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memlnaut-nisps/vcv/BUILDING.md
monkey-w1n5t0n 53da84c425 chore(vcv): delete the dead test rig 
Phase 1 group 7 (L33). vcv/test/smoke_test.cpp included a header that no longer
exists (a retired nisps-core path), asserted the pre-P6 2x12 module shape, and
ran in no gate; a compiled smoke_test binary was tracked alongside it. Removed
the directory plus Makefile.dist, updated BUILDING.md's two references, and
deleted the unreachable reply-to-sender branch in osc_server.hpp.

Gates: run-all-tests.sh ALL GREEN.
2026-07-21 12:49:25 +02:00

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Building MEMLNaut VCV Plugin

Distribution & cross-platform builds: for packaging .vcvplugin files, the cross-platform CI matrix, and publishing to /next/vcv, see DISTRIBUTION.md. The official make dist target (from the SDK's plugin.mk) produces dist/<slug>-<version>-<platform>.vcvplugin.

Prerequisites

Build Steps

# 1. Set the SDK path (adjust to your installation)
export RACK_DIR=/path/to/Rack-SDK

# 2. Build the plugin
cd vcv
make

# This produces plugin.so (Linux), plugin.dylib (macOS), or plugin.dll (Windows)

The Makefile adds -std=c++20 and includes nisps-core headers from ../nisps-core/include. The VCV SDK's default -std=c++11 flag is filtered out to avoid conflicts.

Local Installation

# Option A: use the SDK's install target
make install
# Copies the plugin to ~/.local/share/Rack2/plugins-lin/ (or platform equivalent)

# Option B: manual symlink (useful during development)
ln -s $(pwd) ~/.local/share/Rack2/plugins-lin/MEMLNaut

After installing, restart VCV Rack (or use the module browser refresh if available). The MEMLNaut module appears in the module browser.

Distribution Packaging

# Build and package a .vcvplugin (SDK plugin.mk target)
make dist

# Output: dist/MEMLNaut-<version>-<platform>.vcvplugin

See DISTRIBUTION.md for the full packaging, CI matrix, and publishing workflow.

Cross-Compilation

Cross-compilation is not currently supported. Building for each platform requires the native VCV Rack SDK and a matching C++20 toolchain.

Options for multi-platform releases:

  • GitHub Actions CI — build on Linux, macOS, and Windows runners. The VCV SDK provides Docker images for consistent builds.
  • Docker — VCV provides ghcr.io/vcvrack/rack-plugin-toolchain images for cross-platform builds from a Linux host.
  • Manual — build natively on each target platform.

The VCV Library submission process handles multi-platform builds automatically via their CI pipeline, but we are not submitting to the Library initially.

Troubleshooting

  • -std=c++11 conflicts: The Makefile filters this out, but if you see C++20 errors, verify your RACK_DIR points to a v2 SDK and that your compiler supports C++20.
  • nisps-core not found: The include path assumes nisps-core is at ../nisps-core/include relative to the vcv/ directory. Verify the path or adjust -I in the Makefile.
  • Plugin not appearing: Check that the built .so/.dylib/.dll is in the correct plugins directory and that plugin.json is alongside it.