1 INSTALL file for the Windows9x/2k/XP version of vlc, the VideoLAN Client
3 Running VideoLAN Client
4 =======================
6 If you have already built vlc (see below) or are using a binary release,
9 You can also run vlc from a dos command box, in which case you'll be able
10 to use the command line arguments. You can obtain a list of these command
11 line arguments by typing 'vlc --help'.
12 To store a debug log of the current vlc session, you can use
13 'vlc -vvvvv --intf=logger nameofyourvideofile', but this will unfortunatly
14 disable the GUI. You will end-up with a vlc.log file in your current directory.
16 If you want to play a DVD, run vlc and click on the Disc option in the
17 interface. You then have to type your drive letter in the 'Device name'
18 box (eg. 'D' if this is the letter for your dvdrom drive).
19 ( !WARNING: you have to be in administrator mode (for now) on Win2k/XP or the
22 Building VideoLAN Client from the source code
23 =============================================
25 If you want to do the tricky job of building vlc from sources, you can do it
28 - natively on Windows, using MSYS+MINGW (www.mingw.org)
29 (MSYS is a minimal build environnement to compile unixish projects under
30 windoze. It provides all the common unix tools like sh, gmake...)
32 - natively on Windows, using cygwin (www.cygwin.com) with or without the
35 - or on Linux, using the mingw32 cross-compiler
37 Getting the right tools
38 =======================
40 - cross-compiling with mingw32:
41 All the necessary tools you need can be found on the videolan web site:
42 http://www.videolan.org/vlc/windows.html
44 You first need to download a linux cross-compiler version of mingw32.
45 (for Debian GNU/Linux users, there is a mingw32 package)
47 You must also not forget to install the extra development packages if you want
48 to build the DirectX, GTK and SDL plugins.
50 - compiling natively on Windoze with MSYS+MINGW:
51 You will need to download and install the latest MSYS (version 1.0.7 as
53 The installation is really easy. Begin with the MSYS auto-installer and once
54 this is done, extract MINGW into c:\msys\1.0\mingw. You also have to remember
55 to remove the make utility included with MINGW as it conflicts with the one
56 from MSYS (just rename or remove c:\msys\1.0\mingw\bin\make.exe).
58 http://www.mingw.org/download.shtml
59 http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/MSYS-1.0.7-i686-2.exe
60 http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/MinGW-1.1.tar.gz
62 You must also not forget to install the extra development packages if you want
63 to build the DirectX, GTK and SDL plugins.
64 (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/windows.html)
67 NOTE: by default, the GTK package is configured to be installed in
68 /usr/local/gtk-win32, if you want to change this path, then you need to edit
69 the gtk-win32/bin/gtk-config file and change "gtk_dir=" accordingly.
70 The same is true for the SDL package, it is installed in
71 /usr/local/SDL-1.2.3-win32 by default and you need to change "prefix=" in
72 SDL-1.2.3-win32/i386-mingw32msvc/bin/sdl-config if you plan to extract the
73 archive in a different directory.
75 - compiling natively on Windoze with cygwin:
76 You will need to download and install cygwin (www.cygwin.com).
78 You must also not forget to install the extra development packages if you want
79 to build the DirectX, GTK and SDL plugins.
80 (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/windows.html)
85 The best way to configure the build process of vlc is to use the
88 See `./configure --help' for more information.
90 If you are cross-compiling from Debian, you can use something
94 CC=i586-mingw32msvc-gcc \
95 ./configure --host=i586-mingw32msvc --build=i386-linux \
96 --with-gtk-config-path=/usr/local/gtk-win32/bin \
97 --with-sdl-config-path=/usr/local/SDL-1.2.3-win32/i386-mingw32msvc/bin \
98 --with-directx=/usr/local/dxheaders \
99 --with-dvdcss-tree=../libdvdcss-win
101 If you are cross-compiling using the mingw32 package provided by
102 www.videolan.org, you have to use something along those lines:
105 CC=i586-mingw32msvc-gcc \
106 PATH=/usr/local/cross-tools/bin:$PATH \
107 ./configure --host=i586-mingw32msvc --build=i386-linux \
108 --with-gtk-config-path=/usr/local/gtk-win32/bin \
109 --with-sdl-config-path=/usr/local/SDL-1.2.3-win32/i386-mingw32msvc/bin \
110 --with-directx=/usr/local/dxheaders \
111 --with-dvdcss-tree=../libdvdcss-win
113 If you are compiling natively on Windoze, then you can use something
117 --with-gtk-config-path=/c/dev/gtk-win32/bin \
118 --with-sdl-config-path=/c/dev/SDL-1.2.3-win32/i386-mingw32msvc/bin \
119 --with-directx=/c/dev/dxheaders \
120 --with-dvdcss-tree=../libdvdcss-win
122 If you are using cygwin, you can build vlc with or without the unix emulation
123 layer (without is usually better). To build without the emulaion layer, use
126 CC="gcc -mno-cygwin" \
128 --with-gtk-config-path=/cygdrive/c/dev/gtk-win32/bin \
129 --with-sdl-config-path=/cygdrive/c/dev/SDL-1.2.3-win32/i386-mingw32msvc/bin \
130 --with-directx=/cygdrive/c/dev/dxheaders \
131 --with-dvdcss-tree=../libdvdcss-win
132 If you want to use the emulation layer, then just omit the CC="gcc -mno-cygwin"
135 Note: when using the --with-dvdcss-tree you need to compile the tree
138 Building VideoLAN Client
139 ========================
141 Have a look at the generated Makefile.opts file, you may want to choose
142 which modules will be compiled as plugins, and which ones will remain in
143 the core application. The configure script tries to guess for you.
145 Once configured, to build vlc you have to:
147 If you are cross-compiling from Debian or compiling natively on Windoze,
148 then just run `make'.
150 If you are cross-compiling using the mingw32 package provided by
151 www.videolan.org, run `PATH=/usr/local/cross-tools/bin:$PATH make'.
153 Building Win32 interface with bcc32 (Borland's compiler)
154 ========================================================
155 (This stage is only necessary if you want to use the Win32 native interface.
156 If you are happy with the GTK interface, then you can skip this section)
158 1) Compile vlc as usual.
160 2) From the plugin\win32 directory, use Borland C++ command-line tools
162 bpr2mak intfwin.bpr -s \
163 | sed 's#^LIBPATH = .*#&;$$(RELEASELIBPATH)# ; s#^USERDEFINES = .*#& -DWIN32 -D__PLUGIN__ -DMODULE_NAME_IS_intfwin -DMODULE_NAME=intfwin#' \
164 > intfwin.mak // Create a makefile from intfwin.bpr
165 make -fintfwin // It's Borland's make utility !
167 3) This should create a intfwin.so
168 You can remove any other generated file.
171 Well done, now you're ready to use vlc!
172 =======================================