Compile Gerbera

Gerbera uses the excellent CMake build system.

When gerbera is already installed, running gerbera --compile-info will show the compilation options used.

Development Environment

Gerbera supports compiling with g++ (from version 9) and clang (from version 11). You also have to install cmake (at least version 3.19), pkg-config and autoconf.

Dependencies

Note

Remember to install associated development packages, because development headers are needed for compilation!

In order to compile Gerbera you will have to install the following packages if the respective compile-time option is set to ON.

Required Packages

Library	Note	Compile-time option	Script
libpupnp	UPnP protocol support by pupnp (XOR libnpupnp), enabled by default		install-pupnp.sh
libnpupnp	UPnP protocol support by npupnp (XOR libupnp), disabled by default	WITH_NPUPNP	install-npupnp.sh
libuuid	Depends on OS. Not required on *BSD
pugixml	XML file and data support		install-pugixml.sh
libiconv	Charset conversion
sqlite3	Database storage
zlib	Data compression
fmtlib	Fast string formatting		install-fmt.sh
spdlog	Runtime logging		install-spdlog.sh

Optional Packages

Library	Note	Compile-time option	Default	Script
curl	Enables web services	WITH_CURL	Enabled
duktape	Scripting Support	WITH_JS	Enabled	install-duktape.sh
ffmpeg/libav	File metadata	WITH_AVCODEC	Disabled
ffmpegthumbnailer	Generate video thumbnails	WITH_FFMPEGTHUMBNAILER	Disabled	install-ffmpegthumbnailer.sh
googletest	Running tests	WITH_TESTS	Disabled	install-googletest.sh
inotify	Efficient file monitoring	WITH_INOTIFY	Enabled
lastfmlib	Enables scrobbling	WITH_LASTFM	Disabled	install-lastfm.sh
libebml	required for MKV	WITH_MATROSKA	Enabled	install-ebml.sh
libexif	JPEG Exif metadata	WITH_EXIF	Enabled	install-libexif.sh
libexiv2	Exif, IPTC, XMP metadata	WITH_EXIV2	Disabled	install-libexiv2.sh
libmagic	File type detection	WITH_MAGIC	Enabled
libmatroska	MKV metadata	WITH_MATROSKA	Enabled	install-matroska.sh
mysql	Alternate database storage	WITH_MYSQL	Disabled
taglib	Audio tag support	WITH_TAGLIB	Enabled	install-taglib.sh
wavpack	WavPack metadata support	WITH_WAVPACK	Disabled	install-wavpack.sh

Scripts for installation of (build) dependencies from source can be found under scripts. They normally install the latest tested version of the package. The scripts automatically install prerequisites for debian/ubuntu and opensuse/suse.

In order to build the whole package there are scripts/debian/build-deb.sh and scripts/opensuse/build-suse.sh which also take the different requirements of distribution versions into account.

Make sure no conflicting versions of the development packages are installed.

Quick Start Build

git clone https://github.com/gerbera/gerbera.git
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../gerbera -DWITH_MAGIC=1 -DWITH_MYSQL=1 -DWITH_CURL=1 -DWITH_JS=1 \
  -DWITH_TAGLIB=1 -DWITH_AVCODEC=1 -DWITH_FFMPEGTHUMBNAILER=1 -DWITH_EXIF=1 -DWITH_LASTFM=1
make -j4
sudo make install

Alternatively, the options can be set using a GUI (make sure to press “c” to configure after toggling settings in the GUI):

git clone https://github.com/gerbera/gerbera.git
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../gerbera
make edit_cache
# Enable some of the WITH... options
make -j4
sudo make install

Using Conan

The simplest way to fetch dependencies and build Gerbera is to use Conan. Please read more here.

Build On Ubuntu 16.04

apt-get install uuid-dev libsqlite3-dev libmysqlclient-dev \
libmagic-dev libexif-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libspdlog-dev libpugixml-dev
# If building with LibAV/FFmpeg (-DWITH_AVCODEC=1)
apt-get install libavutil-dev libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavdevice-dev \
libavfilter-dev libavresample-dev libswscale-dev libswresample-dev libpostproc-dev

The following packages are too old in 16.04 and must be installed from source: taglib (1.11.x), and libupnp (1.8.x).

libupnp must be configured/built with --enable-ipv6. See scripts/install-pupnp.sh for details.

Build On Ubuntu 18.04

To build gerbera on Ubuntu 18.04 you have to install a newer version of the gcc++ compiler and clang++:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install -y build-essential xz-utils curl gcc-8 g++-8 clang clang-9 libssl-dev  pkg-config
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-7 30
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-8 60
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-7 30
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-8 60
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang clang /usr/bin/clang-9 60
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang clang /usr/bin/clang-6.0 30
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang++ clang++ /usr/bin/clang++-9 60
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang++ clang++ /usr/bin/clang++-6.0 30
sudo update-alternatives --config gcc
sudo update-alternatives --config g++
sudo update-alternatives --config clang
sudo update-alternatives --config clang++
sudo update-alternatives --set cc /usr/bin/clang
sudo update-alternatives --set c++ /usr/bin/clang++

git clone https://github.com/Kitware/CMake
cd CMake
./configure
make
sudo make install
cd ..

Install all libraries gerbera needs. Because they are to old libupnp, libfmt must be build and installed from the source:

sudo apt install -y uuid-dev libsqlite3-dev libmysqlclient-dev libmagic-dev \
libexif-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libspdlog-dev libpugixml-dev libavutil-dev \
libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavdevice-dev libavfilter-dev libavresample-dev \
libswscale-dev libswresample-dev libpostproc-dev duktape-dev libmatroska-dev \
libsystemd-dev libtag1-dev ffmpeg

Build and install libupnp with the --enable-ipv6, --enable-reuseaddr and --disable-blocking-tcp-connections options and libfmt from source

wget "https://github.com/pupnp/pupnp/releases/download/release-1.14.19/libupnp-1.14.19.tar.bz2" -O libupnp-1.14.19.tar.bz2
tar -xf libupnp-1.14.19.tar.bz2
cd libupnp-1.14.19
./configure --enable-ipv6 --enable-reuseaddr --disable-blocking-tcp-connections
make
sudo make install
cd ..
git clone https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt
cd fmt
cmake .
make
sudo make install
cd ../..

It is strongly recommended to to rebuild spdlog without bundled fmt:

git clone https://github.com/gabime/spdlog
cd spdlog
cmake -D "SPDLOG_FMT_EXTERNAL:BOOL=true" .
make
sudo make install

Now it’s time to get the source of gerbera and compile it.

git clone https://github.com/gerbera/gerbera.git
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DWITH_MAGIC=1 -DWITH_MYSQL=1 -DWITH_CURL=1 -DWITH_JS=1 -DWITH_TAGLIB=1 -DWITH_AVCODEC=1 -DWITH_EXIF=1 -DWITH_LASTFM=0 -DWITH_SYSTEMD=1 ../gerbera
make
sudo make install

Build On Debian

Necessary dependencies will be installed automatically by scripts/debian/build-deb.sh.

Build On Debian Buster (10)

This guide is based on building Gerbera on Pogo Kirkwood Armel architecture boxes running Debian buster.

1. Create a swapfile when using 128Mb devices (and probably 256MB too). Add a HD or SSD but not a USB stick because of the risk of hardware failure.

2. If you for libnpupnp and libupnpp6 from https://www.lesbonscomptes.com/upmpdcli/ - Follow the build instructions to create Debian packages which you can then install with dpkg.

3. Build the latest Taglib cmake; make -j2 and run make install to install or use scripts/install-taglib.sh

4. Use Apt-get to install the rest of the dev packages as per dependencies list. It is best to load fmtlib-dev and libspdlog.dev from the Buster Backports

5. Clone the Gerbera git and edit the CMakeLists.txt file and comment the original version and add the new.

# set(GERBERA_VERSION "git")
set(GERBERA_VERSION "1.6.4-185-gae283931+d")

and add these lines to make the debian package

SET(CPACK_GENERATOR "DEB")
SET(CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_MAINTAINER "KK")
# include (cmake)
include(packaging)

6. This is the Cmake command:

cmake -g DEB ../gerbera -DWITH_NPUPNP=YES -DWITH_JS=1 -DWITH_MYSQL=1 -DWITH_CURL=1 -DWITH_TAGLIB=1 -DWITH_MAGIC=1 -DWITH_MATROSKA=0 -DWITH_AVCODEC=1 -DWITH_EXIF=1 -DWITH_EXIV2=0 -DWITH_LASTFM=0 -DWITH_FFMPEGTHUMBNAILER=1 -DWITH_INOTIFY=1

Resolve any dependency issues now!

7. the make -j2 will take at least some hours - go for a walk, read a book, grab some sleep …..

8. cpack -G DEB will create a debian package file - All being well - no errors. Use dpkg to install.

9. follow the gerbera manual for installation. Create the gerbera user (give the user a home directory e.g. /home/gerbera). Make the /etc/gerbera folder and get the config.xml. Symbolic link the config file:

ln -s /etc/gerbera/config.xml /home/gerbera/.config/gerbera

Symbolic link the web directory:

ln -s /usr/share/gerbera /usr/local/share

10. Edit config.xml and change the path to

<home>/home/gerbera/.config/gerbera</home>

11. Start gerbera with the standard launch command. The server should start - watch the messages for errors. Check the web interface functions too. when happy that all is good - control-c to get back to shell

gerbera -c /etc/gerbera/config.xml

12. For SystemD users, copy the gerbera.service script into /usr/systemd/system and edit it to correct the path to the gerbera server the use the systemctl command as per the manual to start and stop the server and debug any problems.

ExecStart=/usr/bin/gerbera -c /etc/gerbera/config.xml

13. For init.d users, you need a gerbera script which I took from the earlier version which is in the Debian APT library

14. You need to put your new gerbera package on hold to prevent apt-get upgrade downgrading back to 1.1

apt-mark hold gerbera

That should be everything you need. Gerbera version 1.6.4-185 build with this guide was running on a PogoPlug V2E02 and a V4 Pro quite happily using vlc and bubbleupnp as clients on to a fire stick and chromecast devices.

Build On FreeBSD

The following has been tested on FreeBSD 11.0 using a clean jail environment.

1. Install the required prerequisites as root using either ports or packages. This can be done via Package manager or ports. (pkg manager is used here.) Include mysql if you wish to use that instead of SQLite3.

pkg install wget git autoconf automake libtool taglib cmake gcc libav ffmpeg \
libexif pkgconf liblastfm gmake

2. Clone repository, build depdences in current in ports and then build gerbera.

git clone https://github.com/gerbera/gerbera.git
mkdir build
cd build
sh ../gerbera/scripts/install-pupnp.sh
sh ../gerbera/scripts/install-duktape.sh
cmake ../gerbera -DWITH_MAGIC=1 -DWITH_MYSQL=0 -DWITH_CURL=1 -DWITH_JS=1 -DWITH_TAGLIB=1 -DWITH_AVCODEC=1 \
  -DWITH_EXIF=1 -DWITH_LASTFM=0 -DWITH_SYSTEMD=0
make -j4
sudo make install

Build On macOS

The following has been tested on macOS High Sierra 10.13.4

The Gerbera Team maintains a Homebrew Tap to build and install Gerbera Media Server. Take a look at the Homebrew formula to see an example of how to compile Gerbera on macOS: homebrew-gerbera/gerbera.rb

Build Docker Container On Ubuntu

Install required tools in Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install docker.io git

Simplest way of building:

sudo docker build https://github.com/gerbera/gerbera.git

After successfull build you should get something like

Successfully built a13ccc793373

Afterwards start the container like described in the Gerbera Docker documentation while replacing “gerbera/gerbera:vX.X.X” with the unique ID reported at the end of the build.

To change the compile options of Gerbera split up the process. Download the project:

git clone https://github.com/gerbera/gerbera.git

Then modify the compile parameter values in gerbera/Dockerfile. Also additional libraries might be required. E.g. to build a container with exiv2 support add the compile option “-DWITH_EXIV2=YES” and the library “exiv2-dev” in the first “RUN apk” command and “exiv2” in the second “RUN apk” command in the gerbera/Dockerfile. To start the build enter

sudo docker build gerbera/

Support Development Effort

We welcome pull requests from everyone!

Gerbera was originally based on MediaTomb which is an old project that we started working on modernising - there were a lot of cobwebs.

For new code please use “modern” C++ (up to 17) constructs where possible.

First Steps

1. Fork gerbera repo https://github.com/gerbera/gerbera.

2. Clone your fork:

git clone git@github.com:your-username/gerbera.git

3. Make your change.

4. Compile and run ctest if tests are enabled

5. Push to your fork

6. Submit a pull request.

Some things that will increase the chance that your pull request is accepted:

• Stick to Webkit style.

• Format your code with clang-format.

• Ensure your code works as expected by running it.

• Write a good commit message.

It is also a good idea to run cmake with -DWITH_TESTS -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-Werror" options for development.

Guidelines for Special Topics

Some topics require proper handling, so we explain the core steps here.

• Configuration Options

• Database Schema

• Conan