Trying to build ruby on visual studio with zlib

Question

I'm trying to build ruby on visual studio with zlib and I'm having problems with it.

I have prepared everything to build it but I don't know how to specify where the zlib library and headers are.

I have the source code in $(ProjectDir)/.. I am buildin in $(ProjectDir)/$(Platform)/$(Configuration) I build with command line, and I have it like this

mkdir $(Platform)\$(Configuration)
cd $(Platform)\$(Configuration)\
..\..\..\win32\configure.bat --target=i386-mswin32 --prefix=$(ProjectDir)$(Platform)\$(Configuration)\bin

If I go to ext/zlib, I can execute

extconf.rb --with-zlib-lib=$(ProjectDir)..\..\zlib-1.2.8\zlib-1.2.8\$(Platform)\$(Configuration)\lib --with-zlib-include=$(ProjectDir)..\..\zlib-1.2.8

and creates the makefile correcly, but I don't know how to pass zlib lib and include paths to the configuration script.

I have tried with

..\..\..\win32\configure.bat --target=i386-mswin32 --prefix=$(ProjectDir)$(Platform)\$(Configuration)\bin --with-zlib-lib=$(ProjectDir)..\..\zlib-1.2.8\zlib-1.2.8\$(Platform)\$(Configuration)\lib --with-zlib-include=$(ProjectDir)..\..\zlib-1.2.8

but that doesn't works

I suppose it has something to do with the '--with-ext="a,b,..."' option or with the "--path" that is specified in the help command, but I don't know how to specify it and the documentation is really bad.

I would be very gratefull if you could help me.

Answer 1

The instructions below are for Ruby 2.2.5 – if you want to build some other version or use different folder paths, change accordingly. I used these to successfully build Ruby 2.2.5 and 2.3.1 from source with zlib using VS2013 Community Update 5 on Windows 8.1 Pro x64.

• Create folders:

  C:\ruby-2.2.5\build
  C:\ruby-2.2.5\src
  

• Untar ruby-2.2.5.tar.gz and put the sources in C:\ruby-2.2.5\src

• Unzip the zlib distribution archive (zlib128-dll.zip) into C:\zlib128-dll

• Run Developer Command Prompt for VS2013, then run:

  SET INCLUDE=%INCLUDE%;C:\zlib128-dll\include
  SET LIB=%LIB%;C:\zlib128-dll\lib
  SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\zlib128-dll
  
  cd C:\ruby-2.2.5\build
  ..\src\win32\configure.bat
  nmake
  nmake DESTDIR=C:/ruby-2.2.5 install
  

• Done. You should now have a fully working, zlib-enabled, Ruby build in C:\ruby-2.2.5\usr.