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Building Cinnamon ​

General Build Instructions ​

Create a Sandbox ​

When you build projects it produces .deb packages in their parent directory, so it's a good idea to create a directory for all your development needs, in which you'll have subdirectories for each project, or each group of projects. This keeps things tidy and well organized in your computer so it becomes easier to search for code across different projects.

We commonly call our main development directory "Sandbox" and place it in our home folder.

bash
mkdir ~/Sandbox

Of course, you can call your "Sandbox" whatever you want and place it anywhere you want as well.

Install mint-dev-tools ​

Install the mint-dev-tools package from the Linux Mint repositories.

bash
apt update
apt install mint-dev-tools --install-recommends

It contains useful tools to help you compile and develop Linux Mint projects.

Installing Source ​

bash
cd ~/Sandbox
git clone https://github.com/linuxmint/mintinstall.git

First-Time Build ​

bash
cd ~/Sandbox/mintinstall
mint-build

Faster Rebuild ​

bash
cd ~/Sandbox/mintinstall
dpkg-buildpackage

Build Order ​

Here is the build order for everything cinnamon

  • cinnamon-translations
  • cinnamon-desktop
  • cinnamon-menus
  • cinnamon-session
  • cinnamon-settings-daemon
  • cinnamon-screensaver
  • cjs
  • cinnamon-control-center
  • muffin
  • cinnamon
  • nemo

For Debian-based Systems ​

Add APT Source Repositories ​

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list:

bash
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com wilma main upstream import
deb-src http://packages.linuxmint.com wilma main upstream import

Install Build Dependencies ​

bash
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dpkg-dev
sudo apt-get build-dep cinnamon cinnamon-control-center cinnamon-desktop \
  cinnamon-menus cinnamon-screensaver cinnamon-session \
  cinnamon-settings-daemon cinnamon-translations cjs muffin nemo

Clone All Repositories ​

bash
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon.git
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-control-center.git
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-desktop.git
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-menus.git
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-screensaver.git
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-session.git
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-settings-daemon.git
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-translations.git
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/cjs.git
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/muffin.git
git clone git://github.com/linuxmint/nemo.git

Compile Order ​

text
cinnamon-translations
cinnamon-desktop
cinnamon-menus
**INSTALL**
cinnamon-session
cinnamon-settings-daemon
cinnamon-screensaver
cjs
**INSTALL**
cinnamon-control-center
muffin
**INSTALL**
cinnamon
nemo
**INSTALL**

Build ​

bash
cd package-name
dpkg-buildpackage

Install ​

bash
sudo dpkg -i ../*.deb

Stable Branch ​

bash
cd package-name
git checkout stable
dpkg-buildpackage

Other Systems ​

Build Dependencies ​

Install development packages (*-dev) for:

Core:

  • glib, gtk3, gobject-introspection, meson, pulseaudio, spidermonkey, etc.

Optional:

  • cups, gstreamer, libwacom, wayland, etc.

Python:

  • dbus-python, pexpect, pillow, pycairo, pygobject, etc.

Clone All Repositories ​

Same as in Debian section.

Compile Order ​

Same as Debian.

Compile with Meson ​

bash
cd package-name
meson setup builddir
meson compile -C builddir
meson install -C builddir

cinnamon-translations ​

bash
cd cinnamon-translations
make
sudo cp -r usr /

Stable Branch ​

bash
cd package-name
git checkout stable
meson setup builddir
meson compile -C builddir
meson install -C builddir

For cinnamon-translations:

bash
cd cinnamon-translations
git checkout stable
make
sudo cp -r usr /