(1) To build HarfBuzz on Linux, you must first install the
development packages for FreeType, Cairo, and GLib. The exact
commands required for this step will vary depending on
the Linux distribution you use.
For example, on an Ubuntu or Debian system, you would run:
sudo apt install gcc g++ libfreetype6-dev libglib2.0-dev libcairo2-dev
On Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, or other Red-Hat–based systems, you would run:
sudo yum install gcc gcc-c++ freetype-devel glib2-devel cairo-devel
(2) The next step depends on whether you
are building from the source in a downloaded release tarball or
from the source directly from the git repository.
(2)(a) If you downloaded the HarfBuzz
source code in a tarball, you can now extract the source.
From a shell in the top-level directory of the extracted source
code, you can run meson build followed by
meson compile -C build as with any other standard package.
This should leave you with a shared
library in the src/
directory, and a few
utility programs including hb-view and
hb-shape under the util/
directory.
(2)(b) If you are building from the source in the HarfBuzz git
repository, rather than installing from a downloaded tarball
release, then you must install two more auxiliary tools before you
can build for the first time: pkg-config.
On Ubuntu or Debian, run:
sudo apt-get install meson pkg-config gtk-doc-tools
On Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, run:
sudo yum install meson pkgconfig gtk-doc
With pkg-config installed, you can now run
meson build then
meson compile -C build to build HarfBuzz.
There are two ways to build HarfBuzz on Mac systems: MacPorts
and Homebrew. The process is similar to the process used on a
Linux system.
(1) You must first install the
development packages for FreeType, Cairo, and GLib. If you are
using MacPorts, you should run:
sudo port install freetype glib2 cairo
If you are using Homebrew, you should run:
brew install freetype glib cairo
(2) The next step depends on whether you are building from the
source in a downloaded release tarball or from the source directly
from the git repository.
(2)(a) If you are installing HarfBuzz
from a downloaded tarball release, extract the tarball and
open a Terminal in the extracted source-code directory. Run:
meson build
followed by:
meson compile -C build
to build HarfBuzz.
(2)(b) Alternatively, if you are building
HarfBuzz from the source in the HarfBuzz git repository, then
you must install several built-time dependencies before
proceeding.
If you are
using MacPorts, you should run:
sudo port install meson pkgconfig gtk-doc
to install the build dependencies.
If you are using Homebrew, you should run:
brew install meson pkgconfig gtk-doc
Finally, you can run:
meson build
(3) You can now build HarfBuzz (on either
a MacPorts or a Homebrew system) by running:
meson build
followed by:
meson compile -C build
This should leave you with a shared
library in the src/
directory, and a few
utility programs including hb-view and
hb-shape under the util/
directory.