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SQLite ICU MinGW

The project repository contains several scripts for building SQLite and SQLiteODBC. The Current folder holds maintained versions, while toolset-specific folders MinGW and MSVC have drafts, experimental shell scripts, and earlier versions, which may no longer be updated.

MSVC - SQLite

The main MSVC SQLite script, sqlite_MSVC_Cpp_Build_Tools.ext.bat, should be executed from an MSVC shell. It can build an STDCALL version of SQLite for use with VBA-x32.

This script contains three major parts, DISPATCHER, MAIN, and TASKS. DISPATCHER is the first and smallest section. It checks if help is requested and, if yes, calls the appropriate task subroutine. Otherwise, it passes control to the beginning of the second MAIN section. The MAIN section is mostly a sequence of calls to routines in the TASKS section. The last TASKS section is a collection of small subroutines handling various more or less independent build tasks.

MSYS2/MinGW - SQLite

The main MSYS2/MinGW SQLite script is sqlite3.ref.MinGW.Proxy.ext.sh. This Bash script has an organization similar to that of the MSVC script. The main routine at the end of the file replaces the MAIN section, and separate routines perform various build tasks. However, some routines from this Bash script absorb functionality equivalent to several sections from the MSVC script.

Supporting tools

Integration of loadable extensions requires a fair amount of patching, though I do not use the standard patching routine. The limitations of the Windows build environment largely dictated the choice of an alternative solution. While the standard Windows command shell is quite limited, the more powerful PowerShell appears to be unreliable junk (probably due to Microsoft’s “great” idea, AMSI). I tried to use PS, but it hung so frequently that I did not want to waste more time fighting it. Since the SQLite build process requires TCL, I switched to it instead. As a bonus, these scripts are toolchain-independent and mostly needed for toolchain-independent operations.

The repository folder Current/extra contains four TCL scripts:

  • addlines.tcl adds multiple lines from a “patch” file after the unique line in the target file matching the first line in the “patch” file;
  • replace.tcl performs literal text replacement tool for the MSVC script (the Bash script uses sed instead);
  • commentinclude.tcl comments out C “#include” directive for use by the MSVC script (currently unused);
  • expandinclude.tcl replaces the C “#include” with the contents of the included file (currently unused).

The two subfolders of the Current/extra folder contain “patch” files processed via the addlines.tcl script.

MSYS2/MinGW - SQLiteODBC

SQLiteODBC folder contains modified source files used to build the SQLiteODBC driver. Further details are available on a dedicated page.

MinGW folder

NOTE: this folder contains not updated and experimental scripts. They may work but, in general, should not be used.

sqlite3.ref.sh relies on the stock makefile. It downloads the current SQLite release, unpacks it, configures, patches several source files, sets additional options, runs SQLite’s makefile, and, finally, copies the library and its dependencies into the bin folder.

sqlite3.ref.sh/sqlite3.ref.mk pair uses a similar bash script, but a simplified makefile is used instead of the stock file. The shell script still runs the configure script, but “sqlite3.ref.mk” is copied to the “build” folder and executed instead of SQLite’s Makefile.

sqlite3-MinGW.bat is executed from the standard Windows shell. While it should compile SQLite, it has several issues, such as the hardcoded MinGW path, and should be considered a working draft. Noteworthy, the script optionally enables the SQLLOG extension.

The ICU folder contains experimental scripts for building ICU4C-68. While I managed to build ICU, this was a limited exploration. An attempt to link SQLite and ICU statically was partially successful (see the SQLite-ICU - Partially Static folder for the code). Similarly, SpatialLite has a draft that does not actually do anything. I am not providing any further information on these scripts.