Building LuxCoreRender

This page is under construction

This document describes the various processes involved in building LuxCoreRender, starting with version 2.10 “Back-on-track”.

LuxCoreRender's build system has been significantly modified for version 2.10. This document therefore renders obsolete all previous documents related to the compilation of older versions (<=2.9).

For most targets, there are several construction approaches, depending on the use case. This document therefore distinguishes 2 different build workflows.

Audience

This document is primarily intended for:

• LuxCoreRender administrators in charge of releasing the various LuxCoreRender end-products;
• Developers wishing to contribute to the project;
• Package maintainers wishing to integrate all or part of LuxCoreRender into a distribution;

This document assumes that the reader is skilled in the following areas:

• C/C++ compilation
• cmake
• git
• Github
• Python Wheels

Familiarity with Conan dependency manager may also make this document easier to understand.

This document is not intended for end-users without any knowledge about application building. Such users are invited to look for already compiled binaries.

Build Targets

Synoptics

LuxCoreRender contains multiple targets, below represented with dependency links:

Target	Source Repository	Content
External Dependencies	LuxCoreRender/LuxCoreDeps	A bundled Conan cache populated with LuxCoreRender external dependency binaries, built from sources
LuxCore	LuxCoreRender/LuxCore	LuxCore core binaries, in the form of static and shared libraries: luxcore.so, luxcore_static.lib, luxcore.dll etc.
Samples	LuxCoreRender/LuxCore	Sample C++ programs, illustrating luxcore use, namely luxcoreconsole and luxcoreui
Python Wheels	LuxCoreRender/LuxCore	Python bindings of core binaries, in the form of Python wheels (1 per pair OS/Python version). As a byproduct, a Pythonized version of LuxCore shared library is also built (pyluxcore.so).
Plugins	LuxCoreRender/<plugin-name>	Plugins to expose LuxCore in various external applications, notably Blender. Mostly written in Python and relying on Python Wheels as runtime dependency.

Targeted platforms

We aim to make LuxCoreRender available on the following 4 platforms:

• Linux (glibc 2.28+)
• Windows
• MacOS Intel (>=10.15)
• MacOS Arm (>=12.0)

For Python-related targets, we aim to make LuxCoreRender available for all Python versions supported at a given time (https://devguide.python.org/versions/), i.e. 5 versions in general.

Build Workflows

Publisher Workflows

This workflow is designed to be used by LuxCoreRender administrators to publish a new release of one or more LuxCoreRender components. This workflow takes place in a CI/CD Github pipeline.

Running this workflow is restricted to users granted of extended rights on LuxCoreRender repositories.

External Dependencies

Expected outputs

The expected output of Dependencies build is a bundled Conan cache populated with dependency binaries built from sources, embedded into a Github release. Please refer to LuxCoreDeps README for more information.

Canonical build

Caveat: if you provide an already-existing release version number during the process, this action will replace the existing release with the newly-built one. This can be what you expected... or not. Be cautious.

To build a new release of Dependencies:

Test & debug build

Canonical build may not be suitable for testing and debugging needs (for instance, when adding, updating or removing dependencies...). In such situations, there are 2 options:

• Server build: run workflow on server, but without creating any release
• Local build: run workflow on local computer (user PC)

Server build

The process is nearly the same as canonical build, but the release creation steps are skipped. For that purpose, another Github workflow is executed: LuxCore Dependency Checker.
Please note that your changes must have been committed to repository beforehands.

Local build
Thanks to nektos/act, it is possible Github Workflows locally.

Nota: nektos/act really deserves great recognition. Do not hesitate to visit repo, star or donate.

Samples

=== Dependency

LuxCore Dependencies

Outputs

The output of this target is a Conan cache populated with binaries

Principles

LuxCore dependencies are built by LuxCoreDeps.

The process is:

• LuxCoreDeps populates a Conan cache by building each of the required dependencies from its sources.
• This cache is published in LuxCoreDeps releases.
• On LuxCore side, during the build, the cache is retrieved from the release and made available (restored) for LuxCore build.

Server build

LuxCoreDeps is intended to be run by Github CI/CD pipeline.

You will find all workflows in repository actions.:

• LuxCore Dependency Builder: build dependencies, triggered on-demand
• LuxCore Dependency Checker: test dependency build, triggered by push (call Builder)
• LuxCore Dependency Releaser: publish release of dependencies

In a typical workflow: Testing: Releasing

Local build

Local build is