This sample shows you how to cross build a Win32 binary in Linux.

First, I assume you are using Ubuntu, so, all the packages we need are installed via apt-get.

Second, use CMake as build system, nsis as package system. So your project might build in both Linux and Windows with few modifications.

Install prerequisites

$ sudo apt-get install mingw32 mingw32-binutils mwingw32-runtime
$ sudo apt-get install cmake nsis
$ sudo apt-get install libgtk2-dev

Download pre-built Gtk all-in-one bundle from here http://www.gtk.org/download/win32.php

$ wget http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/gtk+/2.24/gtk+-bundle_2.24.10-20120208_win32.zip -O ~/Download/gtk+-bundle_2.24.10-20120208_win32.zip

Create directory for your project

$ mkdir ~/vala-win32-sample
$ cd ~/vala-win32-sample

Uncompress all-in-one bundle

$ mkdir win32
$ cd win32
$ unzip ~/Download/gtk+-bundle_2.24.10-20120208_win32.zip

Fix prefix in .pc files so pkg-config can report correct package information

$ find -name '*pc' | while read pc; do sed -e "s@^prefix=.*@prefix=$PWD@" -i "$pc"; done

To ease our fingers, save following commands in shell script named ~/vala-win32-sample/autogen.sh

src_dir=$(dirname $(readlink -f $0))
bld_dir=$PWD
if [[ "$src" != "$bld_dir" ]]; then
        rm -rf "${bld_dir}"/*
fi

ROOT="$src_dir"/win32/

PKG_CONFIG_PATH="${ROOT}lib/pkgconfig:${ROOT}share/pkgconfig" \
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr \
        -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH=$PWD/win32 \
        -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=Toolchain.cmake \
        $src_dir

This minimal ~/vala-win32-sample/Toolchain.cmake tells CMake what build target looks like, which toolchain to use.

set( CHOST i586-mingw32msvc )
set( CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME Windows )
set( CMAKE_RC_COMPILER ${CHOST}-windres )
set( CMAKE_C_COMPILER ${CHOST}-gcc )
set( CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER ${CHOST}-g++ )

~/vala-win32-sample/CMakeLists.txt is the core project build/install/package script.

cmake_minimum_required( VERSION 2.8 )

project( vala-xbuild-sample )

set( CPACK_PACKAGE_NAME ${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} )
if( CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Windows" )
        set( CPACK_GENERATOR "NSIS" )
        add_definitions( -mms-bitfields )
else()
        set( CPACK_GENERATOR "DEB" )
        set( CPACK_PACKAGE_CONTACT "daiderek@gmail.com" )
        set( CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_MAINTAINER "daiderek@gmail.com" )
endif()

find_package( PkgConfig )

pkg_check_modules( GTK REQUIRED gtk+-2.0 )

include_directories( ${GTK_INCLUDE_DIRS} )

link_directories( ${GTK_LIBRARY_DIRS} )

add_executable( hello-world hello-world.c )

target_link_libraries( hello-world ${GTK_LIBRARIES} )

install( TARGETS hello-world RUNTIME DESTINATION bin )

include( CPack )

~/vala-win32-sample/hello-world.c

#include <gtk/gtk.h>

int main(int argc, char * args[])
{
        GtkWidget * win;
        
        gtk_init(& argc, & args);
        
        win = gtk_window_new(GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
        gtk_widget_show(win);
        
        gtk_main();
        
        return 0;
}

Now you should have following files in ~/vala-win32-sample

$ ls
autogen.sh  CMakeLists.txt  hello-world.c  toolchain.cmake  win32

Try native build to ensure your build environment is OK

$ cd ~/vala-win32-sample
$ mkdir build && cd build
$ cmake .. && make && hello-world

If hello-world build and run successfully, try cross build now

$ ../autogen.sh && make
$ pushd ../win32/bin && wine ../../build/hello-world.exe; popd

Where is Vala?

Vala/Examples