# Contributing to Libidn

This file contains instructions for developers and advanced users.

## Obtaining sources

Download the version controlled sources:
```
$ git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/libidn.git
$ cd libidn
```

## Dependencies

If you wish to build the project from version controlled sources,
rebuild all generated files (e.g., run autoreconf), or modify some
source code files, you will need to have additional tools installed
beyond those mentioned in [DEPENDENCIES.md](DEPENDENCIES.md).  None of
the following tools are necessary if you build Libidn in the usual way
(i.e., ./configure && make).

- Make <https://www.gnu.org/software/make/>
- C compiler <https://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/>
- Automake <https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/>
- Autoconf <https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/>
- Libtool <https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/>
- Gettext <https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/>
- Texinfo <https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/>
- Gperf <https://www.gnu.org/software/gperf/>
- help2man <https://www.gnu.org/software/help2man/>
- Gengetopt <https://www.gnu.org/software/gengetopt/>
- Tar <https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/>
- Gzip <https://www.gnu.org/software/gzip/>
- Texlive & epsf <https://tug.org/texlive/> (for PDF manual)
- GTK-DOC <https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk-doc> (for API manual)
- Git <https://git-scm.com/>
- Perl <https://www.cpan.org/src/http://www.cpan.org/>
- Valgrind <https://valgrind.org/> (optional)
- OpenJDK (for java port)
- Mono mcs <https://www.mono-project.com/> (for C# port)
- dot <https://www.graphviz.org/> (to generate doc/libidn-components.*)
- Ghostscript <https://www.ghostscript.com/> (to edit PDF timestamps)

The software is typically distributed with your operating system, and
the instructions for installing them differ.  Here are some hints:

APT/DPKG-based distributions:
```
apt-get install make git autoconf automake libtool gettext autopoint cvs
apt-get install texinfo texlive texlive-plain-generic texlive-extra-utils
apt-get install help2man gtk-doc-tools dblatex valgrind gengetopt
apt-get install graphviz ghostscript mono-mcs gperf default-jdk-headless
```

DNF/RPM-based distributions:
```
dnf install -y make git autoconf automake libtool gettext-devel cvs
dnf install -y texinfo texinfo-tex texlive
dnf install -y help2man gtk-doc gengetopt dblatex valgrind
dnf install -y gperf java-latest-openjdk-devel
```

On macOS with Xcode and Homebrew:
```
brew install autoconf automake libtool gengetopt help2man texinfo graphviz
```

To download the version controlled sources:

```
git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/libidn.git
cd libidn
```

The next step is to import gnulib files, run autoreconf etc:

```
./bootstrap
```

If you have a local checkout of gnulib and wants to avoid download
another copy, you may want to use:

```
./bootstrap --gnulib-refdir=../gnulib
```

Then configure the project as you would normally, for example:

```
./configure --enable-java --enable-gtk-doc-pdf
```

Then build the project:

```
make
make check
```

To prepare releases you need some additional tools:

- Mingw (to produce Windows binaries)
- Wine (to self-check Windows binaries)
- Lcov (to produce coverage HTML pages)
- Zip (to pack Windows binaries)
- Clang (to produce clang analysis)
- Doxygen (to produce doxygen manual)
- pmccabe (to produce cyclomatic code complexity report)
- ncftpput (to upload source tarballs)

APT/DPKG-based distributions:
```
apt-get install mingw-w64 wine binfmt-support lcov zip
apt-get install clang doxygen pmccabe ncftp
```

See README-release on how to make a release.

Happy hacking!

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (C) 2009-2026 Simon Josefsson
Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
notice and this notice are preserved.
