iverilog/msys2

MSYS2 build recipe

This subdir contains a PKGBUILD recipe for building iverilog on MSYS2. MSYS2 is a collection of tools and libraries for Windows, which is closely based on the packaging approach in Arch Linux. Precisely, the package manager in MSYS2 is a port of pacman. Therefore, the structure of PKGBUILD recipes in MSYS2 is very similar to packages in Arch Linux and the build script (makepkg-mingw) is a port of makepkg.

Other than that, PKGBUILD files are shell scripts containing some specific functions (build, package, check, etc.) and metadata (variables). The build system takes care of dependencies, creating temporary directories, generating a tarball, etc. Therefore, the recommended approach for building iverilog on Windows is the following:

# Install the toolchain
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain
# and/or mingw-w64-i686-toolchain

# Retrieve iverilog sources. Optionally, retrieve a tarball, or an specific branch/version.
git clone https://github.com/steveicarus/iverilog
cd iverilog

# Call makepkg-mingw from subdir 'msys2'. It will build, check and package iverilog.
cd msys2
MINGW_INSTALLS=mingw64 makepkg-mingw --noconfirm --noprogressbar -sCLf
# or, set the envvar to 'mingw32', or unset it for building both packages at the same time

# Optionally, install the tarball(s)/package(s). Or just distribute it/them.
pacman -U --noconfirm *.zst

NOTE: the continuous integration workflow in github.com/steveicarus uses the procedure above for building iverilog on MINGW32 and MINGW64 each time a commit is pushed or a Pull Request is updated. The two generated packages are uploaded as artifacts. Hence, users willing to test nightly builds or specific features, can download and install the tarballs from the corresponding CI run.

Nevertheless, the content of functions build and check in the PKGBUILD file should be familiar for any user willing to build iverilog manually. Those can be executed in a shell (ignoring makepkg), as long as the few envvars are properly defined.

HINT: this document explains the most straightforward and automatec solution for building iverilog on Windows. However, intermediate and advanced users might want to check iverilog.fandom.com/wiki/Installation_using_MSYS2 for some specific tweaks, such as using a custom prefix for iverilog executables, or using MSYS2 packages/tarballs outside of MSYS2.