Building Xenode

After checking out the source code successfully, you are ready to build Xenode.

WARNING

As of now (7-11-2024), Xenode only works on Windows, while the builds for Linux and Mac are still under development.

WARNING

Make sure the source code is checked out by git using the --recursive option to make sure that all the submodules are initialized and checked out. If the submodules are not checked out, navigate to the source code and run:

git submodule init

git submodule update

Development Environment Setup in Windows

The preffered developement environment for Xenode in Windows is Microsoft Visual Studio. To setup Visual Studio:

1. Download the Visual Studio Community Edition Installer from here.
2. Run the installer and select Desktop development in C++. Optionally, select C++ Clang tools for Windows under the optional section in the right panel. Clang toolchain might be useful for debugging.
3. Click on Install While downloading. You can optionally change this to Download all, then install.

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Xenode requires few pre-built libraries from the Vulkan SDK for a successful build. Before building Xenode, Vulkan SDK needs to be setup.

1. Download the latest version of Vulkan SDK Installer for Windows from the following link.
2. Run the installer and follow the instructions.
3. Under the Select Components section, make sure to select Shader Toolchain Debug Symbols - 64-bit
4. Create a environment variable VULKAN_SDK and set its path to the Vulkan SDK installation.

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Xenode uses premake as the build system, to setup premake:

1. Download premake binaries from here
2. Extract the zip file, place the binary in a arbitrary path (say D:\dev\premake)
3. Add the path where the binary is extracted to the PATH environment variable.

Now you are all set to go!

Configuring and Building Xenode

Now that the development environment is setup, the project needs to he configured by premake.

Navigate to the folder where the source code of Xenode in the Command Prompt:

cd <path_to_source>

Run premake to generate all the project files:

premake5 vs2022

Now the .sln file and all the .vcxproj files are generated by premake, you are ready to Build/Debug Xenode,

Open the Xenode.sln file in Visual Studio and click on the run button to build Xenode. This might take 10 to 15 minutes depending on your machine.

Optionally, you can build Xenode in the Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt. Open the Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt, navigate to your source directory and run:

msbuild Xenode.sln