Installation
============

Downloading
-----------

You can get the latest release of the SIP source code from
http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/sip/download.

SIP is also included with all of the major Linux distributions.  However, it
may be a version or two out of date.


Configuring
-----------

After unpacking the source package (either a ``.tar.gz`` or a ``.zip`` file
depending on your platform) you should then check for any ``README`` files
that relate to your platform.

Next you need to configure SIP by executing the ``configure.py`` script.  For
example::

    python configure.py

This assumes that the Python interpreter is on your path.  Something like the
following may be appropriate on Windows::

    c:\python26\python configure.py

If you have multiple versions of Python installed then make sure you use the
interpreter for which you wish SIP to generate bindings for.

The full set of command line options is:

.. program:: configure.py

.. cmdoption:: --version

    Display the SIP version number.

.. cmdoption:: -h, --help

    Display a help message.

.. cmdoption:: --arch <ARCH>

    Binaries for the MacOS/X architecture ``<ARCH>`` will be built.  This
    option should be given once for each architecture to be built.  Specifying
    more than one architecture will cause a universal binary to be created.

.. cmdoption:: -b <DIR>, --bindir <DIR>

    The SIP code generator will be installed in the directory ``<DIR>``.

.. cmdoption:: -d <DIR>, --destdir <DIR>

    The SIP module will be installed in the directory ``<DIR>``.

.. cmdoption:: -e <DIR>, --incdir <DIR>

    The SIP header file will be installed in the directory ``<DIR>``.

.. cmdoption:: -k, --static

    The SIP module will be built as a static library.  This is useful when
    building the SIP module as a Python builtin (see :ref:`ref-builtin`).

.. cmdoption:: -n, --universal

    The SIP code generator and module will be built as universal binaries
    under MacOS/X.  If the :option:`--arch <configure.py --arch>` option has
    not been specified then the universal binary will include the ``i386`` and
    ``ppc`` architectures.

.. cmdoption:: -p <PLATFORM>, --platform <PLATFORM>

    Explicitly specify the platform/compiler to be used by the build system,
    otherwise a platform specific default will be used.  The
    :option:`--show-platforms <configure.py --show-platforms>` option will
    display all the supported platform/compilers.

.. cmdoption:: -s <SDK>, --sdk <SDK>

    If the :option:`--universal <configure.py -n>` option was given then this
    specifies the name of the SDK directory.  If a path is not given then it is
    assumed to be a sub-directory of ``/Developer/SDKs``.

.. cmdoption:: -u, --debug

    The SIP module will be built with debugging symbols.

.. cmdoption:: -v <DIR>, --sipdir <DIR>

    By default ``.sip`` files will be installed in the directory ``<DIR>``.

.. cmdoption:: --show-platforms

    The list of all supported platform/compilers will be displayed.

.. cmdoption:: --show-build-macros

    The list of all available build macros will be displayed.

The ``configure.py`` script takes many other options that allows the build
system to be finely tuned.  These are of the form ``name=value`` or
``name+=value``.  The :option:`--show-build-macros <configure.py
--show-build-macros>` option will display each supported ``name``, although not
all are applicable to all platforms.

The ``name=value`` form means that ``value`` will replace the existing value of
``name``.

The ``name+=value`` form means that ``value`` will be appended to the existing
value of ``name``.

For example, the following will disable support for C++ exceptions (and so
reduce the size of module binaries) when used with GCC::

    python configure.py CXXFLAGS+=-fno-exceptions

A pure Python module called ``sipconfig.py`` is generated by ``configure.py``.
This defines each ``name`` and its corresponding ``value``.  Looking at it will
give you a good idea of how the build system uses the different options.  It is
covered in detail in :ref:`ref-build-system`.


Configuring for MinGW
*********************

SIP, and the modules it generates, can be built with MinGW, the Windows port of
GCC.  You must use the :option:`--platform <configure.py -p>` command line
option to specify the correct platform.  For example::

    c:\python26\python configure.py --platform win32-g++


Building
--------

The next step is to build SIP by running your platform's ``make`` command.  For
example::

    make

The final step is to install SIP by running the following command::

    make install

(Depending on your system you may require root or administrator privileges.)

This will install the various SIP components.
