Build from Source (Static Linking)

This tutorial will show you how to build a static version of MNE-CPP. In order to build statically we need to perform two steps:

• Build a static version of Qt
• Compile MNE-CPP with the static flag

This tutorial assumes the following folder structure:

Git/
├── qt5/
├── qt5_shadow/
├── qt5_wasm_binaries/
├── mne-cpp/
└── mne-cpp_shadow/

Get a Compiler

Make sure you have one of the following compilers installed:

Build a Static Version of Qt

Get the Qt Aource Code

Clone the current Qt version. Currently, MNE-CPP uses four Qt modules: QtBase, QtCharts, QtSvg and Qt3D. QtBase subdivides in other modules reflecting most of the Qt functionality (core, gui, widgets, etc). In order to setup the sources for Qt 5.15.1 type:

git clone https://code.qt.io/qt/qt5.git -b 5.15.1  
cd qt5

Linux/MacOS

Install OpenGL dependencies (just to make sure). This is only needed on Linux:

sudo apt-get install build-essential libgl1-mesa-dev

Navigate to the qt5 folder and init the repository:

./init-repository -f --module-subset=qtbase,qtcharts,qtsvg,qt3d

Navigate to the parent directory, create a new shadow build folder and cd into it:

cd ..
mkdir qt5_shadow
cd qt5_shadow

Call configure from the new working directory in order to setup a shadow build:

../qt5/configure -static -release -skip webengine -nomake tools -nomake tests -nomake examples -no-dbus -no-ssl -no-pch -opensource -confirm-license -prefix "../qt5_wasm_binaries"

Build Qt and install to target (prefix) location afterwards. You can change the -j8 flag to the number of cores you want to use during compilation:

make module-qtbase module-qtsvg module-qtcharts module-qt3d -j8
make install -j8

A static Qt version should now be setup in the qt5_wasm_binaries folder.

Windows 10

Setup the following dependencies:

• Install Perl and add it to PATH
• Install Python and add it to PATH
• Install MSVC 2015 or higher (We recommend the MSVC 2019 Community Version)
• Install the Windows 10 SDK (can also be installed via the MSVC community edition installer)
• If you want to use multiple cores (MSVC’s nmake does not support multicore usage), install the jom compiler and add it to PATH

Navigate to the qt5 folder and init the repository:

perl init-repository -f --module-subset=qtbase,qtcharts,qtsvg,qt3d

Navigate to the parent directory, create a new shadow build folder and cd into it:

cd ..
mkdir qt5_shadow
cd qt5_shadow

Setup the visual studio compiler by starting the VS2019 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt or by typing (assuming you are using MSVC 2017):

cmd.exe /c "call `"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Enterprise\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat`" && set > %temp%\vcvars.txt"
Get-Content "$env:temp\vcvars.txt" | Foreach-Object { if ($_ -match "^(.*?)=(.*)$") { Set-Content "env:\$($matches[1])" $matches[2] } }

Call configure from the new working directory in order to setup a shadow build.

../qt5/configure.bat -release -static -no-pch -optimize-size -opengl desktop -platform win32-msvc -skip webengine -nomake tools -nomake tests -nomake examples -opensource -confirm-license -prefix "..\qt5_wasm_binaries"

Build Qt and install to target (prefix) location afterwards. You can change the -j8 flag to the number of cores you want to use during compilation:

jom -j8
nmake install

A static Qt version should now be setup in the qt5_wasm_binaries folder.

Compile MNE-CPP with the static flag

Create a shadow build folder, run qmake and build MNE-CPP (on Windows use nmake or jom instead of make):

mkdir mne-cpp_shadow
cd mne-cpp_shadow
../qt5_wasm_binaries/bin/qmake ../mne-cpp/mne-cpp.pro MNECPP_CONFIG += static
make -j8

All MNE-CPP applications (MNE Scan, examples, tests, etc.) should now be in the mne-cpp/bin folder.