Berkeley DB XML Reference Guide: Building Berkeley DB XML for UNIX/POSIX

Berkeley DB XML Reference Guide:
Building Berkeley DB XML for UNIX/POSIX systems

Building Berkeley DB XML for UNIX/POSIX

The Berkeley DB XML distribution comprises several libraries: a base C++ library, three third-party libraries, and optional libraries for additional language interfaces such as Java, Perl, Python, PHP, and Tcl. Instructions for building the base libraries as well as Java and Tcl interfaces are included here. Instructions for the other language bindings appear in their respective directories: dbxml-2.3.10/dbxml/src/{perl,php,python}. All bindings require the C++ library and third-party libraries. Building for Linux and Mac OS X is the same as building for a conventional UNIX platform.

The Berkeley DB XML distribution uses the Free Software Foundation's autoconf and libtool tools to build on UNIX platforms. In general, the standard configuration and installation options for these tools apply to the Berkeley DB XML distribution. For ease of use Berkeley DB XML uses a shell script called buildall.sh to drive the build process. It wraps the configure and make steps associated with autoconf

Preparing to build

Berkeley DB XML makes use of several third-party libraries. Berkeley DB XML provides a shell program that makes it possible to build all of the libraries in one command. The Berkeley DB XML distribution includes the complete source for compatible versions of the third-party libraries. No additional downloads are required. Use of other versions may not work, and may not be supported.

Each of these packages is freely available and distributed under an Open Source license, although Berkeley DB XML depends on specific versions of each. To build Berkeley DB XML, you will need the following third-party libraries:

Berkeley DB: Berkeley DB is a general purpose database toolkit. This release of Berkeley DB XML includes Berkeley DB 4.5.20 release, and requires the Berkeley DB 4.3.28 release or later.
Xerces: Xerces is the Apache implementation of XML parsing technology and DOM. The build requires a source release of Xerces, not just a binary release. This release of Berkeley DB XML requires the Xerces 2.7.0 release or newer.
XQilla: XQilla is an implementation of XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 that uses the Xerces DOM implementation. Berkeley DB XML requires a release that is not available for general download.

It is necessary to use GNU make (gmake) to build Berkeley DB XML and its third-party libraries. If you do not already have GNU make on your system, you will need to install it. When using gcc/g++, Berkeley DB XML requires at least a 3.x release of gcc.

Building Berkeley DB XML and third-party libraries

These instructions assume that you are building in the Berkeley DB XML distribution. The simplest possible build command is the following:

cd dbxml-2.3.10
sh buildall.sh

This will configure, build, and install all of the libraries using default settings, which installs them into the directory, dbxml-2.3.10/install. The default build supports the C++ interface only. The default build also compiles Berkeley DB XML examples, and places them in the directory, dbxml-2.3.10/dbxml/build_unix.

The buildall.sh script has a number of configuration options. You can see them with this command:

sh buildall.sh --help

Some common options include:

--enable-debug to build debug libraries
--prefix=path to change the default common installation path (from ./install)
--enable-java to build the Java API. This also requires that there is a working javac in your PATH. The resulting .jar files are created in the install/lib directory. Java examples are also built, and put in dbxml-2.3.10/dbxml/build_unix/dbxmlexamples.jar.
--enable-perl to build the Perl interface
--clean to clean (make clean) the entire build
--distclean to clean (make distclean) the entire build. This option clears the configuration state as well as the compilation state.

There is no option for per-library clean or rebuild in buildall.sh. See building individual libraries for information on how to work with each library build.

Configuring Berkeley DB XML and third-party libraries

The buildall.sh script has a number of configuration flags to handle platform-specific issues, change target and destination directories, as well as product configuration options. The flags that start with "--with-" apply to each of the libraries, depending on the name used. In these examples, "libname" is used to represent one of "dbxml," "xerces," "xqilla," or "berkeleydb." For example, a valid flag may be "--with-berkeleydb-prefix=path" or "--with-xerces-prefix=path." The following is a partial list of options:

--help: Use this flag to return a help message for buildall.sh.
--enable-debug: To build with -g as a compiler flag and with DEBUG #defined during compilation, enter --enable-debug as an argument to buildall.sh. This will create libraries and utilities with debugging symbols. This argument should not be specified when configuring to build production binaries.
--enable-java: To build with Java support, use --enable-java. This builds Java support for both Berkeley DB and Berkeley DB XML. It is necessary to ensure that there is a working javac in your PATH. The resulting .jar files are created in the install/lib directory. Java examples are also built, and put in dbxml-2.3.10/dbxml/build_unix/dbxmlexamples.jar.
--enable-perl: To build with Perl support, use --enable-perl. This builds Perl support for both Berkeley DB and Berkeley DB XML. This option requires a working perl program in your PATH.
--with-tcl=path: To build with Tcl support, use --with-tcl=path, where path is the directory in which the Tcl tclConfig.sh file may be found. See Loading Berkeley DB with Tcl for information on sites from which you can download Tcl and which Tcl versions are compatible with Berkeley DB XML.
--enable-test: Enables test suite support. This option requres --with-tcl and --enable-debug.
-p platform: To specify a platform type to the Xerces runConfigure script, use -p platform. For most platforms, configure guesses the type correctly. Use this option only if there are configuration errors without it.
-c C compiler name: To build with C compiler other than gcc, specify the name of the compiler, for example, -c cc.
-x C++ compiler name: To build with C++ compiler other than g++, specify the name of the compiler, for example, -x cxx.
-m make_command: To build with make program other than make, specify the name of the program. For example, -m gmake.
--no-configure: To build without re-running the configure step for each library, enter --no-configure as an argument to buildall.sh.
--clean: To clean compilation and linking object from all libraries, use --clean.
--distclean: To clean configuration state from all libraries, use --distclean. After this is done, configuration must be run again in order to build.
--build-one=library: To build, or clean only one of the libraries, use --build-one=library, where library is one of berkeleydb, xerces, xqilla or dbxml.
--prefix=path: To change the common installation directory prefix from the default (./install), specify an alternate path.
--with-libname=path: To use library sources from a location other than the default, specify a path to the source. For example, if Xerces source were located in /home/xerces-c-src_2_7_0, specify, --with-xerces="/home/xerces-c-src_2_7_0"
--with-libname-prefix=path: To change the installation directory for only a single library, specify the path using --with-libname-prefix=path. For example, if Berkeley DB is to be installed in /usr/local/BerkeleyDB.4.5, specify, --with-berkeleydb-prefix="/usr/local/BerkeleyDB.4.5"
--with-libname-conf=configure flags: All of the library configurations use the configure program. Use --with-libname-conf=configure flags to pass library-specific configuration flags.

Advanced Building and Troubleshooting

If buildall.sh does not provide enough control for your environment, or if you have trouble with any of these commands, please see building individual libraries, which goes into more detail on build options for each product. At the end of that page, there is information on what to do if build problems persist.