GNUstep under Ubuntu Linux

Objective-C under Ubuntu Linux

Compiling Everything from Scratch

The following scripts compiles and installs everything needed for Objective-C 2.0 from scratch. The script uses clang and libobjc2 for all the awesome new features like ARC, blocks, etc.

Reference manuals for GNUStep, including available APIs, etc, are available at http://www.gnustep.org/developers/documentation.html

16.04, 16.10, & 17.04

In addition to building everything, this script also provides the ability to build the most recent version of four apps: Project Center, Gorm, GWorkspace, and System Preferences.

NOTE: there is a bug that causes a crash when launch apps. It seems to be due to a recent change in the code. It is being investigated.

#!/bin/bash

# Show prompt function
function showPrompt()
{
  if [ "$PROMPT" = true ] ; then
    echo -e "\n\n"
    read -p "${GREEN}Press enter to continue...${NC}"
  fi
}

# Set colors
GREEN=`tput setaf 2`
NC=`tput sgr0` # No Color

# Set to true to also build and install apps
APPS=true

# Set to true to pause after each build to verify successful build and installation
PROMPT=true

# Install Requirements
sudo apt update

echo -e "\n\n${GREEN}Installing dependencies...${NC}"
sudo apt -y install clang git ninja cmake libffi-dev libxml2-dev \
libgnutls28-dev libicu-dev libblocksruntime-dev libkqueue-dev libpthread-workqueue-dev autoconf libtool \
libjpeg-dev libtiff-dev libffi-dev libcairo-dev libx11-dev:i386 libxt-dev libxft-dev

if [ "$APPS" = true ] ; then
  sudo apt -y install curl
fi

# Create build directory
mkdir GNUstep-build
cd GNUstep-build

# Set clang as compiler
export CC=clang
export CXX=clang++

# Checkout sources
echo -e "\n\n${GREEN}Checking out sources...${NC}"
git clone https://github.com/nickhutchinson/libdispatch.git
git clone https://github.com/gnustep/libobjc2.git
git clone https://github.com/gnustep/tools-make.git
git clone https://github.com/gnustep/libs-base.git
git clone https://github.com/gnustep/libs-gui.git
git clone https://github.com/gnustep/libs-back.git

if [ "$APPS" = true ] ; then
  git clone https://github.com/gnustep/apps-projectcenter.git
  git clone https://github.com/gnustep/apps-gorm.git
  git clone https://github.com/gnustep/apps-gworkspace.git
  git clone https://github.com/gnustep/apps-systempreferences.git
fi

showPrompt

# Build GNUstep make first time
echo -e "\n\n"
echo -e "${GREEN}Building GNUstep-make for the first time...${NC}"
cd tools-make
./configure --enable-debug-by-default --with-layout=gnustep --enable-objc-nonfragile-abi --enable-objc-arc
make -j8
sudo -E make install

. /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh
echo ". /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh" >> ~/.bashrc

showPrompt

# Build libdispatch
echo -e "\n\n"
echo -e "${GREEN}Building libdispatch...${NC}"
cd ../libdispatch
rm -Rf build
mkdir build && cd build
../configure  --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

showPrompt

# Build libobjc2
echo -e "\n\n"
echo -e "${GREEN}Building libobjc2...${NC}"
cd ../../libobjc2
rm -Rf build
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ../ -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang -DCMAKE_ASM_COMPILER=clang -DTESTS=OFF
cmake --build .
sudo -E make install
sudo ldconfig

export LDFLAGS=-ldispatch

showPrompt

OBJCFLAGS="-fblocks -fobjc-runtime=gnustep-1.8.1"

# Build GNUstep make second time
echo -e "\n\n"
echo -e "${GREEN}Building GNUstep-make for the second time...${NC}"
cd ../../tools-make
./configure --enable-debug-by-default --with-layout=gnustep --enable-objc-nonfragile-abi --enable-objc-arc
make -j8
sudo -E make install

. /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh

showPrompt

# Build GNUstep base
echo -e "\n\n"
echo -e "${GREEN}Building GNUstep-base...${NC}"
cd ../libs-base/
./configure
make -j8
sudo -E make install

showPrompt

# Build GNUstep GUI
echo -e "\n\n"
echo -e "${GREEN} Building GNUstep-gui...${NC}"
cd ../libs-gui
./configure
make -j8
sudo -E make install

showPrompt

# Build GNUstep back
echo -e "\n\n"
echo -e "${GREEN}Building GNUstep-back...${NC}"
cd ../libs-back
./configure
make -j8
sudo -E make install

showPrompt

. /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh

if [ "$APPS" = true ] ; then
  echo -e "${GREEN}Building ProjectCenter...${NC}"
  cd ../apps-projectcenter/
  make -j8
  sudo -E make install

  showPrompt

  echo -e "${GREEN}Building Gorm...${NC}"
  cd ../apps-gorm/
  make -j8
  sudo -E make install

  showPrompt

  echo -e "\n\n"
  echo -e "${GREEN}Building GWorkspace...${NC}"
  cd ../apps-gworkspace/
  ./configure
  make -j8
  sudo -E make install

  showPrompt

  echo -e "\n\n"
  echo -e "${GREEN}Building SystemPreferences...${NC}"
  cd ../apps-systempreferences/
  make -j8
  sudo -E make install

fi

echo -e "\n\n"
echo -e "${GREEN}Install is done. Open a new terminal to start using.${NC}"

14.04 & 15.04

#!/bin/bash

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install build-essential git subversion ninja cmake libffi-dev libxml2-dev \
libgnutls-dev libicu-dev libblocksruntime-dev libkqueue-dev libpthread-workqueue-dev autoconf libtool \
libjpeg-dev libtiff-dev libffi-dev libcairo-dev libx11-dev:i386 libxt-dev libXft-dev

sudo apt-get -y install python-dev libncurses5-dev doxygen swig libedit-dev


cd ~
git clone git://github.com/nickhutchinson/libdispatch.git
svn co http://svn.gna.org/svn/gnustep/modules/core
git clone https://github.com/gnustep/libobjc2

# OBTAIN, COMPILE, INSTALL THE LATEST LLVM/clang. (Doing apt-get install clang instead may or may not work.)
svn co http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk llvm
cd llvm/tools
svn co http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/trunk clang
svn co http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/lldb/trunk lldb
cd ~/llvm
rm -rf build
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Release ..    # If you don't choose Release, it defaults to Debug which takes lots more space
make -j8   # 8=your number of build CPUs
echo "export PATH=\$PATH:~/llvm/build/bin" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "export CC=clang"  >> ~/.bashrc
echo "export CXX=clang++" >> ~/.bashrc
export PATH=$PATH:~/llvm/build/bin
. ~/.bashrc

export CC=clang
export CXX=clang++

clang -v
clang++ -v

cd ~/libobjc2
rm -rf build
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j8
sudo -E make install

cd ~/core/make
./configure --enable-debug-by-default --with-layout=gnustep --enable-objc-nonfragile-abi
make && sudo -E make install
echo ". /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh" >> ~/.bashrc

. /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh

sudo /sbin/ldconfig

cd ~/core/base/
./configure
make -j8
sudo -E make install

cd ~/libdispatch
rm -rf libdispatch-build
mkdir libdispatch-build && cd libdispatch-build
../configure
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

cd ~/core/gui
./configure
make -j8
sudo -E make install

cd ~/core/back
./configure
make -j8
sudo -E make install

echo "Install is done. Open a new terminal or type source ~/.bashrc"

12.04

This uses the same as the 14.04 & 15.04 except there are some additional requirements.

On Ubuntu 12.04, the default installed version of CMake is 2.8.7 but you need 2.8.8 or later to compile LLVM. And the default installed version of GCC and G++ is 4.6 but you need 4.8 or later to compile LLVM.

For CMake, the solution is to download and compile CMake yourself. Use the existing CMake 2.8.7 and then replace it:

1. Download the latest CMake version from the CMake web site (http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html), and uncompress it in a folder.
2. Create a _build directory in the CMake sources folder.
3. From the _build directory, run the following commands to build and install CMake from sources:

cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr
make
cpack -G DEB
sudo apt-get remove cmake cmake-data
sudo dpkg -i cmake*.deb

To get GCC and G++ 4.8, do the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gcc-4.8 g++-4.8
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.8 50
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-4.8 50

Now run the 14.04 & 15.04 script.

Test Code

The following is some Objective-C source code from the internet. It demonstrates blocks, Grand Central Dispatch, and the use of GNUStep GUI.

cat > blocktest.m << EOF
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    void (^hello)(void) = ^(void) {
        printf("Hello, block!\n");
    };
    hello();
    return 0;
}
EOF

cat > helloGCD_objc.m << EOF

#include <dispatch/dispatch.h>
#import <stdio.h>
#import "Fraction.h"

int main( int argc, const char *argv[] ) {
   dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_queue_create(NULL, NULL);
   Fraction *frac = [[Fraction alloc] init];

   [frac setNumerator: 1];
   [frac setDenominator: 3];

   // print it
   dispatch_sync(queue, ^{
     printf( "The fraction is: " );
     [frac print];
     printf( "\n" );
   });
   dispatch_release(queue);

   return 0;
}

EOF

cat > Fraction.h << EOF

#import <Foundation/NSObject.h>

@interface Fraction: NSObject {
   int numerator;
   int denominator;
}

-(void) print;
-(void) setNumerator: (int) n;
-(void) setDenominator: (int) d;
-(int) numerator;
-(int) denominator;
@end

EOF


cat > Fraction.m << EOF
#import "Fraction.h"
#import <stdio.h>

@implementation Fraction
-(void) print {
   printf( "%i/%i", numerator, denominator );
}

-(void) setNumerator: (int) n {
   numerator = n;
}

-(void) setDenominator: (int) d {
   denominator = d;
}

-(int) denominator {
   return denominator;
}

-(int) numerator {
   return numerator;
}
@end

EOF



cat > guitest.m << EOF
#import <AppKit/AppKit.h>

int main()
{
  NSApplication *app;  // Without these 2 lines, seg fault may occur
  app = [NSApplication sharedApplication];

  NSAlert * alert = [[NSAlert alloc] init];
  [alert setMessageText:@"Hello alert"];
  [alert addButtonWithTitle:@"All done"];
  int result = [alert runModal];
  if (result == NSAlertFirstButtonReturn) {
    NSLog(@"First button pressed");
  }
}
EOF

# ======================================================================
# COMPILE USING THE FOLLOWING COMMAND LINES, OR CREATE A MAKEFILE
# ======================================================================

# Using COMMAND LINE

clang `gnustep-config --objc-flags` `gnustep-config --objc-libs` -fobjc-runtime=gnustep -fblocks -fobjc-arc -lobjc  blocktest.m

clang `gnustep-config --objc-flags` `gnustep-config --objc-libs` -fobjc-runtime=gnustep -fblocks -lobjc -ldispatch -lgnustep-base  Fraction.m helloGCD_objc.m

clang `gnustep-config --objc-flags` `gnustep-config --objc-libs`  -fobjc-runtime=gnustep -fblocks -lobjc -fobjc-arc -ldispatch -lgnustep-base -lgnustep-gui  guitest.m

# Using MAKEFILE

cat > GNUmakefile << EOF
include \$(GNUSTEP_MAKEFILES)/common.make

APP_NAME = GUITest
GUITest_OBJC_FILES = guitest.m

include \$(GNUSTEP_MAKEFILES)/application.make
EOF

make
openapp ./GUITest.app

General Note: When compiling your own code, it is generally good to tell clang both the family and version of the runtime: -fobjc-runtime=gnustep-1.8.1 (The current version number can be had by looking at the latest ANNOUNCE filename in https://github.com/gnustep/libobjc2 (e.g., ANNOUNCE.1.8.1))