Windows

32-bit and 64-bit Windows platforms are supported for Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Other versions of 32-bit windows might work but are not officially supported.

Install the Prerequisities

1. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
• You must have either Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 or the free Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition. (Note that the free Express Edition does not include a 64-bit compiler.)
• Warning: If you are on a 64-bit machine, make sure to explicitly choose to install the the 64-bit compiler! It is not installed by default!
2. Java SE 6 JDK
• The latest Java SE 6 JDK is available from Oracle's web site. Make sure to download the 64-bit version, if you are on a 64-bit machine.
3. SWIG
• SWIG acts as a bridge between the Soar C++ libraries and the various other languages, like Java, Tcl, Python, Perl. Since nearly everyone will need the Soar debugger, which is written in Java, this component is required.
• You can download it from swig.org and extract it anywhere, such as your home folder or C:\ or C:\Program Files
4. Python
• Soar uses the [scons.org SCons build system], which requires Python. Python version 2.7.2 is recommended, but anything from 2.5 onward should work. The Python 3.x series WILL NOT WORK. You can download Python 2.7.2 from python.org
• If you are planning on a debug build including Python, you will need Python debug libraries. Save the correct one for your architecture in Python26\libs.

Build Soar

We're now finally ready to build Soar!

Start cmd.exe, cd into the SoarSuite directory, and type

  build all

The batch file will ask you for the paths to SWIG and Python before building your script. You no longer have to specify those paths in environment variables.

For more detailed information about the Scons script, see the SCons Script Documentation page. See the FAQ for common solutions to errors.

Visual Studio Solution Generation

SCons can generate Visual Studio project and solution files that allow users to more easily modify and debug the kernel source code. When performing 'build all', these files will also be generated. You can also manually generate these files by typing

  scons msvs

Note that the generated projects are not stand-alone, they still call SCons under the hood to build targets.