Question

I am trying to compile this libevent2 package to Windows, but currently I can’t because the configure script is a shell script (/bin/sh; can’t be run in Windows).

Is there any way I can compile it or obtain a pre-compiled package? I currently have MinGW, CMake and MS C++ installed.

EDIT: I have managed to compile libevent2 using nmake Makefile.nmake but it hasn’t produced any Windows binaries/libraries. Only .lib.

The makefile is as follows –

# WATCH OUT!  This makefile is a work in progress.  It is probably missing
# tons of important things.  DO NOT RELY ON IT TO BUILD A GOOD LIBEVENT.

# Needed for correctness
CFLAGS=/IWIN32-Code /Iinclude /Icompat /DWIN32 /DHAVE_CONFIG_H /I.

# For optimization and warnings
CFLAGS=$(CFLAGS) /Ox /W3 /wd4996 /nologo

# XXXX have a debug mode

LIBFLAGS=/nologo

CORE_OBJS=event.obj buffer.obj bufferevent.obj bufferevent_sock.obj \
    bufferevent_pair.obj listener.obj evmap.obj log.obj evutil.obj \
    strlcpy.obj signal.obj bufferevent_filter.obj evthread.obj \
    bufferevent_ratelim.obj evutil_rand.obj
WIN_OBJS=win32select.obj evthread_win32.obj buffer_iocp.obj \
    event_iocp.obj bufferevent_async.obj
EXTRA_OBJS=event_tagging.obj http.obj evdns.obj evrpc.obj

ALL_OBJS=$(CORE_OBJS) $(WIN_OBJS) $(EXTRA_OBJS)
STATIC_LIBS=libevent_core.lib libevent_extras.lib libevent.lib


all: static_libs tests

static_libs: $(STATIC_LIBS)

libevent_core.lib: $(CORE_OBJS) $(WIN_OBJS)
    lib $(LIBFLAGS) $(CORE_OBJS) $(WIN_OBJS) /out:libevent_core.lib 

libevent_extras.lib: $(EXTRA_OBJS)
    lib $(LIBFLAGS) $(EXTRA_OBJS) /out:libevent_extras.lib

libevent.lib: $(CORE_OBJS) $(WIN_OBJS) $(EXTRA_OBJS)
    lib $(LIBFLAGS) $(CORE_OBJS) $(EXTRA_OBJS) $(WIN_OBJS) /out:libevent.lib

clean:
    del $(ALL_OBJS)
    del $(STATIC_LIBS)
    cd test
    $(MAKE) /F Makefile.nmake clean

tests:
    cd test
    $(MAKE) /F Makefile.nmake

Answer 1

A .lib file is a Windows binary file. It’s a static library file, and is used by the linker in your application to statically link against (i.e. “use” in layman terms) the library.

Since libevent2 is not a program, you won’t get a .exe output – it’ll be either a big .dll + small .lib (for dynamic linking) or a big .lib (for static linking).