How can I build the GPL and LGPL version of Xuggle Xuggler?

Question

Are there specific steps I can take to build the Xuggle Xuggler source code from Windows 32-bit, Windows 64-bit, Linux 32-bit, and Linux 64-bit? I've tried multiple times on multiple systems and keep getting lots of different errors.

Update

I spent several days trying to get Xuggle Xuggler to compile (and cross-compile). I successfully tackled compiling both the original GPL version of the code and an LGPL version. I thought I'd post an answer to my own question on Stack Overflow to share my knowledge.

Update on Raspberry Pi

I was also able to build and run Xuggler on the Raspberry Pi following these same basic instructions below. I just used my LGPL version of the code that I maintain on Github, and made modifications for the Pi. I can use the compiled JAR file and binaries on my Radxa Rock (another ARM device) too. If you're interested in building on the Pi, you can use my pi branch:

https://github.com/e-d/xuggle-xuggler

If you are lazy and just want the precompiled .jar files for the Pi/ARM:

GPL Version (supports H.264)

LGPL Version (no H.264 support)

Waugh

Please share the compiled binaries of xuggler for Raspberry pi via some file sharing service like GoogleDocs etc, it would be a huge help from your side. – Linked

You can download what I call the "Magic Xuggler Jar" that I built on Raspberry Pi and have used on several ARM devices here: goo.gl/9PHwKh – Waugh

@Waugh - is this post also relevant if I need to build the java (jar) version? – Trotline

Yes. Building the jar is the goal. The difficulty comes with the system-dependent binaries inside the jar. – Waugh

Answer 1

Here is a formatted version of my answer in a published Google Document.

For completeness (and in case the link goes dead one day), here is less-nicely-formatted text:

Building Xuggle Xuggler (GPL and LGPL Licensed Versions)

[Linux 32-bit, Linux 64-bit, Windows 32-bit, Windows 64-bit]

To build the Xuggle Xuggler library, you will need two Linux virtual machines running Ubuntu 11.10 (32-bit and 64-bit operating systems). A 32-bit version of the OS is required to build Linux 32-bit, cross compiling Windows 32-bit, and cross compiling Windows 64-bit binaries. A 64-bit version of the OS is required to build Linux 64-bit binaries.

Using VirtualBox, I created the two virtual machines discussed above with the ubuntu-11.10-server-i386.iso and ubuntu-11.10-server-amd64.iso disk images. These are headless server versions of Ubuntu. After installation of the OS, follow these steps to build Xuggler (you are welcome to try different dependency versions and not use the root user, but this is what I did to build successfully):

Change to root user:

sudo su

Just use root’s home directory:

cd /root

Update apt-get to use specific repository:

apt-get install python-software-properties
add-apt-repository ppa:ferramroberto/java
apt-get update

Install Java:

apt-get install sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-plugin

Verify the HotSpot Java 6 JVM is the default java:

java -version

If the incorrect version of Java appears, configure the default by running:

update-alternatives --config java

Install gcc, g++, make and all the other build essentials:

apt-get install build-essential

Install YASM:

apt-get install yasm

Install Open SSL:

apt-get install openssl

Install Package Config:

apt-get install pkg-config

Install Git:

apt-get install git

Install Ant:

apt-get install ant-optional

Install JUnit:

apt-get install junit

Install MingGW to be able to build for Windows (mingw-w64 can do 32 and 64-bit Windows):

apt-get install mingw-w64

Download the LGPL configured Xuggle source code (Ed’s fork of the code from Jeff Wallace’s fork from the original GPL xuggle code) or the original GPL version:

LGPL: git clone https://github.com/e-d/xuggle-xuggler.git
GPL: git clone https://github.com/xuggle/xuggle-xuggler.git 

Compile and build the JAR files (with binaries inside). Be sure to run the 64-bit Linux build on the 64-bit version of Ubuntu. Also note that between builds you will need to run “ant clobber” to remove all of the compiled files from the previous architecture. To build run:

(32/64-bit Linux): ant stage
(64-bit Windows): ant -Dbuild.configure.os=x86_64-w64-mingw32 stage
(32-bit Windows): ant -Dbuild.configure.os=i686-w64-mingw32 stage

The JAR files will be in the /dist/lib directory.

If you need the Linux binaries to additionally work on CentOS, you’ll now need to change the version of GCC and G++ to use 3.4 instead of 3.6.

Install GCC 4.4:

apt-get install gcc-4.4

Update symbolic links to use 4.4 (the arch-specific link will be different on 32-bit VM):

rm /usr/bin/gcc
ln -s /usr/bin/gcc-4.4 /usr/bin/gcc
rm /usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc
ln -s /usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc-4.4 /usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc

Install C++ (G++) 4.4:

apt-get install c++-4.4

Update symbolic links to use 4.4 (the arch-specific link will be different on 32-bit VM):

rm /usr/bin/cpp
ln -s /usr/bin/cpp-4.4 /usr/bin/cpp
rm /usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-cpp
ln -s /usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-cpp-4.4 /usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-cpp
rm /usr/bin/g++
ln -s /usr/bin/g++-4.4 /usr/bin/g++
rm /usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-g++
ln -s /usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-g++-4.4 /usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-g++

Verify default versions:

gcc --version
c++ --version
cpp --version
gcc --version

You can now run the builds the same way as before (you only need to re-build Linux binaries). The binaries will now be compatible with slightly older versions of many Linux distros (including CentOS compatibility). These 4.4 compiled binaries should still work everywhere the 4.6 compiled versions would run too.

Special thanks to this blog for pointing me in the right direction and giving me the majority of what I detailed above.

Waugh