Building Meld on Windows

As of version 3.11.1, Meld supports building on Windows.

1. Prerequisites

• Python 2.7.6 x86 (32-bit)

• PyGObject Win32

• msysgit

Check the SOURCES file in the directory for a binary release to see what versions of the above are used. PyGObject Win32 is the dependency most likely to cause issues if using a different version than that which has been tested. msysgit is used purely for the scripting environment, so any version should be fine.

2. Getting Meld code

Using git from the command line:

git clone git://git.gnome.org/meld

3. Building

Almost nothing in Meld actually requires building; we are just gathering and packaging the necessary files for Meld to run once installed. Ideally, creating a new Meld MSI should be:

python setup_win32.py bdist_msi

Some current build system limitations stop things from being this easy:

• GSettings schemas need a manual compile first. Locate your PyGObjectWin32
  • install folder (probably C:\Python27\Libs\site-packages\gnome) and find

    glib-compile-schemas within it. Run glib-compile-schemas on the data folder to generate gschemas.compiled.

• Translations are not compiled or installed, and thus won't work
• Help is not built or installed

4. Installing

The resulting MSI file will be in the dist folder.