
# Building Slic3r PE on UNIX/Linux

Slic3r PE uses the CMake build system and requires several dependencies.
The dependencies can be listed in `deps/deps-linux.cmake`, although they don't necessarily need to be as recent
as the versions listed - generally versions available on conservative Linux distros such as Debian stable or CentOS should suffice.

Perl is not required any more.

In a typical situaction, one would open a command line, go to the Slic3r sources, create a directory called `build` or similar,
`cd` into it and call:

    cmake ..
    make -jN

where `N` is the number of CPU cores available.

Additional CMake flags may be applicable as explained below.

### Dependency resolution

By default Slic3r looks for dependencies the default way CMake looks for them, ie. in default system locations.
On Linux this will typically make Slic3r depend on dynamically loaded libraries from the system, however, Slic3r can be told
to specifically look for static libraries with the `SLIC3R_STATIC` flag passed to cmake:

    cmake .. -DSLIC3R_STATIC=1

Additionally, Slic3r can be built in a static manner mostly independent of the system libraries with a dependencies bundle
created using CMake script in the `deps` directory (these are not interconnected with the rest of the CMake scripts).

Note: We say _mostly independent_ because it's still expected the system will provide some transitive dependencies, such as GTK for wxWidgets.

To do this, go to the `deps` directory, create a `build` subdirectory (or the like) and use:

    cmake .. -DDESTDIR=<target destdir>

where the target destdir is a directory of your choosing where the dependencies will be installed.
You can also omit the `DESTDIR` option to use the default, in that case the `destdir` will be created inside the `build` directory where `cmake` is run.

To pass the destdir path to the top-level Slic3r CMake script, use the `CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH` option along with turning on `SLIC3R_STATIC`:

    cmake .. -DSLIC3R_STATIC=1 -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<path to destdir>/usr/local

Note that `/usr/local` needs to be appended to the destdir path and also the prefix path should be absolute.

**Warning**: Once the dependency bundle is installed in a destdir, the destdir cannot be moved elsewhere.
This is because wxWidgets hardcode the installation path.

### Build variant

By default Scli3r builds the release variant.
To create a debug build, use the following CMake flag:

    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug

### Installation

In runtime, Slic3r needs a way to access its resource files. By default, it looks for a `resources` directory relative to its binary.

If you instead wnat Slic3r installed in a structure according to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, use the `SLIC3R_FHS` flag

    cmake .. -DSLIC3R_FHS=1

This will make Slic3r look for a fixed-location `share/slic3r-prusa3d` directory instead (note that the location becomes hardcoded).

You can then use the `make install` target to install Slic3r.
