Hi, My question may be silly, but I need to use a library from its source code without compiling it to a library form first. The tool in question is FreeType. Is this possible?
A:
You can get the sourcecode of FreeType from http://freetype.sourceforge.net if that's what you mean.
Femaref
2010-07-02 13:23:28
+1
A:
You can add all the files from the FreeType source distribution into your own project, and try to get them to compile alongside. However, the FreeType compilation procedure is a bit tricky, if I recall correctly.
It is probably easier to compile FreeType as a static library, then link your own program with the generated library. If you do that, your executable will have no dependency on the FreeType runtime library.
Thomas
2010-07-02 13:25:39
How can I compile it as a static library?
2010-07-02 13:26:59
http://www.freetype.org/freetype2/docs/ft2faq.html#builds-compile
Thomas
2010-07-02 13:31:36
+1
A:
It's called bundling: instead of shipping your code with JAR files of some library, or even just requiring the library in your INSTALL document, you simply copy the source code into your project and have it built by your build system instead of using it pre-built. It may require adapting your build system a bit, and you need to make sure you have the right to redistribute the library in source form, but it can sometimes make sense.
MPlayer did this with ffmpeg for a long time, and XEN with the Linux kernel (notionally, they ship patches instead of the entire kernel tree). The disadvantage is, of course, that you effectively fork the library, and don't get any updates of the code whatsoever unless you re-rip their code and get it to build in your project again.
Kilian Foth
2010-07-02 13:42:22