compiling-controllers-in-a-terminal.md

Compiling Controllers in a Terminal

It is possible to compile Webots controllers in a terminal instead of using the built-in editor. In this case you need to define the WEBOTS_HOME environment variable and make it point to Webots installation directory. The WEBOTS_HOME variable is used to locate Webots header files and libraries in the Makefiles. Setting an environment variable depends on the platform (and shell), here are some examples:

macOS and Linux

These examples assume that Webots is installed in the default directory. On Linux, type this:

$ export WEBOTS_HOME=/usr/local/webots

Or add this line to your "~/.bash_profile" file. On macOS, type this:

$ export WEBOTS_HOME=/Applications/Webots.app
$ export WEBOTS_HOME_PATH=$WEBOTS_HOME/Contents

Or add these lines to your "~/.profile" file.

Once these environment variables are defined, you should be able to compile in a terminal, with the make command. Like with the editor buttons, it is possible to build the whole project, or only a single binary file, e.g.:

$ make
$ make clean
$ make -f Makefile_java my_robot.class
$ make my_robot.o

Windows

On Windows you must use the MSYS2 terminal to compile the controllers. MSYS2 is a UNIX-like terminal that can be used to invoke UNIX commands. Please follow the instructions here to install it.

You will also have to set the WEBOTS_HOME environment variable to point to the installation folder of Webots, typically C:\Program Files\Webots and the path to the Webots binaries in the MSYS2 PATH environment variable:

export WEBOTS_HOME="C:\Program Files\Webots"
export PATH=$PATH:/C/Program\ Files/Webots/msys64/mingw64/bin:/C/Program\ Files/Webots/msys64/mingw64/bin

For convenience, the two above lines can be appended to your ~/.bash_profile file of MSYS2.

Once MSYS2 is installed and the environment variables are defined, you should be able to compile controllers by invoking make in the MSYS2 terminal, e.g.:

$ make
$ make clean