Building FlightGear - Debian

Work in progress This article or section will be worked on in the upcoming hours or days. Note: Article is being updated for the 3.6 release. At the moment building 3.6 will result in the release candidate for 3.6.0 See history for the latest developments.

HowTo build FlightGear stable (3.6) or bleeding edge development version, hereinafter simply called GIT, on Debian GNU/Linux Stable (Jessie). Users of Testing or Unstable at least have to change package names (version numbering) accordingly.

The meaning of this article is to be a short, checklist like, overview of the specific steps to compile FlightGear and components on Debian. For more detailed information please refer to the main article Building FlightGear on Linux.

If you don't want to get your hands dirty, have a look at Scripted Compilation on Linux Debian/Ubuntu.

For beginners with compiling it is highly recommended to follow this guide step by step. Any modification to most of the here used commands may cause trouble.

Requirements and Preparations

A bunch of packages (as well as some of their dependencies) are required to compile FlightGear:

Tools

su -c "apt-get install automake cmake g++ gcc git make sed subversion"

Dependencies

su -c "apt-get install  \
  freeglut3-dev   libboost-dev      libcurl4-openssl-dev  libdbus-1-dev \
  libfltk1.3-dev  libgtkglext1-dev  libjpeg62-turbo-dev   libopenal-dev \
  libopenscenegraph-dev   librsvg2-dev    libxml2-dev"
    

If you prefer you might replace "libcurl4-openssl-dev" by "libcurl4-gnutls-dev".

If "libjpeg62-turbo-dev" breaks package dependencies, just install one of the other versions' -dev.

Add "libudev-dev" if you need FG's feature -D EVENT_INPUT=ON.

Add "qt5-default" if you intend to use/test FG's internal, yet experimental, Qt5 Launcher.

During installation development packages of libraries which are going to be compiled must not be installed. They can safely be re-installed after compilation. Namely these are "libplib-dev", "libopenthreads-dev" and "simgear-dev". For Wheezy additionally "libboost-dev" and "libopenscenegraph-dev".

Build and install

Because we are going to install versions different to the ones in the Debian repositories, it is recommended to install FlightGear in a place independent of the base system, such as /usr/local/FG-3.6 or $HOME/FG-3.6. This way also has the advantage of easily managing several FlightGear versions, even with different versions of OpenSceneGraph and/or plib, simply by altering the installation prefix. I suggest to make this directory writeable by the user so there is no need to become root for the make -j2 install commands. We'll use $FG_INSTALL_DIR as a placeholder for this directory.
Another placeholder will be $FG_SRC_DIR, it stands for the absolute path to the directory which is supposed to keep the folders of the various source codes. So, in the instructions below, you have to replace these with the local paths or even export them (in every terminal you're using them) for the process:

export FG_INSTALL_DIR=$HOME/FG-3.6 && mkdir $FG_INSTALL_DIR
export FG_SRC_DIR=$HOME/src && mkdir $FG_SRC_DIR

Have in mind that the data is a relatively large download (GIT about 1.5 GiB (required disk space 3.1 GiB) and growing / 3.6 about 1.0 GiB). So, to save some time, it is a good idea to fetch it while building the sources.
For some basic info on git commands for FlightGear users we have a git for laymen section.

For more/advanced cmake options and SimGear's and FlightGear's optional features see the cmake article.

Do not mix instructions for 3.6 and GIT! Not even for fgdata, mixing versions will almost certainly break the installation.

libboost

Debian 7.x/Wheezy only!
3.6 and GIT:
Unfortunately version 1.52 or newer is recommended while Wheezy ships with 1.49:

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
wget -O boost_1_52_0.tar.bz2 http://sourceforge.net/projects/boost/files/boost/1.52.0/boost_1_52_0.tar.bz2/download
tar xjf boost_1_52_0.tar.bz2
cp -R boost_1_52_0/boost $FG_INSTALL_DIR/include/

For cmake to find this alternate libboost version it has to be told where to look for it. Use the following cmake commands instead of the ones given at the respective part.
SimGear:

cmake -D Boost_INCLUDE_DIR="$FG_INSTALL_DIR/include/" \
      -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH="$FG_INSTALL_DIR" $FG_SRC_DIR/simgear.git

Flightgear:

cmake -D Boost_INCLUDE_DIR="$FG_INSTALL_DIR/include/" \
      -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH="$FG_INSTALL_DIR" $FG_SRC_DIR/flightgear.git

plib

3.6 and GIT:
Latest SVN is required.

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
svn co https://svn.code.sf.net/p/plib/code/trunk plib.svn
cd plib.svn
sed s/PLIB_TINY_VERSION\ \ 5/PLIB_TINY_VERSION\ \ 6/ -i src/util/ul.h
./autogen.sh
./configure --prefix=$FG_INSTALL_DIR
make -j2 install

OpenSceneGraph

Debian 7.x/Wheezy only!
3.6's optimum version is OSG 3.2.1.
Same for GIT at the time of the release. This might change over time.

3.6 and GIT:

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
svn co http://svn.openscenegraph.org/osg/OpenSceneGraph/tags/OpenSceneGraph-3.2.1
mkdir build-osg; cd build-osg
cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="Release" -D LIB_POSTFIX="" -D Boost_INCLUDE_DIR="$FG_INSTALL_DIR/include/" \
      -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH="$FG_INSTALL_DIR" $FG_SRC_DIR/OpenSceneGraph-3.2.1
make -j2 install

SimGear

3.6 and GIT:

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/flightgear/simgear simgear.git

3.6 only:

cd simgear.git
git checkout origin/release/3.6.0

3.6 and GIT:

mkdir $FG_SRC_DIR/build-sg; cd $FG_SRC_DIR/build-sg
cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH="$FG_INSTALL_DIR" $FG_SRC_DIR/simgear.git
make -j2 install

FlightGear source

3.6 and GIT:

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/flightgear/flightgear flightgear.git

3.6 only:

cd flightgear.git
git checkout origin/release/3.6.0

3.6 and GIT:

mkdir $FG_SRC_DIR/build-fg; cd $FG_SRC_DIR/build-fg
cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH="$FG_INSTALL_DIR" $FG_SRC_DIR/flightgear.git
make -j2 install

FlightGear data

3.6 only: Please have a look at the mirror list for a server close to your location.

cd $FG_INSTALL_DIR
wget ftp://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/flightgear/ftp/Shared/FlightGear-data-3.6.0.tar.bz2
tar xjf FlightGear-data-3.6.0.tar.bz2

GIT only:

cd $FG_INSTALL_DIR
git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/flightgear/fgdata fgdata

Trial run and finishing process

When all the builds are done and the data download has finished it is time for a test run:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$FG_INSTALL_DIR/lib/:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
$FG_INSTALL_DIR/bin/fgfs --fg-root=$FG_INSTALL_DIR/fgdata

The fgfs binary needs to find our self compiled libraries at runtime and therefore we have to tell the linker (ld) where to find them. That is what the first line here does. You might want to add this line to your $HOME/.bashrc to have this as a persistent setting (may cause problems, if one has installed more than one version of FlightGear!).

Have in mind, the $FG_INSTALL_DIR and $FG_SRC_DIR variables are available for this session only. For future use of these lines, replace them by the real paths.

To avoid the need to give the path to the fgfs command each time, you might consider to create a symlink at a place that is listed in $PATH:

ln -s $FG_INSTALL_DIR/bin/fgfs $HOME/bin/fgfs

For the future, if you want to start FlightGear from command line have a look at fgfsrc, if you prefer a graphical user interface continue with compiling fgrun or check out another launcher.

Optional Software

Some of the below instructions possibly are not up to date. Please feel free to revise them.

Feel free to add the commands to install other FlightGear related projects.

Atlas

One more Package has to be installed: "libglew1.5-dev"

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
git clone http://mapserver.flightgear.org/git/atlas
cd atlas
./autogen.sh
./configure --prefix=$FG_INSTALL_DIR --with-fgbase=$FG_INSTALL_DIR/data
make -j2 install
cp -R $FG_SRC_DIR/atlas/src/data/* $FG_INSTALL_DIR/data/Atlas

$FG_INSTALL_DIR/bin/Atlas

fgcom 3.0

There is nothing to compile because FGCom 3.0 is compiled with FlightGear.

If you can't compile FlightGear you can download a pre-built binary at http://fgcom.flightgear.org/download

fgcom (FG 2.12 and former)

For fgcom install package "libasound2-dev".

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
git clone http://mapserver.flightgear.org/git/fgcom fgcom.git
cd fgcom.git
git checkout -b next origin/next
mkdir $FG_SRC_DIR/build-fgcom; cd $FG_SRC_DIR/build-fgcom
cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH="$FG_INSTALL_DIR" $FG_SRC_DIR/fgcom.git
make -j2 install

Create an .alsoftrc file as shown in FGCOM Testing.

fgrun

Package "fluid" has to be installed.
3.6 and GIT:

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/flightgear/fgrun fgrun.git

3.6 only:

cd fgrun.git
git checkout origin/release/3.6.0

3.6 and GIT:
On Wheezy only, insert option -D Boost_INCLUDE_DIR="$FG_INSTALL_DIR/include/" right after "cmake".

mkdir $FG_SRC_DIR/build-fgrun; cd $FG_SRC_DIR/build-fgrun
cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH="$FG_INSTALL_DIR" $FG_SRC_DIR/fgrun.git
make -j2 install

Execute it:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$FG_INSTALL_DIR/lib/:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
$FG_INSTALL_DIR/bin/fgrun

TaxiDraw

Obsolete for airport creation, use WorldEditor instead. It is still useful for working on ground networks.
To compile TaxiDraw we need to install packag "wx2.8-headers" (at least, maybe even more than just that one. Please report!

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
git clone git://mapserver.flightgear.org/taxidraw
cd taxidraw
./autogen.sh
./configure --prefix=$FG_INSTALL_DIR
make -j2 install

TerraGear

Automatic Installation

link If you are familiar with "download_and_compile.sh" script from Brisa you can donwload this script: http://clement.delhamaide.free.fr/download_and_compile_tg.sh This script is similar to Brisa's one (only usable for Debian/Mint/Ubuntu). This script installs TerraGear (latest version) and terragear-gui.

How to use it?

sh terragear_download_and_compile.sh -j 2 ALL

Need some help?

Look at forum topics: http://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=14849

After success installation you can exectute this command line in the terragear/bin directory in order to display every --help for each binary files:

cd terragear/bin && for i in `ls`; do echo ""; echo "################# "$i" ##############"; ./$i --help; done

Basic Installation

To resolve some of the dependencies of TerraGear the GIT sections of steps plib, OpenSceneGraph and SimGear have to be done first. Additionally some packages and their dependencies have to be installed:

su -c "apt-get install \
  libgdal-dev libtiff4-dev libboost-signals-dev libboost-system-dev libboost-thread-dev"

Squeeze users have to compile the CGAL dependency. On Wheezy just install package "libcgal-dev" instead.

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
wget https://gforge.inria.fr/frs/download.php/31174/CGAL-4.0.2.tar.bz2
tar xjf CGAL-4.0.2.tar.bz2
mkdir $FG_SRC_DIR/build-cgal; cd $FG_SRC_DIR/build-cgal
cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH="$FG_INSTALL_DIR" $FG_SRC_DIR/CGAL-4.0.2
make -j2 install

Compile TerraGear:

cd $FG_SRC_DIR
git clone git://git.gitorious.org/fg/terragear.git
mkdir $FG_SRC_DIR/build-tg; cd $FG_SRC_DIR/build-tg
cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH="$FG_INSTALL_DIR" $FG_SRC_DIR/terragear
make -j2 install

WorldEditor (WED)

Because this is the same for all Linux distributions the instructions are not listed here separately. Please refer to our lead WED article.