4.6. Build Ethereal for the first time

The sources contains several documentation files, it's a good idea to look at these files first.

So after obtaining the sources, tools and libraries, the first place to look at is doc/README.developer, here you will get the latest infos for Ethereal development for all supported platforms.

[Tip]Tip!

It is a very good idea, to first test your complete build environment (including running and debugging Ethereal) before doing any changes to the source code (unless otherwise noted).

The following steps for the first time generation differs on the two major platforms.

4.6.1. Unix

Run the autogen.sh script at the top-level ethereal directory to configure your build directory.

./autogen.sh
./configure
make 
	

If you need to build with a GTK 1.x version, you have to use:

./configure --disable-gtk2
	

instead of just ./configure.

4.6.2. Win32 native

The place to look at is doc/README.win32, you will get the latest infos for generation on the win32 platforms.

The next thing to do will be editing the file config.nmake to reflect your configuration. The settings in this file are well documented, so please have a look at that file.

Then you should cleanup any intermediate files, which are shipped for convenience of Unix users, by typing inside the command line (cmd.exe):

> nmake -f Makefile.nmake distclean

After doing this, typing inside the command line (cmd.exe):

> nmake -f Makefile.nmake all

will start the whole Ethereal build process.

After the build process successfully finished, you should find an ethereal.exe and some other files in the root directory.