First you need a copy of the code (if you intend on working on the game use your fork's URL here):

The game's root directory, where your git cloned files reside, will be your starting point for compiling the game.

Next you will need to install a couple of dependencies to build the game.

There are several different ways to build Endless Sky, depending on your operating system and preference.

We are currently switching to using VS with cmake. If you wish the older MingW build instructions, they are located at the end of the Windows section.

Download Visual Studio, and make sure to install the following features:

Please note that it is recommened to use VS 2022 (or higher) for its better CMake integration.

If you are on an earlier version of Visual Studio, or would like to use an actual VS solution, you will need to generate the solution manually as follows:

This will create a Visual Studio 2022 solution. If you are using an older version of VS, you will need to adjust the version. Now you will find a complete solution in the build/ folder. Find the solution and open it and you're good to go!

Using MSVC to compile Endless Sky is not supported. If you try, you will get a ton of warnings (and maybe even a couple of errors) during compilation.

You can download the MinGW Winlibs build, which also includes various tools you'll need to build the game as well. It is possible to use other MinGW builds as well.

You'll need the MSVCRT runtime version, 64-bit. The latest version is currently gcc 12 (direct download link).

Extract the zip file in a folder whose path doesn't contain a space (C:\ for example) and add the bin\ folder inside to your PATH (Press the Windows key and type "edit environment variables", then click on PATH and add it in the list).

You will also need to install CMake (if you don't already have it).

Install Homebrew. Once it is installed, use it to install the tools and libraries you will need:

Note: If you are on Apple Silicon (and want to compile for ARM), make sure that you are using ARM Homebrew!

If you want to build the libraries from source instead of using Homebrew, you can pass -DES_USE_SYSTEM_LIBRARIES=OFF to CMake when configuring.

You will need at least CMake 3.21. You can get the latest version from the offical website.

Note: If your distro does not provide up-to-date version of the needed libraries, you will need to tell CMake to build the libraries from source by passing -DES_USE_SYSTEM_LIBRARIES=OFF to the first cmake command under the command line build instructions.

If you use a reasonably up-to-date distro, then you can use your favorite package manager to install the needed dependencies.

Here's a summary of every command you will need for development:

If you'd like to debug a specific integration test (on any OS), you can do so as follows:

You can get a list of integration tests with ctest --preset -integration-debug -N.

(You can also use the -release preset for a release build, and the output will be in the Release folder).

Replace with one of the following presets:

Install the C/C++, CMake Tools, CMake Test explorer extensions and open the project folder under File -> Open Folder.

You'll be asked to select a preset. Select the one you want (see the table above). If you get asked to configure the project, click on Yes. You can use the bar at the very bottom to select between different configurations (Debug/Release), build, start the game, and execute the unit tests. On the left you can click on the test icon to run individual integration tests.

If you want to use the Code::Blocks IDE, from the root of the project folder execute:

With being one of the available presets (see above for a list). For Windows for example you'd want mingw. Now there will be a Code::Blocks project inside build\mingw.

If you want to use the XCode IDE, from the root of the project folder execute:

The XCode project is located in the build/ directory.