Skip to main content

Building for Windows

This document describes the process to build Ocean for Windows. It covers:

  1. General requirements
  2. Building required third-party libraries
  3. Building Ocean

1 Prerequisites​

Windows traditionally has a 260-character path limit (MAX_PATH). Ocean's build process can generate deeply nested paths that may exceed this limit. It is highly recommended to enable Long Path support before building.

To enable Long Path support, run this command in an elevated (Administrator) PowerShell:

Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem' -Name 'LongPathsEnabled' -Value 1

Alternatively, use the Group Policy Editor:

  1. Open gpedit.msc
  2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Filesystem
  3. Enable: "Enable Win32 long paths"

A system restart may be required after enabling this setting.

Note: The build system will automatically check for Long Path support and display a warning if it is not enabled.

2 Building the third-party libraries​

The third-party libraries are built using the Python-based build system. The same script works from PowerShell, Command Prompt, or Git Bash.

cd \path\to\ocean

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

# Build for a specific architecture
python build/python/build_ocean_3rdparty.py --target win

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

# Use a specific Visual Studio version
python build/python/build_ocean_3rdparty.py --vs-version 2022

# 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

It is advisable to place build and install directories as close to the root of a filesystem as possible, due to Windows limitations on path lengths:

python build/python/build_ocean_3rdparty.py --output-dir C:\ocean_3rdparty

Once the build is complete, the installed libraries can be found in ocean_3rdparty/install/ (or the custom output directory). Headers are stored in <lib>/h/<platform>/ and libraries in <lib>/lib/<target>/ (e.g., zlib/lib/win_x86_64_static_release/).

On Windows, the default is to build both static and shared libraries. 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

# Use a specific Visual Studio version
python build/python/build_ocean.py --third-party-layout python --vs-version 2022

# Specify custom directories
python build/python/build_ocean.py --third-party-layout python `
    --build-dir C:\build_ocean `
    --install-dir C:\install_ocean `
    --third-party-dir C:\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/win_x86_64_static_debug and .../win_x86_64_static_release (or with arm64_ prefix 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
cmake -S . -B build_win `
    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release `
    -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF `
    -DOCEAN_THIRD_PARTY_LAYOUT=python `
    -DOCEAN_THIRD_PARTY_ROOT=.\ocean_3rdparty\install

# Build and install
cmake --build build_win --target install

To use a specific Visual Studio version with CMake directly, add the -G flag:

cmake -S . -B build_win -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" `
    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release `
    -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF `
    -DOCEAN_THIRD_PARTY_LAYOUT=python `
    -DOCEAN_THIRD_PARTY_ROOT=.\ocean_3rdparty\install

Building with Visual Studio​

To open the project in Visual Studio after configuration:

# Configure the project
python build/python/build_ocean.py --third-party-layout python --configure-only

# Open in Visual Studio
start ocean_build\win_x86_64_static_release\ocean.sln

Then build and run the desired targets from within Visual Studio.

tip

This documentation is also available on GitHub.