Compiling

If you just want to run a pre-built version of the code, see Installation.

Setting up a Development Environment

You will need a system that satisfies the hardware requirements for running OpenRA.

Git Commands

Setting up:

	git config --global user.name $YOU
	git config --global user.email you@example.com

Fork the repo on Github, and then clone it locally, and set up your pushurl:

	git clone git://github.com/$YOU/OpenRA.git
	git config remote.origin.pushurl git@github.com:$YOU/OpenRA.git

Now add upstream so you can track it:

	git remote add openra -f git://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA.git

Do the same for any other repos you want to track.

Now to sync up to upstream:

	git fetch --all
	git checkout openra/bleed

To work on something:

	git checkout -b myfeature
	... hack, add, commit ...

Before publishing your changes, it's a good idea to rebase them up to the latest upstream version:

	git fetch --all
	git rebase openra/bleed

Now test that it still works, and then publish your changes:

	git push myfeature

Test your changes / Start Debugging

Visual Studio 2012 (Express) / Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8

Copy all native DLLs from \packaging\windows\ and common language interface DLLs from \thirdparty into the root folder.

• Open OpenRA.sln with Visual Studio. Then Build → Build Solution. (F7)
• Right click on OpenRA project in Solution Explorer → Properties. Change Single startup project into "OpenRA.Game".
• And finally you can Debug → Start Without Debugging / Start Debugging. (F5)

Monodevelop / Linux / Mac OSX

In order to build and package OpenRA you will need to install the following dependencies. Most linux distributions will include packages for these - OSX users should install these manually.

• Mono framework
• SDL (2.0 preferred, 1.2 supported)

The preferred method of compiling the code is using make. MonoDevelop / Xamarin Studio are useful IDEs, but the xbuild configuration leaves much to be desired.

From a terminal in the OpenRA source directory:

• Copy the thirdparty dlls to the working directory: make dependencies
• Build the source: make all
• Run the game with: mono --debug OpenRA.Game.exe

Note: You can also change Settings via command-line parameters like Game.Mod=ra.

Tip: It is suggested to run in windowed mode, because the debugging experience is much nicer.