github.com/containers/podman/v4@v4.9.4/build_windows.md (about) 1 # Building the Podman client and client installer on Windows 2 3 The following describes the process for building the Podman client on Windows. 4 5 ## OS requirements 6 7 Windows OS can behave very differently depending on how it was configured. This documentation assumes that one is using 8 a [Windows 11 development machine](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/virtual-machines/) or a 9 configuration close to this one. The Podman Windows client installer bundles several tools, which are unnecessary for Podman builds, but this 10 set of packages is well aligned with GitHub's `windows-latest` offerings. Some of the tools will still be missing from 11 this distribution and will have to be manually added after this installation completes. 12 13 ## Install Pandoc 14 15 Pandoc could be installed from https://pandoc.org/installing.html When performing the Pandoc installation one, has to choose the option 16 "Install for all users" (to put the binaries into "Program Files" directory). 17 18 ## Install WiX Toolset v3 (is preinstalled in Github runner) 19 The latest release of the WiX Toolset can be obtained from https://wixtoolset.org/docs/wix3/. Installing it into a clean VM might require 20 an additional installation of .NET Framework 3.5 in advance 21 ([instructions for adding .NET Framework 3.5 via enabling the Windows feature](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/install/dotnet-35-windows#enable-the-net-framework-35-in-control-panel)) 22 23 ## Install msys2 24 25 Podman requires brew -- a collection of Unix like build tools and libraries adapted for Windows. More details and 26 installation instructions are available from their [home page](https://www.msys2.org/). There are also premade GitHub 27 actions for this tool that are available. 28 29 ## Install build dependencies 30 31 Podman requires some software from msys2 to be able to build. This can be done using msys2 shell. One can start it 32 from the Start menu. This documentation covers only usage of MSYS2 UCRT64 shell (msys2 shells come preconfigured for 33 different [environments](https://www.msys2.org/docs/environments/)). 34 35 ``` 36 $ pacman -S git make zip mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-go mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-python 37 ``` 38 39 The Pandoc tool installed in a prior step is specific, that is the installer doesn't add the tool to any PATH environment 40 variable known to msys2, so, it has to be linked explicitly to work. 41 42 ``` 43 $ mkdir -p /usr/local/bin 44 $ ln -sf "/c/Program Files/Pandoc/pandoc.exe" "/usr/local/bin/pandoc.exe" 45 ``` 46 47 ## Restart shell (important) 48 49 One needs to restart the [msys2](https://www.msys2.org/) shell after dependency installation before proceeding with the build. 50 51 ## Obtain Podman source code 52 53 One can obtain the latest source code for Podman from its [GitHub](https://github.com/containers/podman) repository. 54 55 ``` 56 $ git clone https://github.com/containers/podman.git go/src/github.com/containers/podman 57 ``` 58 59 ## Build client 60 61 After completing the preparatory steps of obtaining the Podman source code and installing its dependencies, the client 62 can now be built. 63 64 ``` 65 $ cd go/src/github.com/containers/podman 66 $ make clean podman-remote-release-windows_amd64.zip 67 ``` 68 69 The complete distribution will be packaged to the `podman-remote-release-windows_amd64.zip` file. It is possible to 70 unzip it and replace files in the default Podman installation with the built ones to use the custom build. 71 72 ### Build client only (for faster feedback loop) 73 74 Building Podman by following this documentation can take a fair amount of time and effort. Packaging the installer adds even more overhead. If 75 the only needed artifact is the Podman binary itself, it is possible to build only it with this command: 76 77 ``` 78 $ make podman-remote 79 ``` 80 81 The binary will be located in `bin/windows/`. It could be used as drop in replacement for the installed version of 82 Podman. 83 84 It is also possible to cross-build for other platforms by providing GOOS and GOARCH environment variables. 85 86 ## Build client installer 87 88 As Windows requires more effort in comparison to Unix systems for installation procedures, it is sometimes 89 easier to pack the changes into a ready-to-use installer. To create the installer, the full client distribution in ZIP 90 format has to be built beforehand. 91 92 ``` 93 $ export BUILD_PODMAN_VERSION=$(test/version/version | sed 's/-.*//') 94 $ mkdir -p contrib/win-installer/current 95 $ cp podman-remote-release-windows_amd64.zip contrib/win-installer/current/ 96 $ cd contrib/win-installer 97 $ powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File build.ps1 $BUILD_PODMAN_VERSION dev current 98 ``` 99 100 The installer will be located in the `contrib/win-installer` folder (relative to checkout root) and will have a name 101 like `podman-4.5.0-dev-setup.exe`. This could be installed in a similar manner as the official Podman for Windows installers 102 (when installing unsigned binaries is allowed on the host). 103 104 ## Using the client 105 106 To learn how to use the Podman client, refer to its 107 [tutorial](https://github.com/containers/podman/blob/main/docs/tutorials/remote_client.md).