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Building for Linux

This document describes the process to build Ocean on Linux.

1 Prerequisites​

  • General prerequisites listed on the main page
  • Python 3.8 or higher
  • Currently some packages will have to be installed using the package manager of your distributions (example commands and package names given below are for Fedora and Ubuntu, but they should be similar for other distributions): 
    # Fedora
    sudo dnf install libX11-devel-1.7.0-9.el9.x86_64 \
        gtk3-devel-3.24.31-2.el9.x86_64 \
        mesa-libGL-devel \
        libgudev-devel \
        xz-devel

    # Ubuntu
    sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libudev-dev liblzma-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libxcb-glx0-dev

2 Building the third-party libraries​

The third-party libraries are built using the Python-based build system. It handles fetching, patching, and building all dependencies with DAG-based parallel builds.

cd /path/to/ocean

# Build all required third-party libraries for the host platform (debug + release, static)
python build/python/build_ocean_3rdparty.py

# Build release only
python build/python/build_ocean_3rdparty.py --config release

# Include optional libraries (e.g., OpenCV)
python build/python/build_ocean_3rdparty.py --with opencv

# Show build plan without building
python build/python/build_ocean_3rdparty.py --dry-run

Once the build is complete, the installed libraries can be found in ocean_3rdparty/install/. Headers are stored in <lib>/h/<platform>/ and libraries in <lib>/lib/<target>/ (e.g., zlib/lib/linux_x86_64_static_release/). On ARM64 systems, paths use arm64 instead of x86_64.

Run python build/python/build_ocean_3rdparty.py --help to see all available options.

Note: The build system displays a real-time TUI with progress for all parallel build jobs. Use --log-level verbose to see detailed build output instead.

3 Building Ocean​

Ocean is built using a Python build script that invokes CMake with the correct configuration.

cd /path/to/ocean

# Build Ocean using the Python 3P layout
python build/python/build_ocean.py --third-party-layout python

# Build for a specific configuration
python build/python/build_ocean.py --third-party-layout python --config release

# Specify custom directories
python build/python/build_ocean.py --third-party-layout python \
    --build-dir "{'{$HOME}'}/build_ocean" \
    --install-dir "{'{$HOME}'}/install_ocean" \
    --third-party-dir /path/to/ocean_3rdparty/install

# Show build plan without building
python build/python/build_ocean.py --third-party-layout python --dry-run

Once the build is complete, the compiled binaries can be found in ocean_install/linux_x86_64_static_debug and .../linux_x86_64_static_release (or linux_arm64_static_* on ARM64 systems).

Run python build/python/build_ocean.py --help to see all available options.

Using CMake Directly​

Alternatively, you can invoke CMake directly:

cd /path/to/ocean

# Configure and build using CMake
cmake -S . -B build_linux \
    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
    -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF \
    -DOCEAN_THIRD_PARTY_LAYOUT=python \
    -DOCEAN_THIRD_PARTY_ROOT=./ocean_3rdparty/install

cmake --build build_linux --target install -j
tip

This documentation is also available on GitHub.