X-Git-Url: https://wimlib.net/git/?p=wimlib;a=blobdiff_plain;f=README.WINDOWS;h=9d57fbc7bd7a333228f374f98365be34b99c6041;hp=66babca330ef2e15265ac2852c67a0dac72dff00;hb=afd591fa8c7528169234d15e3c71fc26b2b34575;hpb=aff77ce561d22e470bb6fb7df0df734bbb646725

diff --git a/README.WINDOWS b/README.WINDOWS
index 66babca3..9d57fbc7 100644
--- a/README.WINDOWS
+++ b/README.WINDOWS
@@ -25,7 +25,13 @@ The Windows distribution of wimlib is a ZIP file containing the following items:
     included; download the source if you want it.
 
   * License files for all software included.  These are all free software
-    licenses.
+    licenses.  COPYING.txt is the main license, and it refers to
+    COPYING.GPLv3.txt and COPYING.LGPLv3.txt.  The other licenses are for
+    third-party software included in the library.
+
+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
 
@@ -49,6 +55,9 @@ 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.)
 
+  * 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.
 
@@ -74,3 +83,60 @@ 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/.
+
+                              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
+64-bit version of wimlib v1.10.0.
+
+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-x86_64-binutils
+    - mingw64-x86_64-gcc-g++
+    - mingw64-x86_64-libxml2
+    - mingw64-x86_64-pkg-config
+    - mingw64-x86_64-winpthreads
+
+Download wimlib's source code from https://wimlib.net/downloads/wimlib-1.10.0.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-1.10.0.tar.gz
+    cd wimlib-1.10.0
+    ./configure --host=x86_64-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
+x86_64-w64-mingw32-strip to strip them.
+
+libwim-15.dll will be linked to several other DLLs which you will need as well:
+
+    - libwinpthread-1.dll
+    - libxml2-2.dll, which also requires:
+        - iconv.dll
+        - liblzma-5.dll
+        - zlib1.dll
+
+These DLLs can be found in "C:\cygwin\usr\x86_64-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 --- or are unnecessary, in the case of
+libxml2's dependencies.)
+
+Building 32-bit binaries is very similar, but you'll need to replace "x86_64"
+with "i686" everywhere in the above instructions, and libwim-15.dll will also
+depend on libgcc_s_sjlj-1.dll.  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.