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Installing CORBA::MICO on win32 platforms                        2002/11/21
=========================================

This document describes how to perform a native win32 build (ie. not based
on a Unix emulation layer like CYGWIN for example) of the CORBA::MICO Perl
interface on win32 platforms.


Requirements
------------

The installation procedure below has been tested using the following
configuration:

- Visual Studio 6.0 (SP5)
- Mico 2.3.7 sources, compiled with the above
- ActivePerl 5.6.1 Build 633
- Windows 2000 Server (SP2)


Of course your setup may differ, but generally you should keep the
following in mind when attempting to build CORBA::MICO on win32:


- When building stuff for Perl, it is definitely recommended to use
  the same compiler environment that was used for building your Perl
  distribution.  
  For a binary Perl distribution like ActivePerl (from ActiveState) this
  means using Microsoft's Visual Studio development suite.
  
  If you build Perl from sources using another compiler environment, you
  will most probably have to modify the compiler/linker settings in the
  CONFIG.win32 file, and perhaps the Makefile.PL itself.
  
  (Tell us the recipe if you succeed: http://corba-mico.sourceforge.net)
  
- You should compile MICO from its source distribution following the
  procedure described in its README-WIN32 file, then leave the resulting
  source-tree untouched until you've successfully finished building and
  installing the CORBA::MICO Perl interface.
  
  This ensures that any required win32 MICO header files and libraries
  will be available during compilation of CORBA::MICO.

- Avoid spaces or any unusual characters in the directory paths that lead
  to the Perl distribution or the MICO source tree. Use slashes '/', not
  backslashes '\', when specifying paths in configuration parameters.

Here we go:


Installation
------------

The win32 build procedure for MICO Perl interface tries to stick as closely
as possible to the general build procedure of most CPAN modules, ie. the
same used for building CORBA::MICO on Unix systems.

One difference however is guessing the location of MICO's header- and
compiled library files, which are required for compiling CORBA::MICO.
In contrast to Unix, there is no "standard" location for those files on
win32 systems (like /lib, /usr/lib, /usr/include, etc.)

Therefore you have to specify the location of your win32 build of MICO
in a separate configuration file (CONFIG.win32)

The procedure for installing CORBA::MICO on win32 platforms is as follows:


1. Edit the CONFIG.win32 file and set MICOPREFIX to the root directory
   of your MICO source hierarchy.
   
   For example:
   
        MICOPREFIX = c:/mico
    
   You normally shouldn't have to modify the other parameters (compiler &
   linker flags) in the CONFIG.win32 file if you are using ActivePerl and
   the Visual Studio C++ compiler environment.
  
  
2. Then you proceed as usual:

        perl Makefile.PL
        nmake
        nmake test
        nmake install

   (Note: By the time of this writing, 'nmake test' is not implemented yet!)


Internals
---------

Makefile.PL makes the following assumptions concerning MICO, when building
the Perl interface for a win32 system:

- The $MICOPREFIX/MakeVars.win32 file is used for determining the MICO
  version. (On Unix, MICO's version is determined from the
  $MICOPREFIX/lib/mico-setup.sh script, which can't be used in win32 as
  it requires a Bourne-compatible shell)

- During CORBA::MICO compilation MICO's header files are expected to be
  located under $MICOPREFIX/include
  
- The MICO.dll has to be linked against the $MICOPREFIX/mico$VERSION.lib or
  $MICOPREFIX/orb/mico$VERSION or $MICOPREFIX/lib/mico$VERSION.lib library



Good luck!

(Nico Mack - neckelatius@users.sourceforge.net)