Building the software from scripts? Major gaps in my understanding :)

[spigmu]

There are so many interesting audio related free softwares and plugins that are not available as built installers or files. So in those instances you take what's downloaded and make the build yourself. I'm on OS X, use command line only by copying and pasting from a reference. That's as big as the part of my brain that might hold any programming potential is, sadly. I keep checking out cool sounding things on GitHub, etc, and try gamely to make a build based on what directions are offered, but success, even encouraging improvement, has eluded me. I'm stumped. And Google is no help.

Can someone guide me to a place that does not assume that someone already knows how to improvise their command line and programming, one that walks a command line noob through the steps from having a folder of scripts and etc. from the developer to making a build that can be put to use? I'm great with computers, nothing about advanced use of OS X is a mystery, enjoy a complicated DAW setup, use Terminal in a limited way, as directed for running OS X utilities and problem solvers, but I'm a complete dolt when it comes to how to even know what my first step is here.

Any links or references would be much appreciated! Thanks

[BertKoor]

Came across this lately by accident:

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=329696&p=7818645#p7818645

Seemingly the same question...

[spigmu]

Came across this lately by accident:

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=329696&p=7818645#p7818645

Seemingly the same question...

Hey, BertKoor, thank you for this! If I'd used "compile" in my searches I might have gotten further This does look like some good places to start.

[spigmu]

I'm bumping this after yet again spending an hour in Xcode getting nowhere I don't want to create an app, which is what most Xcode for Noobs articles are for, I just want to take a github project that requires compiling and spit it out so I can use it. Been poring over any articles I can find and haven't found one that explains what I need. I open it in Xcode and from there can only flail around like a frustrated monkey. No idea what to do. Build? Fail. Export? Fail. You get the idea I have no idea what files are supposed to be highlighted or what buttons to click. Probably a blindfolded monkey would have a lower percentage of scolding alert boxes.

Can someone point me to a resource that steps someone through what to do once they've gotten a github project into XCode in order to have a working widget? I'm on OS X 10.15.7 and Xcode 12.4.

Thanks so much for any pointing in the direction.

[chk071]

You probably would be best of to start with something like Reaktor or SynthEdit.

I took a look into JUCE a few times, but, it definitely requires to know about coding. I know a bit of scripting, Powershell and Javascript, but, I quickly ran out of skills when I read the JUCE tutorials and documentation. I also think that it is very important to know how to put things together first, that why I'd start with a modular environment. That way you can put stuff together, and even look into modules, and how they're made, before diving into the deep... shit.

Be aware that all that is not easy though. And not as well documented as, say, building websites, or automating your OS with something like Powershell. It's niche stuff, so, you won't get the same help when you run into problems, or when things aren't clear.

[spigmu]

You probably would be best of to start with something like Reaktor or SynthEdit.

I took a look into JUCE a few times, but, it definitely requires to know about coding. I know a bit of scripting, Powershell and Javascript, but, I quickly ran out of skills when I read the JUCE tutorials and documentation. I also think that it is very important to know how to put things together first, that why I'd start with a modular environment. That way you can put stuff together, and even look into modules, and how they're made, before diving into the deep... shit.

Be aware that all that is not easy though. And not as well documented as, say, building websites, or automating your OS with something like Powershell. It's niche stuff, so, you won't get the same help when you run into problems, or when things aren't clear.

Thanks, chk071, but I'm not looking to create anything from scratch or script anything. There are many projects created by others, such as non commercial audio programs and sampler format conversion utilities that are available on github but not offered as install packages, just the code. The end user downloads the code and has to compile it, in my case in Xcode on OS X. Using Xcode is sort of like using the Script Editor in OS X in that you don't really need to know any languages to use it, you can use the menus to make it happen and pop out a script, which I managed to navigate the basics of just by jumping in. No such fortune with Xcode, even when using existing code Hence my plea

[benzene]

What sorts of things are you trying to build with XCode - VSTs, perhaps?

Stack Overflow is a good place to get help for particular problems - some answers here might be helpful: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/129 ... -osx-xcode

If the project you're trying to build comes with a guide on how to build it, then best to follow that as closely as possible. Tools like XCode can be really finicky about what works and what doesn't!

Edit: I realise you'd asked for guides which don't assume programming knowledge - the resources behind that link above do make that assumption - my bad

So bearing in mind you're just looking to build software from source so you can run it (and no more), then back to my other suggestion - ideally stick to any README or whatever documentation offered in the github project as that will be known to work - otherwise you're going into the woods. If you do tread your own path (assuming no official guide to follow) then you're likely to run into problems at some stage - just one example, particular versions of libraries will be assumed to be present, and XCode might have a conflicting version.