How to build the eLynx projects for Linux OS?

Last Updated: 22th of August 2010

Main steps to build the projects:

• Make sure you have sufficient tools for building,
• Download the boost library,
• Download the wxWidgets library for eLynx Lab,
• Download the latest sources and build a target.

If you have problems building project feel free to contact us.
Send us informations about your os and error messages you are dealing with.

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Build for linux

Note that commands are based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, a Debian distribution.
Please adapt them to your distribution.

1 - Make sure you have sufficient tools for building

Before trying to build make sure to have a good compiler version:

• gcc with at least version 4 is required to build eLynx,
• scons is required.

To install all tools and dependencies, run: Building tools and basics libraries:

• $ sudo apt-get install build-essential
• $ sudo apt-get install gcc
• $ sudo apt-get install xlibs-static-dev
• $ sudo apt-get install scons

For the eLynx SDK we use the boost library:

• Boost library need to be installed for low level utilities.
  $ sudo apt-get install libboost-dev

For the eLynx Lab application we need the wxWidgets library:

• wxWidgets 2.8.11 library need to be installed to handle cross-platform GUI.
  $ sudo apt-get install libwxgtk2.8-dev

2 - Download the eLynx project sources

• for team members, get the latest sources from CVS repository at sourceforge (may be unstable).
  $ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@elynx.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/elynx co -P eLynx
  After the command has been run, a new path eLynx has been created. It contains all sources and some datas for testing.

• for external developers, get the latest stable sources at sourceforge download page.

3 - Build and run eLynx sdk based applications

We do not use usual autoconf/automake tools.
eLynx projects are built using scons.
Targets are built by invoking scons command in the main eLynx directory.
It's the directory which contains the main SConscript file.


Note that applications are generated in bin/linux2d in debug mode or in bin/linux2 in release mode.

• To build a target just run the command (by default in debug mode):
  $ scons target
  Intermediate objects are built in build/linux2d directory, executables or shared libraries are built in bin/linux2d directory.

• To build a target in optimized mode
  $ scons target release=1
  Intermediate objects are built in build/linux2 directory, executables or shared libraries are built in bin/linux2 directory.

To run an application first export:
$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=./:./plugins
then go to the executable directory:
$ cd bin/linux2d for the debug mode or,
$ cd bin/linux2 for the release mode.

Available applications to run:

• $ ./sdkV2
• $ ./utPixels
• $ ./utIFF
• $ ./utImage
• $ ./Samples
• $ ./eLynxLab

To clean all target:
$ scons -c

To speed up the build you can use the -j option with the number of core of your computer:
$ scons eLynxLab -j 6

Available targets:

• eLynx SDK libs:
  • core: build the libeLynxCore.so library.
  • math: build the libeLynxMath.so library.
  • image: build the libeLynxImage.so library.
  • sdk: install all sdk targets: core + math + image.

• Image File Format plugins:
  • tiff: tiff format based on libtiff-4.0.0.beta6,
  • fits: fits format based on CFITSIO-3.25,
  • jpeg: jpeg format based on libjpeg-8b,
  • j2k: jpeg2000 format based on OpenJPEG-1.3,
  • png: png format based on libpng-1.4.3,
  • gif: gif format based on libGIF-3.56,
  • raw: 'raw' formats based on dcraw-9.02,
  • bmp: microsoft bitmap format based on easyBMP-1.06,
  • ppm: ppm format internal,
  • psd: psd format internal,
  • tga: targa format internal,
  • iff: install all plugins targets.

• Applications using the eLynx SDK:
  • sdkV2: first unit tests for the sdk,
  • utPixels: install tests for pixels handing,
  • utIFF: install tests for Image File Formats handing,
  • utImage: install tests for ImageVariant handing,
  • Samples: install samples explaining how to use the ImageVariant class,
  • sdkV3: install all utXXX + Samples programs,
  • eLynxLab: install eLynx Lab GUI for image processing.

Here are some examples of using scons command:

• builds and runs eLynx lab in release mode, from the eLynx main directory:
  $ scons eLynxLab release=1
$ cd bin/linux2
$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=./:./plugins
$ ./eLynxLab

• builds and runs utIFF in debug mode, from the eLynx main directory:
  $ scons utIFF
$ cd bin/linux2d
$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=./:./plugins
$ ./utIFF

For now, to load image plugins correctly, you have to execute binaries from that directory. There is no installation to some system location, like /usr/local at the moment.

In case you have any problem, post them preferably through the eLynx_sdk forum. Don't forget to mention your linux distribution, gcc version and wxWidgets version.