Cagire/BUILDING.md

Building Cagire

Quick Start

git clone --recursive https://github.com/Bubobubobubobubo/cagire
cd cagire
cargo build --release

The doux audio engine is fetched automatically from git. No local path setup needed.

Prerequisites

Rust (stable toolchain): https://rustup.rs

System Dependencies

macOS

brew install cmake

cmake is required by rusty_link (Ableton Link C++ bindings). Xcode Command Line Tools provide the C++ compiler. CoreAudio and CoreMIDI are built-in. The desktop build needs no additional dependencies on macOS (Cocoa/Metal are provided by the system).

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

sudo apt install cmake g++ pkg-config libasound2-dev libjack-jackd2-dev

For the desktop build (egui/eframe), also install:

sudo apt install libgl-dev libxkbcommon-dev libx11-dev libxcursor-dev libxrandr-dev libxi-dev libwayland-dev

Linux (Arch)

sudo pacman -S cmake gcc pkgconf alsa-lib jack2

For the desktop build:

sudo pacman -S libxkbcommon libx11 libxcursor libxrandr libxi wayland mesa

Linux (Fedora)

sudo dnf install cmake gcc-c++ pkgconf-pkg-config alsa-lib-devel jack-audio-connection-kit-devel

For the desktop build:

sudo dnf install libxkbcommon-devel libX11-devel libXcursor-devel libXrandr-devel libXi-devel wayland-devel mesa-libGL-devel

Windows

Install Visual Studio Build Tools (MSVC) and CMake. Everything else is provided by the Windows SDK.

Build

Terminal (default):

cargo build --release

Desktop (egui window):

cargo build --release --features desktop --bin cagire-desktop

Plugins (CLAP/VST3):

cargo xtask bundle cagire-plugins --release

The xtask alias is defined in .cargo/config.toml (committed). Plugin bundles are output to target/bundled/.

Run

Terminal (default):

cargo run --release -- [OPTIONS]

Desktop (egui window):

cargo run --release --features desktop --bin cagire-desktop

Flag	Description
-s, --samples <path>	Sample directory (repeatable)
-o, --output <device>	Output audio device
-i, --input <device>	Input audio device
-c, --channels <n>	Output channel count
-b, --buffer <size>	Audio buffer size

Cross-Compilation

cross uses Docker to build for other platforms without installing their toolchains locally. It works on any OS that runs Docker.

Targets

Target	Method	Binaries
aarch64-apple-darwin	Native (macOS ARM only)	cagire, cagire-desktop
x86_64-apple-darwin	Native (macOS only)	cagire, cagire-desktop
x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu	cross build	cagire, cagire-desktop
aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu (RPi 64-bit)	cross build	cagire, cagire-desktop
x86_64-pc-windows-gnu	cross build	cagire, cagire-desktop

macOS targets can only be built on macOS — Apple does not support cross-compilation to macOS from other platforms. Linux and Windows targets can be cross-compiled from any OS. The aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu target covers Raspberry Pi (64-bit OS).

Windows ABI

CI produces x86_64-pc-windows-msvc binaries (native Windows build, better compatibility). Local cross-compilation from non-Windows hosts produces x86_64-pc-windows-gnu binaries (MinGW via Docker). Both work; MSVC is preferred for releases.

Prerequisites

1. Docker: https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/
2. cross: cargo install cross --git https://github.com/cross-rs/cross
3. On macOS, add the Intel target: rustup target add x86_64-apple-darwin

Docker must be running before invoking cross or scripts/build-all.sh.

Building Individual Targets

# Linux x86_64
cross build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
cross build --release --features desktop --bin cagire-desktop --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

# Linux aarch64
cross build --release --target aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
cross build --release --features desktop --bin cagire-desktop --target aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

# Windows x86_64
cross build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
cross build --release --features desktop --bin cagire-desktop --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

Building All Targets (macOS only)

# Interactive (prompts for platform/target selection):
scripts/build-all.sh

# Non-interactive:
scripts/build-all.sh --platforms macos-arm64,linux-x86_64 --targets cli,desktop --yes
scripts/build-all.sh --all --yes

Builds selected targets, producing binaries in target/releases/.

Platform aliases: macos-arm64, macos-x86_64, linux-x86_64, linux-aarch64, windows-x86_64. Target aliases: cli, desktop, plugins.

Linux AppImage Packaging

Linux releases ship as AppImages — self-contained executables that bundle all shared library dependencies (ALSA, JACK, X11, OpenGL). No runtime dependencies required.

After building a Linux target, produce an AppImage with:

scripts/make-appimage.sh target/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/release/cagire x86_64 target/releases

scripts/build-all.sh does this automatically for every Linux target selected. The CI pipeline produces AppImages for the x86_64 Linux build. Cross-arch AppImage building (e.g. aarch64 on x86_64) is not supported — run on a matching host or in CI.

Notes

• Custom Dockerfiles in cross/ install the native libraries Cagire depends on (ALSA, JACK, X11, cmake, libclang, etc.). Cross.toml maps each target to its Dockerfile.
• The first build per target downloads Docker base images and installs packages. Subsequent builds use cached layers.
• Cross-architecture Docker builds (e.g. aarch64 on x86_64 or vice versa) run under QEMU emulation and are significantly slower.