Build Linux

Last Updated on January 6, 2022

Please read the general build guide for information on dependencies required for all platforms. Only Linux specific instructions are found in this file.

You can use the Overte Builder to build on Linux more easily. Alternatively, you can follow the manual steps below.

Ubuntu 18.04

Ubuntu 18.04 Server only

Add the universe repository:
(This is not enabled by default on the server edition.)

sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo apt-get update

Install build tools:

  • First update the repositories:

sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get upgrade -y

  • Install git

sudo apt-get install git -y

Verify git was installed by running git --version.

  • Install g++

sudo apt-get install g++ -y

Verify g++ was installed by running g++ --version.

  • Ubuntu 18.04 CMake

sudo apt-get install cmake -y

Verify CMake was installed by running cmake --version.

Install build dependencies:

  • OpenSSL:

sudo apt-get install libssl-dev

Verify OpenSSL was installed by running openssl version.

  • OpenGL:

sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dev -y

Verify OpenGL:

  • First install mesa-utils with the command sudo apt install mesa-utils -y.

  • Then run glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version".

Extra dependencies to compile Interface on a server

  • Install the following:

sudo apt-get -y install libpulse0 libnss3 libnspr4 libfontconfig1 libxcursor1 libxcomposite1 libxtst6 libxslt1.1

  • Misc dependencies:

sudo apt-get install libasound2 libxmu-dev libxi-dev freeglut3-dev libasound2-dev libjack0 libjack-dev libxrandr-dev libudev-dev libssl-dev zlib1g-dev

  • Install Python 3 and required packages:

sudo apt-get install python python3 python3-distro

  • Install Node.js as it is required to build the jsdoc documentation:

sudo apt-get install nodejs

Get code and checkout the branch you need

Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/overte-org/overte.git

Then checkout the master branch with:

git checkout master

If you need a different branch, you can get a list of all tags with:

git fetch --tags
git tag

Using a custom Qt build

Qt binaries are only provided for Ubuntu. In order to build on other distributions, a Qt5 install needs to be provided by setting the OVERTE_QT_PATH environment variable to a directory containing a Qt install.

Using the system's Qt

The system's Qt can be used, if the development packages are installed, by setting the OVERTE_USE_SYSTEM_QT environment variable. The minimum recommended version is Qt 5.15.2, which is also the last version available in the Qt 5 branch. It is expected that Linux distributions will have Qt 5.15.2 available for a long time.

Architecture support

If the build is intended to be packaged for distribution, the OVERTE_CPU_ARCHITECTURE CMake variable needs to be set to an architecture specific value.

By default, it is set to -march=native -mtune=native, which yields builds optimized for a particular machine, but these builds will not work on machines lacking same CPU instructions.

For packaging, it is recommended to set it to a different value, for example -msse3. This will help ensure that the build will run on all reasonably modern CPUs.

Setting OVERTE_CPU_ARCHITECTURE to an empty string will use the default compiler settings and yield maximum compatibility.

Compiling

Create the build directory:

cd overte
mkdir build
cd build

Prepare makefiles:

cmake ..

If cmake fails with a vcpkg error, then delete ~/overte-files/vcpkg/.

Server

To compile the Domain server:

make domain-server assignment-client

Note: For a server, it is not necessary to compile the Interface.

Interface

To compile the Interface client:

make interface

The commands above will compile with a single thread. If you have enough memory, you can decrease your build time using the -j flag. Since most x64 CPUs support two threads per core, this works out to CPU_COUNT*2. As an example, if you have a 2 core machine, you could use:

make -j4 interface

Running the software

Domain server

Running Domain server:

./domain-server/domain-server

Assignment clients

Running assignment client:

./assignment-client/assignment-client -n 6

Interface

Running Interface:

./interface/interface

Go to "localhost" in the running Interface to visit your newly launched Domain server.

Notes

If your goal is to set up a development environment, it is desirable to set the directory that vcpkg builds into with the HIFI_VCPKG_BASE environment variable. For example, you might set HIFI_VCPKG_BASE to /home/$USER/vcpkg.

By default, vcpkg will build in the ~/overte-files/vcpkg/ directory.