Update feature lists

[wimlib] / README.WINDOWS

diff --git a/README.WINDOWS b/README.WINDOWS
index 66babca330ef2e15265ac2852c67a0dac72dff00..9744dc8d72b7592a23c93622a918d668d176130e 100644 (file)
--- a/README.WINDOWS
+++ b/README.WINDOWS
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ The Windows distribution of wimlib is a ZIP file containing the following items:
   * License files for all software included.  These are all free software
     licenses.
 
   * License files for all software included.  These are all free software
     licenses.
 

+Note that there are separate ZIP files for 32-bit (i686) and 64-bit (x86_64)
+binaries.  They are both fully supported, but you should prefer the 64-bit
+binaries when possible as they can be noticeably faster.
+

                                  WIMLIB-IMAGEX
 
 wimlib-imagex supports most features of Microsoft's ImageX as well as some
                                  WIMLIB-IMAGEX
 
 wimlib-imagex supports most features of Microsoft's ImageX as well as some


@@ -49,6 +53,9 @@ advantages of wimlib-imagex compared to ImageX and DISM are:
     used in ESD (.esd) files.  (These are partially supported by recent DISM
     versions but not by ImageX.)
 
     used in ESD (.esd) files.  (These are partially supported by recent DISM
     versions but not by ImageX.)
 

+  * wimlib-imagex supports imaging a live Windows system.  Just use the
+    --snapshot option.
+

   * In many cases, wimlib-imagex has simpler command-line syntax than either
     ImageX or DISM.
 
   * In many cases, wimlib-imagex has simpler command-line syntax than either
     ImageX or DISM.
 


@@ -74,3 +81,58 @@ interface available for wimlib or wimlib-imagex.  However, an unofficial, beta,
 Windows-only graphical user interface that provides a thin wrapper around
 wimlib-imagex can be downloaded at
 http://reboot.pro/files/file/485-wimlib-imagex-command-line-compiler/.
 Windows-only graphical user interface that provides a thin wrapper around
 wimlib-imagex can be downloaded at
 http://reboot.pro/files/file/485-wimlib-imagex-command-line-compiler/.

+
+                              BUILDING FROM SOURCE
+
+As with other open source software, advanced users may choose to build wimlib
+from source, potentially with customizations.  Although wimlib's build system is
+designed for UNIX-like systems and is easiest to use on Linux, it's possible to
+build Windows binaries on Windows using Cygwin with MinGW.  To do this, follow
+the instructions below.  For the sake of example, I'll assume you are building a
+32-bit version of wimlib v1.9.0.
+
+Run the Cygwin installer, available from https://www.cygwin.com/setup-x86.exe.
+When you get to the package selection screen, choose the following additional
+packages from category "Devel":
+
+    - make
+    - mingw64-i686-gcc-g++
+    - mingw64-i686-binutils
+    - mingw64-i686-libxml2
+    - mingw64-i686-winpthreads
+    - mingw64-i686-win-iconv
+    - mingw64-i686-pkg-config
+
+Download wimlib's source code from https://wimlib.net/downloads/wimlib-1.9.0.tar.gz.
+
+Start a Cygwin terminal and run the following commands:
+
+    cd /cygdrive/c/Users/example/Downloads # (or wherever you downloaded the source to)
+    tar xf wimlib-1.9.0.tar.gz
+    cd wimlib-1.9.0
+    ./configure --host=i686-w64-mingw32
+    make
+
+If successful, the new binaries "libwim-15.dll" and "wimlib-imagex.exe" will
+have been produced in the .libs directory.
+
+By default the binaries are built with debug symbols.  If desired, you can use
+i686-w64-mingw32-strip to strip them.
+
+libwim-15.dll will be linked to several other DLLs which you will need as well:
+
+    - iconv.dll
+    - libwinpthread-1.dll
+    - libxml2-2.dll
+    - libgcc_s_sjlj-1.dll
+
+They can be found in "C:\cygwin\usr\i686-w64-mingw32\sys-root\mingw\bin" and
+must be placed alongside libwim-15.dll for it to run portably.  (In the official
+binary release, these third-party libraries are linked to libwim-15.dll
+statically rather than dynamically.)
+
+Building 64-bit binaries is very similar, but you'll need to replace "i686" with
+"x86_64" everywhere in the above instructions.  Note that you can build both
+32-bit and 64-bit binaries from the same Cygwin installation, provided that you
+install both the mingw64-i686-* and mingw64-x86_64-* packages; and you can run
+the Cygwin setup program to install more packages at any time.