Add build instructions manual

BUILD.md

@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+# Build FreeOrion
+
+
+## Hardware and OS Requirements
+
+FreeOrion will compile on Windows 7 (or later), Mac OS X 10.10 (or later) and
+Linux operating systems. Other operating systems have reported to work, but
+support is not actively maintained by the FreeOrion developers. FreeOrion is
+developed for x86 compatible processor architectures, other architectures
+haven't been tested.
+
+The FreeOrion source code makes heavy use of templates and requires much memory
+to compile ; 6 GiB RAM or more is recommended. To build FreeOrion, expect up to
+45 minutes on a Intel Core i5 system.
+
+
+## Required Software Dependencies
+
+FreeOrion depends on the following software to build:
+
+  * [Visual Studio] - 2015 for Windows Desktop Update 3 ; Windows only
+  * [Xcode] - 6.4 or later ; Mac OS X only
+  * [CMake] - 3.4 (Mac OS X) ; 3.1 or later (Other non-Windows)
+  * A C++11 compliant compiler - Other Operating Systems
+    * [GNU GCC] - 5.0 or later
+    * [Clang] - 3.9 or later
+  * [Python] - 2.7.*
+  * [Git]
+
+FreeOrion depends on the following libraries or APIs to run:
+
+  * OpenGL - 2.1 or later ; usually provided by the graphic card driver or
+    Operating System
+  * OpenGL Utilities (GLU) ; usually provided by the graphic card driver or
+    Operating System
+  * OpenAL - It's recommended to use the [OpenAL Soft] implementation
+  * [Boost] - 1.56 or later
+  * [zlib]
+  * [libpython] - 2.7.*
+  * [FreeType2]
+  * [libpng]
+  * [libogg]
+  * [libvorbis]
+  * [SDL2]
+
+
+## Obtaining FreeOrion Source Code and Software Dependencies
+
+For Windows and Mac OS X a [FreeOrion Software Development Kit] is provided as
+download to compile FreeOrion from source. It contains the preconfigured and
+-compiled build and runtime dependencies for the Visual Studio v140 toolchain on
+Windows and Mac OS X 10.9 SDK with Xcode 6.4 or later on Mac OS X.
+
+For Linux or other Operating Systems the build and runtime dependencies should
+be installed by the preferred way for the respective OS (e.g. via Package
+manager or compiling from source).
+
+Step by step procedure:
+
+ * On Windows or Mac OS X:
+   * Download the [FreeOrionSDK v8] from the FreeOrionSDK respository releases.
+ * Linux and other Operating Systems:
+   * Install build and runtime dependencies by the preferred way for the
+     respective OS.
+ * Create a project directory `freeorion-project`.
+ * On Windows:
+   * Unzip the SDK archive contents into the project directory.
+   * Execute the `bootstrap.bat` within the project directory. This will clone
+     the FreeOrion repository and place the dependencies at the correct place.
+ * On Mac OS X:
+   * Mount the SDK DMG image.
+   * Copy the contents of the mounted image into the project directory.
+   * Execute the `bootstrap.command` within the project directory. This will
+     clone the FreeOrion repository and place the dependencies at the correct
+     place.
+ * On Linux and other Operating Systems:
+   * Navigate into the project directory.
+   * Clone the project via Git:
+     ```
+     git clone https://github.com/freeorion/freeorion.git
+     ```
+
+This will leave you with the latest development branch `master` and the
+FreeOrion source code in:
+
+ * `freeorion-project/FreeOrion/` on Windows.
+ * `freeorion-project/` on Mac OS X.
+ * `freeorion-project/freeorion/` on Linux and other Operating Systems.
+
+This directory will be referred to as _source directory_ in the rest of the
+document.
+
+To build a specific release check out the desired version via `git checkout`:
+
+```
+git checkout vxxx
+```
+
+Where `vxxx` indicates the desired version.  A list of all available version
+can be listet by invoking `git tag -l`, where releases are indicated by a
+leading `v` followed by the release version number.
+
+
+# Compiling FreeOrion
+
+FreeOrion uses CMake as build system on most platforms. On Windows a manually
+maintained Visual Studio Project is used for building.
+
+Step by step procedure:
+
+ * Enter the _source directory_.
+ * On Windows:
+   * Open `msvc2015\FreeOrion.sln` with Visual Studio.
+   * Compile the whole project by selecting the `Build` -> `Build Solution`
+     menu entry.
+
+ * On Mac OS X:
+   * Create a `build` directory, which will contain all compile FreeOrion
+     build artifacs.
+   * Change into the `build` directory on the command line.
+   * Execute cmake to generate a Xcode project file:
+
+     ```
+     cmake -GXcode ..
+     ```
+   * Open `FreeOrion.xcodeproj` with Visual Studio
+   * Compile the whole project by selecting the `ALL_BUILD` scheme and
+     pressing 'Command' + 'B'.
+
+ * On Linux and other Operating Systems
+   * Create a `build` directory, which will contain all compile FreeOrion
+     build artifacs.
+   * Change into the `build` directory on the command line.
+   * Execute cmake to generate Makefiles:
+
+     ```
+     cmake ..
+     ```
+   * Compile the whole project by calling `make` within the build directory.
+     In case you want to utilize multiple CPU cores by running parallel compile
+     jobs check out the the [make jobs](`--jobs`) parameter of `make`.
+   * Create a symbolic link to the data directory inside the build directoy
+     by invoking:
+
+     ```
+     ln -s ../freeorion/default .
+     ```
+
+This will leave you with a build of FreeOrion executables.
+
+ * `freeorion-project/FreeOrion` on Windows.
+ * `freeorion-project/build/Release` on Mac OS X.
+ * `freeorion-project/freeorion/build` on Linux and other Operating Systems.
+
+
+[Visual Studio]: https://www.visualstudio.com/de/vs/older-downloads/
+[Xcode]: https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/xcode/id497799835?mt=12
+[CMake]: https://cmake.org/download/
+[GNU GCC]: https://gcc.gnu.org/releases.html
+[Clang]: http://releases.llvm.org/download.html
+[Python]: https://www.python.org/downloads/
+[Git]: https://git-scm.com/downloads
+[Boost]: http://www.boost.org/users/download/
+[zlib]: https://zlib.net/
+[libpython]: https://www.python.org/downloads/
+[FreeType2]: https://www.freetype.org/download.html
+[libpng]: http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html
+[libogg]: https://xiph.org/downloads/
+[OpenAL Soft]: http://kcat.strangesoft.net/openal.html
+[libvorbis]: https://xiph.org/downloads/
+[SDL2]: https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php
+[FreeOrionSDK]: https://github.com/freeorion/freeorion-sdk
+[FreeOrionSDK v8]: https://github.com/freeorion/freeorion-sdk/releases/tag/v8
+[FreeOrion Releases]: https://github.com/freeorion/freeorion/releases
+[make jobs]: https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Parallel.html

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ To ensure your PR won't be rejected please make sure that:
   want to update your branch to a more recent master use the `git rebase`
   command.
 
+To build FreeOrion please refer to the [Build Instructions](BUILD.md).
+
 
 ## Further documentation
 

README.md

@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ For Mac OSX, open the downloaded DMG file and copy the contained FreeOrion
 application to your system Applications folder by Drag and Drop.
 
 For Linux or other from-source installations in general please refer to the
-[Compile Instructions].
+[Build Instructions](BUILD.md).
 
 Various Linux distributions provide the stable release of FreeOrion in
 a prebuilt way.  Usually you can install those packages by either using
@@ -126,7 +126,6 @@ accompanying license file.
 [FreeOrion Stable Releases]: https://github.com/freeorion/freeorion/releases
 [FreeOrion Weekly Releases]: https://sourceforge.net/projects/freeorion/files/FreeOrion/Test/
 [FreeOrion Development]: https://github.com/freeorion/freeorion
-[Compile Instructions]: http://www.freeorion.org/index.php/Compile
 [Debian Package]: https://packages.debian.org/source/sid/freeorion
 [Ubuntu Package]: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/freeorion
 [Fedora Package]: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/package/rpms/freeorion/