These instructions are intended for people who wish to build or modify Ricochet from source. Most users should download releases instead.
Clone with git from https://github.com/ricochet-im/ricochet.git
, or download source packages on github. Then proceed to instructions for your platform.
Add CONFIG+=debug
or CONFIG+=release
to the qmake command for a debug or release build. Debug builds enable logging to standard output, and shouldn't be used in sensitive environments.
By default, Ricochet will be portable, and configuration is stored in a folder named config
next to the binary. Add DEFINES+=RICOCHET_NO_PORTABLE
to the qmake command for a system-wide installation using platform configuration paths instead.
You will need:
- Qt >= 5.1.0
- OpenSSL (libcrypto)
yum install make gcc-c++ qt5-qtbase qt5-qttools-devel qt5-qttools qt5-qtquickcontrols qt5-qtdeclarative qt5-qtbase-devel qt5-qtbase-gui qt5-qtdeclarative-devel openssl-devel
yum install tor # or build your own
apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev qt5-qmake qt5-default qtbase5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtdeclarative5-dev qtdeclarative5-controls-plugin
apt-get install tor # or build your own
The Qt SDK is available for most Linux systems and includes an IDE as well as all Qt dependencies.
To build, simply run:
qmake # qmake-qt5 for some platforms
make
For a system-wide installation, use:
qmake DEFINES+=RICOCHET_NO_PORTABLE
make
make install # as root
You must have a tor
binary installed on the system (in $PATH), or placed next to the ricochet
binary.
In portable mode (default), all configuration is stored in a folder called config
with the binary. When installed, the platform's user configuration path is used instead.
The buildscripts repository contains a set of scripts to build a fully static Ricochet on a clean Debian system. These are used to create the generic linux binary packages.
You will need:
- Xcode (for toolchain)
- Qt 5 - preferably the Qt SDK
You can either load ricochet.pro
in Qt Creator and build normally, or build command-line with:
/path/to/qtsdk/5.3/clang_64/bin/qmake
make
You also need a tor
binary in $PATH or inside the build's ricochet.app/Contents/MacOS
folder. The easiest solution is to use brew install tor
. If you copy the tor
binary, you will need to keep it up to date.
Normally, configuration will be stored in a config.ricochet
folder, in the same location as ricochet.app
. However, if the bundle is installed to /Applications
, the system location ~/Library/Application Support/Ricochet
is used instead. You can force that behavior by adding DEFINES+=RICOCHET_NO_PORTABLE
to the qmake command.
The packaging/osx/release_osx.sh
script demonstrates how to build a redistributable app bundle.
Building for Windows is difficult. You will need:
- Visual Studio C++ or MinGW
- Qt 5 - preferably the Qt SDK
- OpenSSL (including libs and headers)
After installing the Qt SDK, open the ricochet.pro
project in Qt Creator. Before building, you must click the 'Projects' tab on the left side, and under 'Build Steps', modify 'Additional arguments' to add: OPENSSLDIR=C:\path\to\openssl\
. Use the 'Build -> Run qmake' menu to test your changes.
You also need a tor.exe
binary, placed in the same folder as ricochet.exe
.
The windows installer can be built using Inno Setup. See packaging\installer
for more information.