CompFileDate Build Instructions
===============================

These instructions assume you are building the program using Delphi 13. Later
versions of Delphi may be suitable.


Step 1: Download the Source
----------------------------

The program's source code is maintained in the ddabapps/compfiledate repository
on GitHub. See https://github.com/ddabapps/compfiledate

Either clone or download the repo into a directory on your computer. The
following directory structure will be created within your nominated directory:

    .
    |
    +-- Docs
    |
    +-- Src
        |
        +-- Assets


Step 2: Configure the Build Environment
---------------------------------------

The following tools must be installed to build CompFileDate:

    + Delphi 13 or later. The 32 bit IDE is used.

    + `VIEd.exe` (Version Information Editor by DelphiDabbler). See
      https://delphidabbler.com/software/vied. Version 2.17.0 or later is
      required.

The program will not compile without setting the VIEDROOT environment variable
to the path where the VIEd binary is installed. By default this is in
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\DelphiDabbler\VIEd on 64 bit Windows and
%ProgramFiles%\DelphiDabbler\VIEd on 32 bit Windows.

VIEDROOT can be set in two ways:

    1. From within the Delphi IDE. To do this choose the Tools | Options menu
       option to display the Options dialogue box. Then select the IDE |
       Environment Variables page and create the environment variable in the
       System Overides section of the page.

    2. By setting the environment variable using Windows Settings. This must be
       done before starting the Delphi IDE.


Step 3: Modify the Source
-------------------------

If you intend modifying and redistributing CompFileDate you must comply with
CompFileDate's open source licence. See
https://github.com/ddabapps/compfiledate/blob/master/LICENSE.md for details.


Step 4: Compile
---------------

From the IDE you have the choice of building Windows 32 bit, Windows 64 bit or
Linux 64 bit operating systems. Debug and Release build configurations are
supported for each target OS.

To build a required target OS and build configuration select them in the IDE's
Projects window before performing a full build.

Everything is compiled into a `_build` sub-directory of the directory where you
copied the source. This directory is hidden from Git. There is a sub-directory
of `_build` named for each target OS that has been built. Within the target OS's
directory there will be a further sub-directory for each build configuration
that has been built. These are `Debug` and `Release`. Within those directories
intermediate binaries are stored in a `bin` sub-directory while executable
programs can be found in an `exe` directory.

To assist in building for all target OSs you can use the `MakeAllTargets.bat`
script located in the `Tools` directory. This script runs a full Debug build for
each target OS. See the comments at the top of `MakeAllTargets.bat` for details
of how to use the script.


Step 5: Release (optional)
--------------------------

Releases are created by running `Deploy.bat` from the command line, NOT from
within the Delphi IDE. `Deploy.bat` has its own dependencies and requirements
which are explained in the comments at the top of the script file.

The script compiles release versions of the 32 and 64 bit Windows and 64 bit
Linux versions of the program. Each release version is bundled up in both zip
and tar/gzip archives.

Documentation is also included in the archives. Plain text files that are
included in the Linux 64 bit release have their line end characters converted
from Windows' CRLF format to Linux's LF format.


Step 6: Clean Up
----------------

If you cloned the CompFileDate repo using Git you can clean up easily by opening
a Git command line on directory where the clone was made. Then run:

    git clean -fxd

Make sure you have committed any new files that you need first!