Clear/complete instructions on how to build in Windows 10?

• May 21, 2021 - 10:43

So I've looked through https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/wiki/Set-up-developer-environment but I can't actually see a clear set of steps as to how to build under Windows 10.
Obviously I've cloned the git repo, and I've tried running both msvc_build (I have both VS 2017 and 2019 installed, tried from both respective developer command prompts) and ninja_build but no go with either.
As it is I'm pretty sure I didn't actually install C++ support for VS (I didn't need it at the time), but there's nothing clarifying that I even need VS at all (as opposed to gcc etc.). Is there some documentation I'm missing?

Comments

Dylan Nicholson1

• May 21, 2021 - 10:44

Actually I just found https://musescore.org/en/handbook/developers-handbook/compilation, so I'll go through that first

Dylan Nicholson1

• May 21, 2021 - 11:53

Stuck on trying to load the Musescore folder as a solution:

---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Studio
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The 'VCManagedPackage' package did not load correctly.

The problem may have been caused by a configuration change or by the installation of another extension. You can get more information by examining the file 'C:\Users\dylan.nicholson\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\16.0_0704d1e5\ActivityLog.xml'.

Said file contains stuff like:

Still unable to load MEF component DLL: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.VisualC.Utilities, Version=16.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The module was expected to contain an assembly manifest.
    C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO\2019\PROFESSIONAL\COMMON7\IDE\COMMONEXTENSIONS\MICROSOFT\CMAKE\CLIENT\Microsoft.VisualStudio.CMake.Client.dll

Dylan Nicholson1

• May 24, 2021 - 01:29

Solved this, had to repair my installation.
Note that VS 2017 does NOT appear to work anymore despite what the documentation claims.

The process for installing Qt seems bizarrely complex, is there really no way to make it automatic or at least single click?

Dylan Nicholson1

• May 24, 2021 - 05:05

Still haven't got Qt installed properly yet, many many hours later :(
Doesn't help that the default mirror is hopelessly slow, 300Kb/s, had to cancel more than once now and retry with different mirrors (which has to be done via the command line interface).

Marc Sabatella

• May 24, 2021 - 05:32

I haven't installed Qt recently, but used to be there was a nice online installer, and that was the one recommended and always worked just fine for me. Once you get past the whole authentication process, you just check boxes for the component you want, hit the button then go off to lunch.

Dylan Nicholson1

• May 24, 2021 - 05:42

It would've taken about 6-7 hours for me using the default mirror at the speed it was going. But I accidentally selected the wrong option on one screen, which caused some very strange errors in Visual Studio when I tried to build. Eventually worked out that I'd set up the PATH incorrectly and was missing a component, but couldn't readily figure out how to go and add just that component, even once I had, it was going to take another 5 or 6 hours using the default mirror.
Point is, if it's known exactly what options are needed etc., is there a reason we can't just have a script that's already set up ready to go? But actually when I tried to run the qt installer using various options to skip license confirmations etc. it seems they were just ignored.

But...update...I have now built MuseScore4.exe!

Unfortunately it doesn't run (can't find a libsndxxx.dll), but hopefully I can figure that out...

Jojo-Schmitz

• May 24, 2021 - 09:25

You need to run the INSTALL and then run from there

Dylan Nicholson1

• May 24, 2021 - 09:28

Ah ok, I just ran the "bin\MuseScore4.exe" target and that worked. Anyway, was a rather painful process all up, would be willing to at least improve the documentation to make it clearer for other devs trying to do the same.

Jojo-Schmitz

• May 24, 2021 - 09:47

Sure, it is a living document, got created 'on the fly' and got extended, changed and corrected on subsequent flights ;-)
That INSTALL thing is mentioned though. Only meanwhile it seems needed every single time I think, for MuseScore 3 it was needed only once

Dylan Nicholson1

• May 24, 2021 - 12:27

Sure, what's the process for proposing modifications to that document? Is the source for musescore.org also on github?

Jojo-Schmitz

• May 24, 2021 - 12:35

There's 2 locations (for some parts of the developers' handbook), and both are (like) a wiki