Developers Corner

January 7, 2024 ยท View on GitHub

Developers Corner

Prerequisites

Compiler default is C++11 (eventually C99 for C parts)

Here's the software you'll need before you start building (mandatory in bold)

  • Standard C++ Library (>= C++11)
  • Qt6 (>= 6.0)
  • Boost (>= 1.77)
  • CMake (>= 3.1.0)
  • GNU C++ Compiler (gcc/g++ >= 5.3.0) or Microsoft Visual Studio (>= 2017)

Other 3rd-party libraries are included within the project, so built and linked automatically.

Setup Development Tools for Windows

Follow official instructions of each tool.

Setup Development Tools for Unix

(tested on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 64bits)

Install GCC, CMake, Git...

sudo apt install build-essential
sudo apt install cmake-qt-gui
sudo apt install git
sudo apt install git-gui

Install Qt and QtCreator

sudo apt install libfontconfig1
sudo apt install mesa-common-dev
sudo apt install libglu1-mesa-dev

wget https://download.qt.io/official_releases/qt/6.0/6.0.0/qt-opensource-linux-x64-6.0.0.run

chmod +x qt-opensource-linux-x64-6.0.0.run
sudo ./qt-opensource-linux-x64-6.0.0.run

It install the tools (QtCreator) and SDK on /opt/Qt/.

Run it:

/opt/Qt/Tools/QtCreator/bin/qtcreator

Create a shortcut (Ubuntu, KDE...):

mkdir ~/.local/share/applications
cp /opt/Qt/Tools/QtCreator/share/applications/org.qt-project.qtcreator.desktop ~/.local/share/applications

Install Boost C++ Library

wget https://boostorg.jfrog.io/artifactory/main/release/1.77.0/source/boost_1_77_0.tar.bz2
tar -zxvf boost_1_77_0.tar.gz

Or download and unzip manually an older version of Boost.

Build with GCC or MinGW

Use CMake or QMake (with QtCreator).

Setup the project:

unzip . arrowdl-src.zip
mkdir "build"
cd ./build/

Setup the Boost library:

  • For CMake: Add variable BOOST_ROOT_DIR (type: PATH) with the path to Boost PS: or configure Boost_INCLUDE_DIR

Build the application:

make -j8
$ ...
$ [ 99%] Linking CXX executable ArrowDL.exe
$ [100%] Built target ArrowDL

Run the tests:

ctest .
ctest . --verbose

Finally install the binary and clean:

make install
make clean

Build with MSVC

Use CMake.

Setup the project:

unzip . arrowdl-src.zip
mkdir "build"
cd ./build/

Build the application:

cmake --build . --parallel 8 --config Release
$ ...
$ [ 99%] Linking CXX executable ArrowDL.exe
$ [100%] Built target ArrowDL

Run the tests:

ctest . -C Release
ctest . -C Release --verbose

Finally install the binary and clean:

cmake --build . --target install --config Release
cmake --build . --target clean --config Release

Run

Launch ArrowDL:

ArrowDL

Show help and version:

ArrowDL -h (or --help)
ArrowDL -v (or --version)

Launch and download links from an URL:

ArrowDL "https://www.example.com/docs/2019/10/index.htm"

Launch in Interactive mode (reserved for WebExtension communication):

ArrowDL -i (or --interactive) <urls>

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting page

Acknowledge

Thanks to Andy Portmen for the native-client plugin.

Special thanks to the developers of the legacy plugin DownThemAll!, especially for keeping the resources free and open-source.

Thanks to Arvid Norberg and contributors for the libtorrent library.