SPM/SPM8 MEX Compilation on Windows

Compilation of SPM8 on Windows 7

This page describes the compilation of SPM8 MEX files on Windows 7 SP1 32bit with MATLAB R2008a (7.6) and Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 (8.0) Express Edition.

If you use other versions of MATLAB and/or compiler, make sure that they are compatible: Supported compilers

Installation of Microsoft Visual C++

Download and install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 (8.0) Express Edition.

Download and install Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 Platform SDK.

An environment variable called MSSDk has to be specified if absent:

• Go to Control Panel
• Go to System
• Go to Advanced system settings
• Go to Advanced
• Go to Environment Variables...
• If a variable called MSSDk does not appear in User variables for systems:
  • Click on New...
  • And enter:
    • Variable name: MSSDk
    • Variable value: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK

Installation of MinGW/MSYS

Download and install MinGW from:

http://www.mingw.org/wiki/Getting_Started#toc1

in directory C:\MinGW, selecting component MinGW Developer Toolkit (including MSYS) only.

Configuration of MATLAB compilation environment

Start MATLAB and type:

>> mex -setup

and follow the instructions:

Please choose your compiler for building external interface (MEX) files: 

Would you like mex to locate installed compilers [y]/n? y

Select a compiler: 
[1] Lcc-win32 C 2.4.1 in C:\PROGRA~1\MATLAB\R2008a\sys\lcc\bin 
[2] Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8 

[0] None 

Compiler: 2

Please verify your choices: 

Compiler: Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition  
Location: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8 

Are these correct [y]/n? y

If there is an error message:

Error: The Microsoft Platform Software Development Kit (SDK) was not found. 

it means that the environment variable MSSDk was not set properly: check again the installation of the compiler above.

Do not worry if there is a warning:

 Warning: The MATLAB C and Fortran API has changed to support MATLAB ...

Compilation

From the Start menu, choose:

• All Programs
  • Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
    • Visual Studio Tools
      • Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt

then launch MSYS from there:

C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\msys.bat

Move to the SPM8 source directory with

$ cd /c/Users/login/Documents/MATLAB/spm8/src

and then type the following to start the compilation process

$ make distclean
$ make && make install
$ make toolbox-distclean
$ make toolbox && make toolbox-install
$ make external-distclean
$ make external && make external-install