Compile Aseprite from source code for Windows 11/10 x64

compile-aseprite-win.md

Prerequisites

• Windows 11/10 x64.
• Visual Studio Community 2022 + Desktop Development with C++ + Windows 10.0 SDK (latest).
• CMake.
• Ninja Build System.
• Skia.
• Winrar or 7zip.

Download and Set Up Visual Studio Community 2022

• Get Visual Studio Community 2022.

  

• Once the installer launches, select Desktop Development with C++ workload.

  

• In the "Individual Components" section, select Windows 10.0 SDK (latest).

  

• Click the "Install while downloading" button to begin installing Visual Studio 2022.

Get The Source Code

• Get the Aseprite source code Aseprite-v1.x-Source.zip

  

Download and Set Up CMake

• Get CMake cmake-3.xx.x-windows-x86_64.msi

  

• Choose the option Add CMake To The PATH For environment variable

  

Download and Set Up Ninja

• Download Ninja Build System.

  

• Extract ninja-win.zip and copy ninja.exe to C:\Program Files\CMake\bin.

Download Skia

• Download Skia Skia-Windows-Release-x64.zip.

  

• In the C:\ directory, create a folder named deps.

• Inside the deps directory, create another folder named skia.

• Extract the contents of Skia-Windows-Release-x64.zip into the skia folder.

Compiling

• In the C:\ directory, create a folder named aseprite.

• Extract the contents of Aseprite-v1.x-Source.zip into the aseprite folder.

• Search Command Prompt

  

• Execute the following commands:

call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\Tools\VsDevCmd.bat" -arch=x64
cd C:\aseprite
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DLAF_BACKEND=skia -DSKIA_DIR=C:\deps\skia -DSKIA_LIBRARY_DIR=C:\deps\skia\out\Release-x64 -DSKIA_LIBRARY=C:\deps\skia\out\Release-x64\skia.lib -G Ninja ..
ninja aseprite

• If CMake is unable to detect the compiler:

  • Execute the following command instead:

  cmake -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.40.33807\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DLAF_BACKEND=skia -DSKIA_DIR=C:\deps\skia -DSKIA_LIBRARY_DIR=C:\deps\skia\out\Release-x64 -DSKIA_LIBRARY=C:\deps\skia\out\Release-x64\skia.lib -G Ninja ..

• The executable will be located at C:\aseprite\build\bin\aseprite.exe.

Tested With Aseprite v1.3.7

Please remember to support the creators of Aseprite. Only use this method to try the program or if you don't have access to funds or a credit card :)

Sadly. It didn't work for me... :(

Sadly. It didn't work for me... :(

Here is the error I've got. CMake Error at build/CMakeFiles/3.25.1/CMakeCXXCompiler.cmake:1 (set):
Syntax error in cmake code at

/c/aseprite/build/CMakeFiles/3.25.1/CMakeCXXCompiler.cmake:1

when parsing string

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30133\bin\HostX64\x64\cl.exe

Invalid character escape '\P'.
Call Stack (most recent call first):
CMakeLists.txt:25 (project)

CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:25 (project):
The CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30133\bin\HostX64\x64\cl.exe

is not a full path and was not found in the PATH.

Tell CMake where to find the compiler by setting either the environment
variable "CXX" or the CMake cache entry CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER to the full path
to the compiler, or to the compiler name if it is in the PATH.

Sadly. It didn't work for me... :(

Here is the error I've got. CMake Error at build/CMakeFiles/3.25.1/CMakeCXXCompiler.cmake:1 (set): Syntax error in cmake code at

/c/aseprite/build/CMakeFiles/3.25.1/CMakeCXXCompiler.cmake:1

when parsing string

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30133\bin\HostX64\x64\cl.exe

Invalid character escape '\P'. Call Stack (most recent call first): CMakeLists.txt:25 (project)

CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:25 (project): The CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30133\bin\HostX64\x64\cl.exe

is not a full path and was not found in the PATH.

Tell CMake where to find the compiler by setting either the environment variable "CXX" or the CMake cache entry CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER to the full path to the compiler, or to the compiler name if it is in the PATH.

I don't have this issue, it should automatically detect it. I'll add a new command in case this happens for more ppl

Sadly. It didn't work for me... :(

Here is the error I've got. CMake Error at build/CMakeFiles/3.25.1/CMakeCXXCompiler.cmake:1 (set): Syntax error in cmake code at

/c/aseprite/build/CMakeFiles/3.25.1/CMakeCXXCompiler.cmake:1

when parsing string

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30133\bin\HostX64\x64\cl.exe

Invalid character escape '\P'. Call Stack (most recent call first): CMakeLists.txt:25 (project)
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:25 (project): The CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30133\bin\HostX64\x64\cl.exe

is not a full path and was not found in the PATH.
Tell CMake where to find the compiler by setting either the environment variable "CXX" or the CMake cache entry CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER to the full path to the compiler, or to the compiler name if it is in the PATH.

I don't have this issue, it should automatically detect it. I'll add a new command in case this happens for more ppl

My laptop hates me when I compile something. Like GitHub/git...