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WINDOWS BUILD NOTES

Below are some notes on how to build Bitcoin Cash Node for Windows.

Please note that from BCHN v0.21.3 onwards, building for Win32 is no longer officially supported (and build system capabilities related to this may be removed).

The options known to work for building Bitcoin Cash Node on Windows are:

  • On Linux, using the Mingw-w64 cross compiler tool chain. Debian Buster is recommended and is the platform used to build the Bitcoin Cash Node Windows release binaries.
  • On Windows, using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and the Mingw-w64 cross compiler tool chain. This is covered in these notes.

Other options which may work, but which have not been extensively tested are (please contribute instructions):

  • On Windows, using a POSIX compatibility layer application such as cygwin or msys2.
  • On Windows, using a native compiler tool chain such as Visual Studio.

In any case please make sure that the compiler supports C++17.

Note These notes cover building binaries from source, for running Bitcoin Cash Node natively under Windows. If you just want to run Bitcoin Cash Node, you can download binaries from the Bitcoin Cash Node website. If you wish to both compile and run Bitcoin Cash Node on Windows, under WSL, you can refer to the Unix build guide, and follow those instructions from within WSL.

Windows Subsystem for Linux

With Windows 10, Microsoft has released a feature named the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). This feature allows you to run a bash shell directly on Windows in an Ubuntu-based environment. Within this environment you can cross compile for Windows without the need for a separate Linux VM or server. Note that while WSL can be installed with other Linux variants, such as OpenSUSE, the following instructions have only been tested with Ubuntu 20.04 (and 18.04, see below).

In May 2020 WSL 2 was released with Windows 10, Version 2004, Build 19041.

WSL is not supported in versions of Windows prior to Windows 10 or on Windows Server SKUs. In addition, it is available only for 64-bit versions of Windows.

Building with WSL 2 and Ubuntu 20.04

This is the recommended method.

Installing Ubuntu 20.04 on Windows Subsystem for Linux 2

It is beyond the scope of this guide to cover installation of WSL 2 and Ubuntu 20.04 on WSL 2. Instructions to install WSL 2 are available at the Windows Subsystem for Linux Installation Guide for Windows 10.

Once WSL 2 is installed Ubuntu 20.04 can be found in the Microsoft Store. You will be asked to create a new UNIX user account. This is a separate account from your Windows account.

Once the bash shell is active, you can log in and follow the instructions below, starting with the "Cross-compilation" section. Compiling the 64-bit version is recommended, but it is possible to compile the 32-bit version.

Cross-compilation for Ubuntu and Windows Subsystem for Linux 2

The steps below can be performed on Ubuntu (including in a VM) or WSL 2. The depends system will also work on other Linux distributions, however the commands for installing the toolchain will be different.

First, install the general dependencies:

    sudo apt update
    sudo apt upgrade
    sudo apt install autoconf automake build-essential bsdmainutils cmake curl git libboost-all-dev libevent-dev libssl-dev libtool ninja-build nsis pkg-config python3

A host toolchain (build-essential) is necessary because some dependency packages need to build host utilities that are used in the build process.

See also: dependencies.md.

Building for 64-bit Windows

The first step is to install the mingw-w64 cross-compilation tool chain.

    sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64

Next, configure the mingw-w64 to the posix¹ compiler option.

    sudo update-alternatives --config x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ # Set the default mingw32 g++ compiler option to posix.
    sudo update-alternatives --config x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc # Set the default mingw32 gcc compiler option to posix.

Note that for WSL 2 the Bitcoin Cash Node source path MUST be somewhere in the default mount file system, for example /usr/src/bitcoin-cash-node, AND not under /mnt/d/. This means you cannot use a directory that is located directly on the host Windows file system to perform the build.

Acquire the source in the usual way:

    git clone https://gitlab.com/bitcoin-cash-node/bitcoin-cash-node.git
    cd bitcoin-cash-node

Once the source code is ready the build steps are below:

    export PATH=$(echo "$PATH" | sed -e 's/:\/mnt.*//g') # strip out problematic Windows %PATH% imported var
    cd depends
    make build-win64
    cd ..
    mkdir build
    cd build
    cmake -GNinja .. -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../cmake/platforms/Win64.cmake -DENABLE_MAN=OFF -DBUILD_BITCOIN_SEEDER=OFF # seeder not supported in Windows yet
    ninja
    ninja package #to build the install-package

Installation

After building using the Windows subsystem it can be useful to copy the compiled executables to a directory on the windows drive in the same directory structure as they appear in the release .zip archive. This can be done in the following way. This will install to c:\workspace\bitcoin-cash-node, for example:

    cmake -GNinja .. -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../cmake/platforms/Win64.cmake -DENABLE_MAN=OFF -DBUILD_BITCOIN_SEEDER=OFF -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/mnt/c/workspace/bitcoin-cash-node
    sudo ninja install

Building with WSL and Ubuntu 18.04

Building with WSL 2 and Ubuntu 20.04 is strongly recommended, but if for some reason you find your self unable to install WSL 2, the below guide will work for WSL. Here you will need to use Ubuntu 18.04, and that brings with it some extra complications.

Installing Ubuntu 18.04 on WSL

At the time of writing (April 2020) the Windows Subsystem for Linux installs Ubuntu Focal 20.04 if you just search for Ubuntu in the Microsoft Shop. However, there is a problem with the sleep function on WSL, so Ubuntu Bionic 18.04 is recommended, and will be covered in these notes. See this issue for further info.

To install Ubuntu 18.04 on your WSL, you need to:

  1. Install Ubuntu 18.04
    • Open Microsoft Store and search for Ubuntu 18.04 or use this link
    • Click Get
  2. Complete Installation
    • Open a cmd prompt and type "Ubuntu"
    • Create a new UNIX user account (this is a separate account from your Windows account)

After the bash shell is active, you can follow the instructions below, starting with the "Cross-compilation" section. Compiling the 64-bit version is recommended, but it is possible to compile the 32-bit version.

Cross-compilation for Ubuntu and Windows Subsystem for Linux

The steps below can be performed on Ubuntu (including in a VM) or WSL. The depends system will also work on other Linux distributions, however the commands for installing the toolchain will be different.

First, install the general dependencies:

    sudo apt update
    sudo apt upgrade
    sudo apt install autoconf automake build-essential bsdmainutils curl git libboost-all-dev libevent-dev libssl-dev libtool ninja-build pkg-config python3

The cmake version packaged with Ubuntu Bionic is too old for building Building Bitcoin Cash Node. To install the latest version:

    sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https ca-certificates gnupg software-properties-common wget
    wget -O - https://apt.kitware.com/keys/kitware-archive-latest.asc 2>/dev/null | sudo apt-key add -
    sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://apt.kitware.com/ubuntu/ bionic main'
    sudo apt update
    sudo apt install cmake

A host toolchain (build-essential) is necessary because some dependency packages need to build host utilities that are used in the build process.

See also: dependencies.md.

Building for 64-bit Windows

The first step is to install the mingw-w64 cross-compilation tool chain.

    sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64

Next, configure the mingw-w64 to the posix¹ compiler option.

    sudo update-alternatives --config x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ # Set the default mingw32 g++ compiler option to posix.
    sudo update-alternatives --config x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc # Set the default mingw32 gcc compiler option to posix.

Note that for WSL the Bitcoin Cash Node source path MUST be somewhere in the default mount file system, for example /usr/src/bitcoin-cash-node, AND not under /mnt/d/. This means you cannot use a directory that is located directly on the host Windows file system to perform the build.

Acquire the source in the usual way:

    git clone https://gitlab.com/bitcoin-cash-node/bitcoin-cash-node.git
    cd bitcoin-cash-node

Once the source code is ready the build steps are below:

    export PATH=$(echo "$PATH" | sed -e 's/:\/mnt.*//g') # strip out problematic Windows %PATH% imported var
    cd depends
    make build-win64
    cd ..
    mkdir build
    cd build
    cmake -GNinja .. -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../cmake/platforms/Win64.cmake -DENABLE_MAN=OFF -DBUILD_BITCOIN_SEEDER=OFF # seeder not supported in Windows yet
    ninja

Building BCHN installer

To build a Windows installer for BCHN you need a newer version of the nsis package than is available in Ubuntu 18.04. To install a newer nsis from Ubuntu 19.10 Eoan you can do:

    sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan universe"
    sudo apt install nsis

Then, back in the build directory, you can build the package with the command

    ninja package

Installation

After building using the Windows subsystem it can be useful to copy the compiled executables to a directory on the windows drive in the same directory structure as they appear in the release .zip archive. This can be done in the following way. This will install to c:\workspace\bitcoin-cash-node, for example:

    cmake -GNinja .. -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../cmake/platforms/Win64.cmake -DENABLE_MAN=OFF -DBUILD_BITCOIN_SEEDER=OFF -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/mnt/c/workspace/bitcoin-cash-node
    sudo ninja install

Depends system

For further documentation on the depends system see README.md in the depends directory.

Footnotes

1: Starting from Ubuntu Xenial 16.04, both the 32 and 64 bit Mingw-w64 packages install two different compiler options to allow a choice between either posix or win32 threads. The default option is win32 threads which is the more efficient since it will result in binary code that links directly with the Windows kernel32.lib. Unfortunately, the headers required to support win32 threads conflict with some of the classes in the C++11 standard library, in particular std::mutex. It's not possible to build the Bitcoin Cash Node code using the win32 version of the Mingw-w64 cross compilers (at least not without modifying headers in the Bitcoin Cash Node source code).