Building the Digilent Agent From Source
- Windows
- Linux
- Mac

Building the Digilent Agent From Source

This page describes the process of building the Digilent Agent from source.

Note: This process is recommended for advanced users only and most users should install one of the existing builds available here.

Windows

Install QT Creator 5.7 or newer.
Install QT Installer Framework 2.03 or newer.
Ensure the QT and QT installer framework binaries are on the system path:
- ```
C:\Qt\5.11.1\mingw53_32\bin
```
- ```
C:\Qt\QtIFW-3.0.4\bin
```
Clone the Digilent Agent repository.
Initialize and update git submodules
- ```
git submodule init
```
- ```
git submodule update
```
Launch the QT project 'digilent-agent.pro'.
Press Ctrl+R to build or F5 to build in debug mode.

Installer

Hard link the debug and release build outputs into the project root directory. Ex:

New-Item -ItemType Junction -Name debug -Value ..\build-digilent-agent-Desktop_Qt_5_11_1_MinGW_32bit-Debug\debug\

New-Item -ItemType Junction -Name release -Value ..\build-digilent-agent-Desktop_Qt_5_11_1_MinGW_32bit-Release\release\

Set the version number in agent.cpp.
Use QT to build a release build in the release folder at the project root.
Set the version number in installer/config/winConfig.xml.
TODO - REMOVE - Set the version number in installer/packages/com.digilent.agent/meta/winConfig.xml.
Use CygWin to enter the installer directory at the project root.
Run the build script with the following command

./build.sh win <VERSION_NUMBER> <RELEASE_TYPE>

ex.

./build win 1.0.0 release

The installer will be created in the installer directory at the project root.

Linux

(Optional - provides GUI IDE and debugging) Install QT Creator 5.7 or newer.
Update the package feeds.
```
sudo apt-get update
```
Install QT5
```
sudo apt-get install qt5-default
```

Install QT5 serial port support

sudo apt-get install libqt5serialport5-dev

Clone the Digilent Agent repository

git clone https://github.com/Digilent/digilent-agent.git

Enter the repo directory
```
cd digilent-agent
```
Initialize and update the submodules (Digilent qtSerial and pgm)
```
git submodule init
git submodule update
```
Run qmake
```
qmake
```
Build the Digilent Agent
```
make
```
Run the Digilent Agent (Read/Write permission for UART devices is required)
```
./digilent-agent
```

.deb

Build release using qmake and make as described above.
- This step is to confirm everything is setup correctly and can technically be omitted as the deb build script will rebuild everything form source.
Open a terminal in the installer directory at the project root.
Run the build script with the following command

./build deb <VERSION_NUMBER>

ex.

./build deb 1.0.0

Follow the instructions in the terminal.
The .deb will be created in the installer directory at the project root.

Mac

Install QT Creator 5.7 or newer.

Clone the Digilent Agent repository.
Initialize and update git submodules
```
git submodule init
```
```
git submodule update
```
Build from command line
- Run:
```
qmake
```
- ```
make
```
Or build from QT Creator:
- Press Ctrl+R to build or F5 to build in debug mode.
Build Signed .dgm
- Enter the installer sub directory.
```
cd installer
```
- Run the build script to package dependencies, sign the .app and build the .dmg
```
./build.sh osx <VERSION> release
```
  - Where <VERSION> is the release version (ex. 1.0.1).

Generate an Xcode Project:

qmake -spec macx-xcode digilent-agent.pro

Add images/icon.iconset to digilent-agent/Resources in Xcode

Note: If the digilent-agent.entitlements is red in Xcode you may have to delete the file and use Xcode to manually create an Poperty List file named digilent-agent.entitlements in the project root.

Build a new .dmg

Build a release version of the Digilent Agent using QT.

Use macdeployqt to build a distributable .app.

macdeployqt Digilent\ Agent.app/ -codesign=<ID> -always-overwrite

Use Disk Utility to create a new disk image.
- Name the image digilent-agent-<VERSION>.dmg where <VERSION> is of the form #.#.# (ex. 1.0.3)
- Set the image size to be just large enough to hold the Agent and WaveForms Live offline support (~20 MB). The size cannot be changed later.
- Set the Image Format to read/write disk image.
Mount and open the disk image.
Click View»as Icons to ensure the disk image contents is viewed as icons.
Copy and paste the .app file from the QT release build folder into the mounted disk image.
Create a shortcut to the Apps directory in the mounted disk image.
Copy and paste the WaveForms-Live offline support into the mounted disk image.
Create a shortcut to the share directory in the mounted disk image.
(Optional) add a background image.
- Copy and paste an image file into the mounted disk image.
- With the mounted disk image active select View»Show View Options.
- Under the Background: section click Picture
- Drag the image from the mounted disk image to the picture box.
- Use the terminal to hide the image file (change the name to start with a '.').
```
cd /Volumes/<DISK_IMAGE_NAME>
```
```
mv <FILENAME> .<FILENAME>
```
Unmount the disk image.
Use Disk Utility to convert the disk image into a read-only copy.
- Images»Convert
- Select the disk image and click Open.
- Set the Image Format to read-only.
- Click Save.
Distribute the read-only copy of the disk image.
Keep the read-write copy of the disk image to simplify future updates.

digilent-agent, tutorial, build

Table of Contents