A couple of weeks ago I decided to compile QEMU from source, so I could experiment with the latest version rather than the default version included with the current version of Debian.
Actually compiling QEMU is quite straight forward, once you have all the prerequisites installed, but you will need about 1.5 GB of free disk space..
To install the additional packages you need to be running as superuser.
$ su Password:
OR
$ sudo -i Password:
# apt-get install gcc libc6-dev --no-install-recommends Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done libc6-dev is already the newest version. The following extra packages will be installed: gcc-4.7 libitm1 Suggested packages: gcc-multilib manpages-dev autoconf automake1.9 libtool flex bison gdb gcc-doc gcc-4.7-multilib libmudflap0-4.7-dev gcc-4.7-doc gcc-4.7-locales libgcc1-dbg libgomp1-dbg libitm1-dbg libquadmath0-dbg libmudflap0-dbg libcloog-ppl0 libppl-c2 libppl7 binutils-gold The following NEW packages will be installed: gcc gcc-4.7 libitm1 0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 8,308 kB of archives. After this operation, 18.0 MB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? : : : Setting up libitm1:i386 (4.7.2-5) ... Setting up gcc-4.7 (4.7.2-5) ... Setting up gcc (4:4.7.2-1) ... # apt-get install pkg-config --no-install-recommends Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: pkg-config 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 58.7 kB of archives. : : : Setting up pkg-config (0.26-1) ... # apt-get install bridge-utils uml-utilities --no-install-recommends Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Suggested packages: user-mode-linux The following NEW packages will be installed: bridge-utils uml-utilities 0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/99.5 kB of archives. After this operation, 380 kB of additional disk space will be used. : : : Setting up bridge-utils (1.5-6) ... Setting up uml-utilities (20070815-1.3) ... [ ok ] Starting User-mode networking switch: uml_switch. # apt-get install zlib1g-dev --no-install-recommends Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: zlib1g-dev 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 212 kB of archives. After this operation, 416 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? : : : Setting up zlib1g-dev:i386 (1:1.2.7.dfsg-13) ... # apt-get install libglib2.0-dev --no-install-recommends Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following extra packages will be installed: libpcre3-dev libpcrecpp0 Suggested packages: libglib2.0-doc The following NEW packages will be installed: libglib2.0-dev libpcre3-dev libpcrecpp0 0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 2,497 kB of archives. After this operation, 8,220 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? : : : Setting up libpcrecpp0:i386 (1:8.30-5) ... Setting up libpcre3-dev (1:8.30-5) ... Setting up libglib2.0-dev (2.33.12+really2.32.4-5) ... # apt-get install autoconf --no-install-recommends Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following extra packages will be installed: m4 Suggested packages: autoconf2.13 autoconf-archive gnu-standards autoconf-doc libtool gettext Recommended packages: automake automaken The following NEW packages will be installed: autoconf m4 0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/845 kB of archives. After this operation, 2,323 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? : : : Setting up m4 (1.4.16-3) ... Setting up autoconf (2.69-1) ... # apt-get install automake --no-install-recommends Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following extra packages will be installed: autotools-dev The following NEW packages will be installed: automake autotools-dev 0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 680 kB of archives. After this operation, 1,754 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? : : : Setting up autotools-dev (20120608.1) ... Setting up automake (1:1.11.6-1) ... update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/automake-1.11 to provide /usr/bin/automake (automake) in auto mode # apt-get install libtool --no-install-recommends Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following extra packages will be installed: file Suggested packages: libtool-doc gfortran fortran95-compiler gcj Recommended packages: libltdl-dev The following NEW packages will be installed: file libtool 0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 673 kB of archives. After this operation, 1,522 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? : : : Setting up file (5.11-2+deb7u2) ... Setting up libtool (2.4.2-1.1) ...
You will also want the SDL libraries.
# apt-get install libsdl1.2-dev --no-install-recommends Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following extra packages will be installed: libasound2-dev libavahi-client-dev libavahi-common-dev libcaca-dev libdbus-1-dev libdirectfb-dev libdirectfb-extra libfreetype6-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa libglu1-mesa-dev libjpeg8-dev libpng12-dev libpthread-stubs0 libpthread-stubs0-dev libpulse-dev libsdl1.2debian libslang2-dev libts-dev libx11-dev libxau-dev libxcb1-dev libxdmcp-dev libxext-dev mesa-common-dev x11proto-core-dev x11proto-input-dev x11proto-kb-dev x11proto-xext-dev xorg-sgml-doctools xtrans-dev Suggested packages: libasound2-doc libxcb-doc libxext-doc Recommended packages: libx11-doc The following NEW packages will be installed: libasound2-dev libavahi-client-dev libavahi-common-dev libcaca-dev libdbus-1-dev libdirectfb-dev libdirectfb-extra libfreetype6-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa libglu1-mesa-dev libjpeg8-dev libpng12-dev libpthread-stubs0 libpthread-stubs0-dev libpulse-dev libsdl1.2-dev libsdl1.2debian libslang2-dev libts-dev libx11-dev libxau-dev libxcb1-dev libxdmcp-dev libxext-dev mesa-common-dev x11proto-core-dev x11proto-input-dev x11proto-kb-dev x11proto-xext-dev xorg-sgml-doctools xtrans-dev 0 upgraded, 32 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 9,062 kB of archives. After this operation, 28.6 MB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? : : : Setting up libsdl1.2-dev (1.2.15-5) ... #
We don’t need to be a super user to build QEMU so exit.
# exit
To build QEMU itself we need to download the source code (The latest version was 2.0.0 when this post was written).
$ wget -c http://wiki.qemu-project.org/download/qemu-2.0.0.tar.bz2
Then extract the source files from the archive, this will create a new directory called qemu-2.0.0 .
$ tar -xvpf qemu-2.0.0.tar.bz2 qemu-2.0.0/ qemu-2.0.0/aio-win32.c qemu-2.0.0/qemu-tech.texi : : : qemu-2.0.0/target-sh4/cpu.c qemu-2.0.0/target-sh4/README.sh4 qemu-2.0.0/target-sh4/cpu.h $
Change the current directory to the new folder you just created.
$ cd qemu-2.0.0
To compile everything simply run configure followed by make, then go and get a fresh cup, and even on a fast machine you will probably have more than enough time to allow you to start by roasting your own beans…
$ ./configure No C++ compiler available; disabling C++ specific optional code Disabling libtool due to broken toolchain support Install prefix /usr/local BIOS directory /usr/local/share/qemu binary directory /usr/local/bin library directory /usr/local/lib module directory /usr/local/lib/qemu : : : Quorum no lzo support no snappy support no $ make GEN aarch64-softmmu/config-devices.mak GEN alpha-softmmu/config-devices.mak GEN arm-softmmu/config-devices.mak GEN cris-softmmu/config-devices.mak GEN i386-softmmu/config-devices.mak : : : : : LINK x86_64-linux-user/qemu-x86_64 CPP optionrom/multiboot.asm AS optionrom/multiboot.o Building optionrom/multiboot.img Building optionrom/multiboot.raw Signing optionrom/multiboot.bin CPP optionrom/linuxboot.asm AS optionrom/linuxboot.o Building optionrom/linuxboot.img Building optionrom/linuxboot.raw Signing optionrom/linuxboot.bin CPP optionrom/kvmvapic.asm AS optionrom/kvmvapic.o Building optionrom/kvmvapic.img Building optionrom/kvmvapic.raw Signing optionrom/kvmvapic.bin $
It is proabably better to just compile the emulators you want, I also prefer not to use VNC but to use the graphical console instead (which is why I installed the SDL libraries).
$ ./configure --target-list=i386-softmmu --disable-vnc --enable-sdl No C++ compiler available; disabling C++ specific optional code Install prefix /usr/local BIOS directory /usr/local/share/qemu binary directory /usr/local/bin library directory /usr/local/lib : : SDL support yes : : : Quorum no lzo support no snappy support no $ make GEN i386-softmmu/config-devices.mak GEN config-all-devices.mak GEN config-host.h : : : Building optionrom/kvmvapic.img Building optionrom/kvmvapic.raw Signing optionrom/kvmvapic.bin $
And that’s all there is to it, providing you have all the prerequisites installed it should just compile…
You could just run the executables from a folder in your own home directory but to install QEMU in /usr/local/bin you need to be running as superuser again.
$ su Password:
OR
$ sudo -i Password:
First we need a couple more packages, then we can just tell the make script to install the binaries we just built.
# apt-get install bison flex --no-install-recommends Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following extra packages will be installed: libbison-dev Suggested packages: bison-doc build-essential The following NEW packages will be installed: bison flex libbison-dev 0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 1,277 kB of archives. After this operation, 3,119 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? : : : Setting up bison (1:2.5.dfsg-2.1) ... # make install : : : install -m 755 qemu-system-i386 "/usr/local/bin" strip "/usr/local/bin/qemu-system-i386" #
Having installed QEMU I then needed to install Debian wheezy.
Notes on Linux 