COMPILATION

September 21, 2025 · View on GitHub

MLTERM - Multi Lingual TERMinal emulator

COMPILATION

$./configure$ make

Options for configure

--prefix Installation prefix

--disable-dl-table Disable dynamic loading of character mapping or property table, which is statically linked to libmef.

--without-map-table Remove character mapping table

--without-prop-table Remove unicode character property table

--with-iconv Use iconv to convert between different character sets. (If --with-iconv is specified, --disable-dl-table is the default.)

--with-imagelib=(gdk-pixbuf) Link specified image library to mlterm for image processing. Note that this option is not necessary for image processing, because mlimgloader (see --with-tools) processes images instead and passes them to mlterm. This option is recommended only if you build libvte which depends on gdk-pixbuf anyway. (Imlib is not supported since mlterm 3.0.2)

--with-libltdl Load modules with libltdl

--with-type-engines=(xcore|xft|cairo) Use specified type engines for rendering text. xcore is possible to disable only when --with-type-engines=(except xcore) is specified with --disable-dl-type option.

--disable-anti-alias Same as --with-type-engines=xcore on xlib. (--enable-anti-alias is the same as --with-type-engines=xcore,xft,cairo) This option is ignored if --with-type-engines is specified on xlib.

Disable truetype fonts on framebuffer or wayland.

--disable-fontconfig Disable fontconfig (use ~/.mlterm/*aafont) on framebuffer or wayland.

--disable-dl-type Disable dynamic loading of type engine modules, which are statically linked to mlterm.

--disable-fribidi Disable BiDi rendering (see https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/doc/en/README.bidi)

--disable-ind Use libind for Indic rendering (see https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/doc/en/README.indic)

--disable-dl-ctl Disable dynamic loading of BiDi and Indic rendering modules, which are statically linked to mlterm.

--disable-ssh2 Disable to connect ssh2 server. If enabled, libssh2 (https://www.libssh2.org) is used to connect ssh2 server. (Usage: mlterm(mlclient) --serv ssh://user@xxx.xxx.xxx) If you want to use camellia as common key cryptography or SSH agent forwarding, install alternative libssh2 of camellia-agentfwd branch at https://github.com/arakiken/libssh2/archive/camellia-agentfwd.zip (see https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/doc/en/README.ssh and https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/doc/en/README.transfer)

--with-mosh=(mosh source directory) Enable mosh and specify its source directory, where ./configure script should be executed in advance. This option is available only if libssh2 is enabled. Don't distribute libptymosh in binary format. (see see https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/doc/en/README.mosh)

--without-pthread Don't depend on pthread for secure copy (scp) over ssh. (Furthermore, don't link libpthread to mlterm in NetBSD even if --enable-ibus or --with-type-engines=cairo is specified.)

--enable-debug Build debug version

--enable-optimize-redrawing Optimize redrawing a line

--with-scrollbars Build specified scrollbars in scrollbar/ and contrib/scrollbar/ directories

--with-tools Build specified tools in tool/ and contrib/tool/ directories mlimgloader is automatically added unless --disable-image or --with-imagelib is specified. registobmp is necessary to process ReGIS.

--disable-use-tools Don't build and use external tools. If this option is specified, --with-tools option is ignored.

--disable-dnd Disable XDnD

--disable-kbd Disable kbd input method which converts US keyboard characters to other keyboard layouts such as arabic and hebrew.

--disable-iiimf Disaable IIIMF (Internet/Intranet Input Method Framework)

--disable-uim Disable uim (Universal? Input Method)

--disable-m17nlib Disable m17n library

--disable-scim Disable SCIM (Smart Common Input Method platform)

--disable-ibus Disable iBUS (Intelligent Input Bus)

--disable-fcitx Disable Fcitx If Fcitx is enabled, fcitx-gclient or Fcitx5GClient is necessary.

--disable-canna Disable Canna

--disable-wnn Disable Freewnn

--disable-skk Disable SKK

--enable-pty-helper Support gnome-pty-helper. (Note that it is impossible to enable gnome-pty-helper in BSD style pty system and that gnome-pty-helper must be placed at ${libexecdir}/mlterm directory.)

--with-gtk=(2.0|3.0|4.0) Use specified version of GTK+ The default is 3.0.

--enable-vt52 Support vt52 emulation

--disable-image Disable wall picture, icon picture, pseudo transparency and sixel graphics.

--disable-otl Disable Open Type Layout with the use of harfbuzz or libotf.

--enable-brlapi Enable brltty with the use of brlapi library. (Experimental) (see https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/doc/en/README.brltty)

--enable-utmp-suid Install mlterm binary with root setuid or utmp setgid to access to utmp database directly. The default is disabled.

--with-utmp=(utempter|sysv|login|bsd|none) Specify the way of reading from or writing to utmp database.

--disable-daemon Disable daemon mode

--disable-split Disable to split screen except on MacOSX/Cocoa and HaikuOS.

--disable-zmodem Disable zmodem (see https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/doc/en/README.transfer)

--disable-compact-truecolor Disable to reuse 240 palettes in displaying true color. Disabling this option supports true color completely, but sizeof(vt_char_t) is changed from 8 bytes to 12 bytes.

--disable-shared Disable shared libraries

--disable-static Disable static libraries

If you want to minimize mlterm binary, execute configure with following options. --without-map-table --without-prop-table --disable-image --disable-dl-ctl
--disable-fribidi --disable-dl-type --disable-otl
--disable-ssh2 --with-utmp=none --disable-dnd --disable-kbd --disable-uim
--disable-m17nlib --disable-ibus --disable-fcitx --disable-scim --disable-canna
--disable-wnn --disable-skk --disable-iiimf --disable-ind --with-type-engines=xcore
--disable-anti-alias --disable-fontconfig --disable-daemon --disable-split
--disable-zmodem --disable-compact-truecolor (--disable-shared)

What you need for compilation

gdk-pixbuf (2.0.1 or higher) or libpng (1.6 or later) for background image.

Gtk+ (2.x 3.x 4.x) for GUI configurator "mlconfig".

Gtk+ (2.x 3.x) for GUI configurator "mlterm-menu".

Gtk+ (2.x 3.x 4.x) for libvte compatible library. (see gtk/README)

Fribidi (0.9.0 - ?) for Bidi.

Harfbuzz for indic scripts.

libssh2 (https://www.libssh2.org) for ssh2 client and scp. (If you want to use camellia as common key cryptography or SSH agent forwarding, install alternative libssh2 of camellia-agentfwd branch at https://github.com/arakiken/libssh2/archive/camellia-agentfwd.zip)

Compilation of library based on mlterm

vte compatible library

$ make vte (see https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/gtk/README)

libvterm compatible library

$ make vterm (see https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/libvterm/README)

Supported platforms

Platforms tested by developers.

NetBSD 3.0.1 / X (x86)
NetBSD teokure 9.0 / X, frmebuffer (x86)
NetBSD 5.2 / framebuffer (hpcmips)
NetBSD 9.0 / framebuffer (xm6g 3.31L15)
OpenSolaris 2009.06 / X (CC=cc) (x86)
Solaris 11.1 / X (x86)
Arch Linux / X, framebuffer, wayland, SDL2 (x86)
CentOS 5 / X (x86)
FreeBSD 9.0 / framebuffer (x86)
FreeBSD 2.2.9 / X (x86)
FreeBSD(98) 4.11 / framebuffer (np21w ver.0.86 rev.92)
OpenBSD 5.3 / framebuffer (x86)
MS Windows 10 + Cygwin 3.5.7 / GDI, SDL2 (CC=gcc, CC="i686-pc-mingw32-gcc") (x86)
MS Windows 11 + MSYS2 3.5.7 / GDI (x86)
MacOSX 10.6.8 / X, Cocoa, SDL2 (x86)
MacOSX 10.8.5 / X, Cocoa, SDL2 (x86)
iOS Simulator 4.3 / CocoaTouch (x86)
iOS Simulator 7.1 / CocoaTouch (x86)
Android 4.0 (x86)
Android 9.0 (x86)
Java 1.8.0 / SWT (x86)
Haiku R1 Beta5 / Interface Kit, SDL2 (x86)

See README.fb, README.win32, README.android, README.cocoa, README.cocoatouch, README.console, README.wayland, README.sdl2 and README.beos in https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/doc/en and README in https://github.com/arakiken/mlterm/blob/master/java in detail.

USAGE

$ mlterm

Read the manpage (and documentations in mlterm-x.x.x/doc/{ja,en}) for detail. See ~/.mlterm/msg.log on error.

CONTACT

Subscribe mlterm-dev-en ML (https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mlterm-dev-en).

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Modified BSD-style license. See LICENCE file for detail.