will pretend to have built 64-bit binaries (target directory is `derived\x86_64-mingw32-opt-3rd\bindist\install`), but they're actually just 32-bit.

##### Dingux

After having the toolchain installed, you can simply compile openMSX with this command:

make staticbindist OPENMSX_TARGET_CPU=mipsel OPENMSX_TARGET_OS=dingux OPENMSX_FLAVOUR=opt

When this is done, you can create the ZIP file for distribution with the following command:

sh build/package-dingux/package-dingux.sh

#### Visual C++

When building with Visual C++, the result is a static executable with minimal dynamic library dependencies. Two platforms are supported:

- Win32 - a 32-bit binary that runs on both 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows
- x64 - a native 64-bit binary that runs only on 64-bit versions of Windows

Three different configurations are supported:

- Debug: assertions enabled, debug prints enabled, no optimization, very slow
- Developer: assertions enabled, debug prints disabled, no optimization
- Release: assertions disabled, debug prints disabled, full optimization

When building with Visual C++, you can either use the IDE or build from the command line using `msbuild`. To do the latter, you need to open a Visual Studio command prompt. A shortcut to a Visual Studio command prompt can usually be found in your start menu. For Visual C++ 2010, it will be in "Microsoft Visual Studio 2010\Visual Studio Tools" as the "Visual Studio Command Prompt". For the Windows SDK, it will be in "Microsoft Windows SDK vX.Y" as the "CMD Shell"

In order to build openMSX, the libraries it depends on need to be downloaded and unpacked:

- Open a command prompt and go to the top of the openMSX source tree
- Type `python build\3rdparty_download.py windows`

The following steps can then be used to build openMSX:

- Open a Visual Studio command prompt
- Go to the top of the openMSX source tree
- To build 3rd party libraries, type `msbuild -p:Configuration=Release;Platform=Win32 build\3rdparty\3rdparty.sln`
- To build openMSX, type `msbuild -p:Configuration=Release;Platform=Win32 build\msvc\openmsx.sln`

The openMSX executable will be generated in `derived\Win32-VC-Release\install`.

To build for other platforms or configurations, simply replace "Release" and "Win32" in the command lines above with the desired options.

To build using the Visual C++ IDE, simply open the aforementioned solution files and from the Build menu select "Build Solution". This is exactly equivalent to building from the command line using `msbuild`.

### 5.2 Installation

#### Visual C++

The following step creates .zip and .msi installation packages for openMSX on Windows using WiX:

- Build openMSX and wxCatapult for a given platform (Win32 or x64) and configuration (usually Release builds)
- Go to the top of the openMSX source tree
- Run `build\package-windows\package.cmd platform configuration catapult_source_path`:
  - platform is one of { Win32, x64 }
  - configuration is one of { Release, Developer, Debug }
  - catapult_source_path is the path to the wxCatapult directory

An example command line would be (for 64 bit):

build\package-windows\package.cmd x64 Release ..\wxCatapult

The resulting package files can be found in `derived\x64-VC-Release\package-windows.`

#### Dingux

From the ZIP created in the previous step (or downloaded from the openMSX download site), copy the directory named `local` to the root of the Dingux miniSD card. If you have run Dingux from the miniSD card before, there will already be a directory named `local`. You can safely merge both directories.

To get it in your own menu, you'll have to add the openMSX entry to it yourself. Use the start up script `openmsx-start.sh` for this, which is installed in `local/bin`. Even without the menu, you will have to use this script to start openMSX, it won't work otherwise.

## 6. Next Steps

If all went well, you should have openMSX installed now or have a stand alone working binary. You can test it by executing openMSX from the command line:

openmsx

or, by double clicking the openMSX executable that resulted from the previous step.

You should get a screen similar to this:

    C-BIOS 0.24        cbios.sf.net

    No cartridge found.

    This version of C-BIOS can
    only start cartridges.
    Please restart your MSX
    (emulator) with a cartridge
    inserted.

C-BIOS MSX2+ is the default system BIOS used by openMSX. It was written from scratch by BouKiCHi and he was kind enough to let us distribute it together with openMSX. It is not perfect yet, but it runs many ROM games well. Nowadays C-BIOS is a separate SourceForge.net project, with its own web page.

If you have a ROM image ready, you can try to run it with C-BIOS:

openmsx ~/msx/games/my-favourite-game.rom

or, you can just drop it on the openMSX executable.

The next step would be to read the openMSX Setup Guide. That document describes how you can configure openMSX to emulate actual MSX machines, such as the Panasonic FS-A1GT (turboR). It also describes how you can have openMSX start up with your personal settings, how you can configure openMSX and your system for optimal performance and several other configuration related topics. And finally there is of course the openMSX User's Manual, which describes all the things you can do with openMSX once it is fully running.

If you got stuck somewhere in the compilation and installation process, please contact us. The next chapter will tell you how.

##### Mac OS X

By default openMSX will not be in your search path. So to start it, you will have to specify the full path on the command line. For example:

/opt/openMSX/bin/openmsx

If you built an application folder, you can run it from Finder or from the command line:

open derived/<cpu>-darwin-app-<flavour>/bindist/openMSX.app

We do not have a finished GUI yet that works on Mac OS X, so you can either use openMSX from the command line for now, or use third party software like Nekolauncher openMSX or openMSX Peashooter.

##### Microsoft Windows

You can use the Catapult launcher to run openMSX.

## 7. Contact Info

Since openMSX is still under heavy development, feedback and bug reports are very welcome!

If you encounter problems, you have several options:

1. If you're a regular user and want to discuss openMSX and possible problems, join our `openmsx-user` mailing list. More info on the openMSX mailing lists, including an archive of old messages, can be found at SourceForge.
2. Go to our IRC channel: `#openMSX` on `irc.freenode.net` and ask your question there. Also reachable via webchat! If you don't get a reply immediately, please stick around for a while, or ask your question on the mailinglist (see below). The majority of the developers lives in time zone GMT+1. You may get no response if you contact them in the middle of the night...
3. If you want to address the openMSX developers directly, post a message to the `openmsx-devel` mailing list. More info on the openMSX mailing lists, including an archive of old messages, can be found at SourceForge.
4. Use one of the openMSX trackers at SourceForge. At the moment of writing, there are four trackers: Bugs, Support Requests, Patches and Feature Requests.
5. Post a message on the forum on www.openmsx.org.

In all cases, please provide as much information as possible when you describe your bug or request.

#### gcc

For experienced users: if you get a crash or a hang, try to provide a `gdb` backtrace. This will only work if you did not strip the openMSX binary of its debug symbols.

Another useful thing to do is to install the debug versions of libstdc++ and libc6, and then run openmsx with an `LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/debug` exported in the environment. This will give a more detailed stacktrace, especially in optimized code.

#### Visual C++

For experienced users: if you get a crash or a hang, try to provide a user dump. This will work for any openMSX binary, including pre-built binaries obtained from www.openmsx.org.

As of Windows Vista SP1 and later operating systems, you can find user dump files for crashed processes in the "%LocalAppData%\CrashDumps" directory. The default Windows crash dump behavior can be further customized as per MSDN.

To generate a user dump on demand on any Windows OS, please read KB286350.

$Id: compile.html 12337 2011-12-30 18:22:44Z mthuurne $