Source Development

Outlined below is information on assisting with the development of the Spring source itself.

NOTE: For information about developing a mod (units, maps, etc.) see the Mod Development page.

Below you can find information on how to work with the Spring source in the current mainline (Windows platform) if you like to work on another platform (Linux & Mac) please look at the bottem of this page under "Multiplatform development"

1 Starting Development
2 Keep track what others do
- 2.1 Source Code Documentation
3 Obtaining the Source
4 Learning C++
5 Setting up your development environment
- 5.1 Visual Studio 8 (2005)
- 5.2 SCONS/MinGW
6 Development Suggestions
7 How to get your code included
8 Spring Engine TODO list
9 Development links

[edit] Starting Development

To start development, you will need

The latest version of the source
A good code manipulation program
Compiling your modified source

[edit] Keep track what others do

If you develop with others, you need to know what they do. We have fisheye, a very handy SVN helper, and WebSVN running on the server.

[edit] Source Code Documentation

A good place to start is the source code documentation.

An explanation on how the code is executed in game can be found in the Spring Engine Code page.

[edit] Obtaining the Source

The latest SVN is at: https://spring.clan-sy.com/svn/spring
A hourly updated read-only mirror is available at: svn://caspring.org:3691/

Another option is to manually download it along with the latest released version of the game. However, for serious developers, a better way would be to download the source straight from the subversion (SVN) repository. This will also allow you to make a patch out of the changes you make to the code, and send it to one of the developers with SVN access.

Windows SVN clients : Subversion (Win32-Console), SmartSVN (Java) and TortoiseSVN (MSI).

Assuming that you are using the Subversion svn client you can download the latest SVN source with one of the following commands:

svn.exe checkout https://spring.clan-sy.com/svn/spring/trunk svn.exe checkout svn://caspring.org:3691/trunk

It will create a trunk subdirectory in the directory from where you ran it, which will contain the source code root directory which will be later referred to as /spring

If you're using Git rather than SVN, you need to initialize local repository and fetch using:

git-svn clone https://spring.clan-sy.com/svn/spring

(this may take a while)

To update your local repository, use:

git-svn fetch https://spring.clan-sy.com/svn/spring

[edit] Learning C++

You will need to know C++ to modify or understand Spring's source code. If you are interested in learning C++, see Learning_CPP

However please note that badly designed code (code created by a C++ novice for example), even if working will likely not be included in the spring code. Spring is a large project, and therefore it is necessary to stay away from hack jobs and create general solutions to problems.

[edit] Setting up your development environment

You have either to use the SCons build system that is multi platform, or use Microsoft Visual Studio for building spring. See also Development_IDEs for some more background information about the IDE to choose.

[edit] Visual Studio 8 (2005)

(possibly the free Express Edition)

Install the vclibs library package. You need to install this in the /spring directory from the SVN checkout the zipped source. If done right, it will look like:
- /spring/
- /spring/installer
- /spring/rts
- /spring/... other dirs
- /spring/vclibs
Install the DirectX SDK
Install the PlatformSDK. I got away with unchecking the parts of the PlatformSDK that were obviously not related (IIS, web stuff). Makes for a smaller download. Make sure the Platform SDK and DirectX SDK are in the VS search/include directories:
After installing them, open Visual C++. Click Tools >> Options >> Projects and Solutions >> VC++ Directories. Add these entries to the corresponding sections (paths just a reference, yours may be different):
- Include files:
  - $(ProgramFiles)\Microsoft DirectX SDK (August 2007)\Include
  - $(ProgramFiles)\Microsoft Platform SDK\include
- Library files:
  - $(ProgramFiles)\Microsoft DirectX SDK (August 2007)\Lib\x86 (Might need \x64 on a 64-bit platform, I don't know.)
  - $(ProgramFiles)\Microsoft Platform SDK\lib
Open the solution. /spring/rts/build/vstudio8/rts.sln
Start building (usually you want to select the release/no debug build, debug is really too slow and is used only when you really know what you want to test)
Select the working directory in the project properties, otherwise spring will not work correctly

[edit] SCONS/MinGW

Code::Blocks and Dev C++ use MinGW too, so if you are using one of these IDEs, you'll want to follow these instructions too.

Dev-C++ Installer

Get the MinGW library package. Make sure you install it it the checkout directory, so the path is: /spring/mingwlibs. If done right, it will look like:

- /spring/
- /spring/installer
- /spring/rts
- /spring/... other dirs
- /spring/mingwlibs

These programs are a must have if you want to compile Spring with MinGW, so install them now, if you don't have them already.

Oh, and quick instructions:

Grab and install the above programs.
Make sure C:\Python25, C:\Python25\Scripts and C:\Dev-Cpp\bin are in your PATH environment variable. Set environment variables by: Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Environment variables (for Windows XP).
Make sure a MINGDIR environment variable with value C:\Dev-Cpp exists. (change paths where appropriate.)
Checkout the Spring SVN repository, following the instructions above in obtaining source. (TODO:link)
Open a console (Start -> Run -> cmd.exe -> Run), cd \where you checked it out in the previous step, if you checked it out on a different drive make sure to change drives with DriveLetter:<enter> first.
Type scons configure<enter>. Refer to scons --help for options which can be passed to scons configure. Gotchas:
- If you get an error message starting with "EOFError: : env = Environement...", try deleting the file build/scons_signatures.dblite
- If you get an error message stating "ImportError: No module named win32file:", you have probably not installed the python-win32-extensions.
- If all proceeds as intended you will see a message similar to: "Everything seems OK. Run `scons' now to build."
Type scons<enter> to start the compilation.
- If you have Delphi installed and get an error message that the commandline params "--no-print-directory" & "-C" aren't supported, then you should remove the Delphi dirs from your PATH variable, because scons tried to run the delphi's make.exe instead of using mingw32-make. (this will cause that streflop can't be build!)
Wait for the compilation to finish, this may take a while.
Copy datafiles and stuff from official Spring installation to the /spring/game directory (where spring.exe is located, after the compilation finished.)
Copy missing DLLs from mingwlibs/dll.
Start developing.

If you are using Linux, refer to the SetupGuide to build Spring and get it running.

[edit] Development Suggestions

Before starting to make modifications to the source, take a look at the development guidelines which outlines some important things to think about. To find something interesting to work on, look at the list of example projects. You can also check the list of whois doing what to see what others are doing. If you do edit the code, please add Doxygen style comments to the code, which will then enhance the source code documentation.

[edit] How to get your code included

If you create something that you think should be included in the official source tree, you can report a "bug" in mantis, our BTS. Add your patch as attachment, and put "[patch]" in front of the subject, so it is easy for us to separate patches from bugs.

It's also considered standard practice to post one's modifications in the development forum and get feedback.

[edit] Spring Engine TODO list

There is a TODO list for developers who want to contribute to the engine itself: SpringEngineTODO. There is also a feature request forum, which may give you some ideas. Don't be overwhelmed by the sheer number of (silly) requests though!