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
NOTE: Unless you have a need for the above features, its recommended to install from the default repos as often the scripts below have issues.
sudo apt install gnustep
Ubuntu 19.04
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.
#!/bin/bash # Show prompt function function showPrompt() { if [ "$PROMPT" = true ] ; then echo -e "\n\n" read -p "${GREEN}Press enter to continue...${NC}" fi } # Set colors GREEN=`tput setaf 2` NC=`tput sgr0` # No Color # Set to true to also build and install apps APPS=true # Set to true to pause after each build to verify successful build and installation PROMPT=false # Install Requirements sudo apt update echo -e "\n\n${GREEN}Installing dependencies...${NC}" sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 # Enable 32-bit repos for libx11-dev:i386 sudo apt-get update sudo apt -y install clang git cmake libffi-dev libxml2-dev \ libgnutls28-dev libicu-dev libblocksruntime-dev libkqueue-dev libpthread-workqueue-dev autoconf libtool \ libjpeg-dev libtiff-dev libffi-dev libcairo-dev libx11-dev:i386 libxt-dev libxft-dev if [ "$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/plaurent/libdispatch.git cd libdispatch git checkout fix_major_missing_symbol_for_ubuntu1904 cd .. 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...${NC}" cd tools-make # git checkout `git rev-list -1 --first-parent --before=2017-04-06 master` # fixes segfault, should probably be looked at. ./configure --enable-debug-by-default --with-layout=gnustep --enable-objc-arc --with-library-combo=ng-gnu-gnu make -j8 sudo -E make install . /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh echo ". /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh" >> ~/.bashrc showPrompt # Build libdispatch echo -e "\n\n" echo -e "${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...${NC}" cd ../../libobjc2 rm -Rf build mkdir build && cd build cmake ../ -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang -DCMAKE_ASM_COMPILER=clang -DTESTS=OFF cmake --build . sudo -E make install sudo ldconfig export LDFLAGS=-ldispatch showPrompt OBJCFLAGS="-fblocks -fobjc-runtime=gnustep-2.0" # Build GNUstep make second time echo -e "\n\n" echo -e "${GREEN}Building GNUstep-make for the second time...${NC}" cd ../../tools-make ./configure --enable-debug-by-default --with-layout=gnustep --enable-objc-arc --with-library-combo=ng-gnu-gnu make -j8 sudo -E make install . /usr/GNUstep/System/Library/Makefiles/GNUstep.sh showPrompt # Build GNUstep base echo -e "\n\n" echo -e "${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}"
Older versions of Ubuntu (18.04 or earlier)
On older versions of Ubuntu (including 18.04) you won't have a recent enough clang. If you want to build on an older Ubuntu (like 18.04) you should:
(1) Set OBJCFLAGS="-fblocks -fobjc-runtime=gnustep-1.9" in the script above (2) git checkout 1.9 on libobjc2 (3) Build a new clang manually (instead of apt install clang):
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++
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.
#!/bin/bash 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` -lobjc blocktest.m ./a.out clang `gnustep-config --objc-flags` `gnustep-config --objc-libs` -lobjc -ldispatch -lgnustep-base Fraction.m helloGCD_objc.m ./a.out clang `gnustep-config --objc-flags` `gnustep-config --objc-libs` -lobjc -fobjc-arc -ldispatch -lgnustep-base -lgnustep-gui guitest.m ./a.out # 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-2.0 (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))