How to compile Allegro 4.9.14 using CMake 2.8

Question

I have never compiled programs using CMake. I have downloaded the latest SVN of Allegro and tried compiling it multiple times, but no luck. I have looked allover the internet and have not found anything helpful. I have chosen to compile it for Visual Studio 9 2008. I don't really know where I have to link the source and the build. The Allegro files are confusing. I don't know if this can be useful, but I also got a hold of the lib files. If anyone knows how I should link the files to properly compile, I would be very glad.

Here is the CMakeCash.Text content:

# This is the CMakeCache file.
# For build in directory: c:/lib/Allegro4.9
# You can edit this file to change values found and used by cmake.
# If you do not want to change any of the values, simply exit the editor.
# If you do want to change a value, simply edit, save, and exit the editor.
# The syntax for the file is as follows:
# KEY:TYPE=VALUE
# KEY is the name of a variable in the cache.
# TYPE is a hint to GUI's for the type of VALUE, DO NOT EDIT TYPE!.
# VALUE is the current value for the KEY.

########################
# EXTERNAL cache entries
########################


########################
# INTERNAL cache entries
########################

//This is the directory where this CMakeCache.txt was created
CMAKE_CACHEFILE_DIR:INTERNAL=c:/lib/Allegro4.9
//Major version of cmake used to create the current loaded cache
CMAKE_CACHE_MAJOR_VERSION:INTERNAL=2
//Minor version of cmake used to create the current loaded cache
CMAKE_CACHE_MINOR_VERSION:INTERNAL=8
//Patch version of cmake used to create the current loaded cache
CMAKE_CACHE_PATCH_VERSION:INTERNAL=0

Also, here is the event list, the error is bound to be found inside:

Check for working C compiler: cl
Check for working C compiler: cl -- works
Detecting C compiler ABI info
Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
Check for working CXX compiler: cl
Check for working CXX compiler: cl -- works
Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
Guessed MSVC directory: cl
Allowing MSVC to use SSE instructions
Check if the system is big endian
Searching 16 bit integer
Looking for sys/types.h
Looking for sys/types.h - found
Looking for stdint.h
Looking for stdint.h - not found
Looking for stddef.h
Looking for stddef.h - found
Check size of unsigned short
Check size of unsigned short - done
Using unsigned short
Check if the system is big endian - little endian
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_DIRENT_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_DIRENT_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_INTTYPES_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_INTTYPES_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_LINUX_JOYSTICK_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_LINUX_JOYSTICK_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_STDBOOL_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_STDBOOL_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_STDINT_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_STDINT_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_IO_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_IO_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_STAT_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_STAT_H - found
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_TIME_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_TIME_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_TIME_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_TIME_H - found
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_UTSNAME_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_UTSNAME_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H - found
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SOUNDCARD_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SOUNDCARD_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_SOUNDCARD_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_SYS_SOUNDCARD_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_MACHINE_SOUNDCARD_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_MACHINE_SOUNDCARD_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_LINUX_SOUNDCARD_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_LINUX_SOUNDCARD_H - not found.
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_OSATOMIC_H
Looking for include files ALLEGRO_HAVE_OSATOMIC_H - not found.
Looking for getexecname
Looking for getexecname - not found
Looking for mkstemp
Looking for mkstemp - not found
Looking for mmap
Looking for mmap - not found
Looking for mprotect
Looking for mprotect - not found
Looking for sched_yield
Looking for sched_yield - not found
Looking for stricmp
Looking for stricmp - found
Looking for strlwr
Looking for strlwr - found
Looking for strupr
Looking for strupr - found
Looking for sysconf
Looking for sysconf - not found
Looking for fseeko
Looking for fseeko - not found
Looking for ftello
Looking for ftello - not found
Check size of _Bool
Check size of _Bool - failed
Performing Test ALLEGRO_HAVE_PROCFS_ARGCV
Performing Test ALLEGRO_HAVE_PROCFS_ARGCV - Failed
Performing Test ALLEGRO_HAVE_SV_PROCFS_H
Performing Test ALLEGRO_HAVE_SV_PROCFS_H - Failed
Performing Test ALLEGRO_HAVE_VA_COPY
Performing Test ALLEGRO_HAVE_VA_COPY - Failed
Check if constructors are supported - no
Could NOT find DINPUT  (missing:  DINPUT_INCLUDE_DIR DINPUT_LIBRARY)
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:565 (message):
  Windows port requires DirectInput (not found).


Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

Answer 1

If cmake is failing, it should tell you what went wrong, ie: if you're missing required dependencies.

Please post the actual errors you see from cmake, and/or the compiler if cmake itself didn't fail.

edit:

There you go, your errors:

Could NOT find DINPUT (missing: DINPUT_INCLUDE_DIR DINPUT_LIBRARY) CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:565 (message): Windows port requires DirectInput (not found).

That's a common issue and is fixed in newer releases. 4.9.14 is ancient. Please upgrade to the latest release, or even straight from SVN.

Answer 2

First, run cmake from the MSVC command prompt, not the regular command prompt. Then set the INCLUDE and LIB environment variables to point to your directx installation. For example:

set INCLUDE=C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK (August 2009)\Include set LIB=C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK (August 2009)\lib\x86

Notice the lack of quotes ("). Do not use quotes. Then delete CMakeCache.txt and run cmake again, and it should find directx.