This document describes the process for compiling n2n in several different scenarios. There are some configuration options available during the build process, which are documented in the [Build time Configuration](BuildConfig.md) page. Also of use are the steps used for the automated Continuous Integration process, which can be found in the [Github actions config file](../.github/workflows/tests.yml) # Git submodules If you are compiling with the UPnP libraries, it is possible that your operating system or your build system do not include binaries for the required libraries. Using these libraries can cause issues with some build systems, so be aware that not all combinations are supportable. To make this scenario simpler, the required source code has been added to this repository as git `submodules` which require one extra step to complete their checkout. So the very first time after cloning the n2n git repo, you should run this command in the n2n directory to fetch the submodules: ```bash git submodule update --init --recursive ``` # Build on macOS In order to use n2n on macOS, you first need to install support for TUN/TAP interfaces: ```bash brew tap homebrew/cask brew cask install tuntap ``` If you are on a modern version of macOS (i.e. Catalina), the commands above will ask you to enable the TUN/TAP kernel extension in System Preferences → Security & Privacy → General. For more information refer to vendor documentation or the [Apple Technical Note](https://developer.apple.com/library/content/technotes/tn2459/_index.html). Note that on the newest MacOS versions and on Apple Silicon, there may be increasing security restrictions in the OS that make installing the TUN/TAP kernel extension difficult. Alternative software implementations to avoid these difficulties are being discussed for future n2n versions. # Build on Windows The following document one possible windows compile recipe. The reason a MinGW build process is used is it is more friendly to open source development. ## MinGW These steps were tested on a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro with all patches applied as of 2021-09-29. - Install Chocolatey (Following instructions on https://chocolatey.org/install) - from an admin cmd prompt - `choco install git mingw make` - All the remaining commands must be run from inside a bash shell ("C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\bash.exe") - `git clone $THIS_REPO` - `cd n2n` - `./scripts/hack_fakeautoconf.sh` - `make` - `make test` Due to limitations in the Windows environment, the normal autotools steps have been emulated by the `hack_fakeautoconf` - This currently results in the version number reported by the compiled software being inaccurate. Note: MinGW builds have had a history of incompatibility reports with other OS builds (for example [#617](https://github.com/ntop/n2n/issues/617) and [#642](https://github.com/ntop/n2n/issues/642)) However, if the tests pass, you should have a high confidence that your build will be compatible. ## Run on Windows In order to run n2n on Windows, you will need the following: - The TAP drivers should be installed into the system. They can be installed from http://build.openvpn.net/downloads/releases, search for "tap-windows". - If OpenSSL has been linked dynamically, the corresponding `.dll` file should be available onto the target computer. The `edge.exe` program reads the `edge.conf` file located into the current directory if no option is provided. The `supernode.exe` program reads the `supernode.conf` file located into the current directory if no option is provided. Example [edge.conf](../packages/etc/n2n/edge.conf.sample) and [supernode.conf](../packages/etc/n2n/supernode.conf.sample) are available. See `edge.exe --help` and `supernode.exe --help` for a full list of supported options. # Cross compiling on Linux ## Using the Makefiles and Autoconf The Makefiles are all setup to allow cross compiling of this code. You will need to have the cross compiler, binutils and any additional libraries desired installed for the target architecture. Then you can run the `./configure` with the appropriate CC and AR environment and the right `--host` option. If compiling on Debian or Ubuntu, this can be as simple as the following example: ``` HOST_TRIPLET=arm-linux-gnueabi sudo apt-get install binutils-$HOST_TRIPLET gcc-$HOST_TRIPLET ./autogen.sh export CC=$HOST_TRIPLET-gcc export AR=$HOST_TRIPLET-ar ./configure --host $HOST_TRIPLET make ``` A good starting point to determine the host triplet for your destination platform can be found by copying the `./config.guess` script to it and running it on the destination. This is not a good way to produce binaries for embedded environments (like OpenWRT) as they will often use a different libc environment. # N2N Packages There are also some example package build recipes included with the source. - [Debian](../packages/debian/README) - [RPM](../packages/rpm) - [OpenWRT](../packages/openwrt/README.md)