unable to build Rack from source

Development
#1

Hello, I’m trying to build Rack from source to be able to debug plugins I’m currently working on more effectively. Most of the dependencies build went ok, but I sadly, I’m hitting an error. Any Ideas how to solve that?

loren@DESKTOP-2OQJVBI MINGW64 /c/users/loren/documents/dev/rack
# make dep
make -C dep
make[1]: Entering directory '/c/users/loren/documents/dev/rack/dep'
cd speexdsp && ./autogen.sh
Updating build configuration files, please wait....
' is already registered with AC_CONFIG_FILES.
../autoconf-2.71/lib/autoconf/status.m4:289: AC_CONFIG_FILES is expanded from...
configure.ac:317: the top level
autom4te-2.71: error: /usr/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 1
aclocal-1.16: error: /usr/bin/autom4te-2.71 failed with exit status: 1
autoreconf-2.71: error: aclocal failed with exit status: 1
make[1]: *** [Makefile:172: lib/libspeexdsp.a] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/c/users/loren/documents/dev/rack/dep'
make: *** [Makefile:109: dep] Error 2

Thanks a Lot!

Edit: I’m on Win10 and I’ve done all the Windows setup instructions I want to build the latest version:

git clone https://github.com/VCVRack/Rack.git
cd Rack
git submodule update --recursive --init
make dep
#2

Hi @LorenzNew! Maybe I can help. I have built Rack from source on Linux, but not Windows like you are doing. Did you follow the Windows setup instructions? Specifically, I wonder if you have installed the required tools like m4 correctly. I don’t know if you really have /usr/bin/m4 for example on a Windows system. From your shell, what happens when you do this?

ls -l /usr/bin/m4
#3

on Windows 11, I do this:

in a MSYS2 MINGW64 shell:

pacman -Syu

git clone https://github.com/VCVRack/Rack.git
cd Rack
git submodule update --recursive --init
RTAUDIO_ASIO=1 make -j8 dep
make -j8
cd plugins
git clone https://github.com/VCVRack/Fundamental.git
cd Fundamental
make -j8 dist
cd ../..
make -j8 dist

ls -l dist

vcvrack.com: VCV Manual - Building

did you do git submodule update --recursive --init ?

#4

@LorenzNew It’s easier to help if you give as more information, e.g. what OS are you using and which Rack version are you going to build?

1 Like
#5

You might need to run pacman -Su pkg-config.

(Please let me know if that works.)

#6

All the suggestions so far are reasonable. don’t think we can do much until OP gives more info…

1 Like
#7

Thanks a lot! Yes I did that, several time actually :slight_smile:

loren@DESKTOP-2OQJVBI MINGW64  ~ 
# ls -l /usr/bin/m4
-rwxr-xr-x 1 loren loren 263912 Dec 29  2021 /usr/bin/m4

I updated my first post with more Information on my system.

Thanks for your fast support!

#8

I executed that command, but I still get the error.

#9

Is this a new install of msys2 or and old one? I’ve had problems before where I installed the wrong things with Pacman and eventually had to delete my msys2 and start over. Also, could you correct the spelling in the topic of this thread? That extra ‘t’ in “unable” is distracting.

btw, this isn’t “support”, this is just random ppl trying to help.

1 Like
#10

In my first attempt, I stupidly installed msysy2 into “Program Files” which broke a lot because of the space in that path. So I reinstalled it into C:/

#11

I think this was the solution. After executing the command, I had to start from a freshly cloned repository, but now I got a finished dependencies build.

Thanks a lot!!

So if anyone comes here in the future, try

pacman -Su pkg-config.

and run make dep on a fresh repo

5 Likes
#12

@Richie what does that magic incantation do? Should it be in the instructions?

1 Like
#13

It installs a tool that’s used by the libspeexdsp build script, and yes - I’ve asked Andrew to add it to the instructions.

2 Likes