Build and Install Marble
To obtain pre-built packages of Marble for your favourite operating system, please have a look at our Download section.
You might be able to obtain a more recent version of this document here
Prerequisites for building Marble are:
- Qt 4.6 or newer
- cmake version 2.6.4 or newer
- (optional): kdelibs (including the kdelibs-dev package).
1. Getting the Marble Source Code
You can check out the unstable development version ("Marble trunk" using the git tool via the command:
git clone git://anongit.kde.org/marble
If you have a KDE developer account you might want to use:
git clone git@git.kde.org:marble
If you want to check out the latest stable version please check out the KDE/4.8 branch (for Marble 1.3) You can do so by using one of these commands (depending on whether you've got a developer account or not):
git clone -b KDE/4.8 git://anongit.kde.org/marbleor
In case you have a KDE developer account the git command is:
git clone -b KDE/4.8 git@git.kde.org:marble
As an alternative you can download a compressed archive of the source code on our Download Page. However we recommend to get it from git as updating the source code later on will be much more convenient.
2. Compiling Marble
You can build and install Marble in two different ways:
- As a Qt-only application.
- As a KDE application, using kdelibs and KDE based classes.
Choose one of them and follow our instructions on how to do it. If you want to install Marble's data into a directory that is different from the system default (e.g. your home directory) then we suggest that you take section "3. Adjust Marble's search path for the maps and data" into account.
A. Build Marble as a Qt only application.
1. Create a build directory
Create a build directory parallel to the source directory. Suppose that the source directory is named 'marble'. Then create a new directory called 'marble-build'.
2. Configure the build tree
Go into the build directory and type
cmake -DQTONLY=ON ../marble
3. Build marble
Also in the build directory, type:
make
4. Install marble
Finally, also from the build directory, type:
make install
and start Marble either from the menu or via the command line:
marble
If you're on (K)Ubuntu or Debian you need to adjust your LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/lib
To make this change persistent you need to add this line to your .bashrc or your "/etc/environment" file.
B. Build Marble as a KDE application.
1. Create a build directory
This is the same step as for a Qt-only build:
Create a build directory parallel to the source directory. Suppose that the source directory is named 'marble'. Then create a new directory called 'marble-build'.
2. Configure the build tree
Go into the build directory and type
cmake ../marble
From now on the steps are the same as for a Qt-only build.
3. Build marble
make
4. Install marble
make install
and start Marble either from the menu or via the command line:
marble
3 Adjust Marble's search path for the maps and data
If you want to install Marble's data into a different place than the system default then read on: There are several ways to adjust the path where Marble is drawing it's data from:
3.1 At Compiletime
Use the cmake option -DMARBLE_DATA_PATH to specify the built-in system path that Marble gathers its data from:
Example:
cmake -DQTONLY=ON -DMARBLE_DATA_PATH /mnt1/marble/data ~/marble
3.2 "At Runtime"
There are two solutions to adjust the data path for a precompiled Marble binary:
a) Enter a key and a value
marbleDataPath="/smb/marble/data"
to the config file "marblerc" or "~/.config/KDE/Marble\Desktop\Globe.conf" and (re)start the application.
b) Start Marble using the command line option --marbleDataPath:
marble --marbleDataPath ~/marble/data
Last update: 2012-01-25

