Building from Source

Begin be fetching all needed source.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/epics-base/pvxs.git
git clone --branch 7.0 https://github.com/epics-base/epics-base.git

Prepare the PVXS source tree with the location of epics-base:

cat <<EOF > pvxs/configure/RELEASE.local
EPICS_BASE=\$(TOP)/../epics-base
EOF

Build Base:

make -C epics-base

Alternatives to install or build libevent >=2.0 .

On RHEL7 and later.

yum install libevent-devel

On RHEL6 and earlier.

yum install libevent2-devel

On Debian/Ubuntu.

apt-get install libevent-dev

To build from source (Requires CMake):

make -C pvxs/bundle libevent # implies .$(EPICS_HOST_ARCH)

For additional archs: eg.

make -C pvxs/bundle libevent.linux-x86_64-debug

Finally, build PVXS:

make -C pvxs

Running Tests

It is recommended to run automatic unittests when building a new (to you) version of PVXS, or building on a new host.

make -C pvxs runtests

Cross-compiling libevent2

The bundled libevent may be built for some cross compile targets. Currently only cross mingw.

make -C pvxs/bundle libevent.windows-x64-mingw

Including PVXS in your application

Including PVXS in an application/IOC using the EPICS Makefiles is straightforward. Add PVXS to the application configure/RELEASE or RELEASE.local file.

cat <<EOF >> configure/RELEASE.local
PVXS=/path/to/your/build/of/pvxs
EPICS_BASE=/path/to/your/build/of/epics-base
EOF

Then add the pvxs and pvxsIoc libraries as a dependencies to your IOC or support module. eg.

PROD_IOC += myioc
...
myioc_DBD += pvxsIoc.dbd
...
myioc_LIBS += pvxsIoc pvxs
myioc_LIBS += $(EPICS_BASE_IOC_LIBS)

The “pvxsIoc” library should only be included for IOCs. It can, and should, be omitted for standalone applications (eg. GUI clients).

Add the pvxs library as a dependency to your executable or library. eg.

PROD_IOC += myapp
...
myapp_LIBS += pvxs
myapp_LIBS += Com

libevent will be automatically added for linking.

For those interested, this is accomplished with the logic found in “cfg/CONFIG_PVXS_MODULE”.