Build

Build it yourself.

FreeWRL 6.7 builds on Ubuntu 24.04 with autotools, and on Apple Silicon macOS with Xcode. The steps below are the ones used and checked in the project’s pull requests.

§01

Linux

Tested: Ubuntu 24.04, x86_64, GCC 13.3. X11 window, Duktape JavaScript.

Build and installshell

git clone https://github.com/Ascendance3D/freewrl.git
cd freewrl/freex3d
./autogen.sh            # needed in a Git checkout
mkdir build && cd build
../configure --with-target=x11 --with-javascript=duk
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig            # so freewrl finds libFreeWRL in /usr/local/lib

freewrl --version        # Program version: 6.7.0

Packages

Checked on 2026-09-30 in a clean ubuntu:24.04 container: with this list, every step above passed and freewrl --version printed 6.7.0. It was not run on a desktop with a real GPU. If configure stops, it names the library or command it could not find.

sudo apt install git build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config unzip wget \
  zlib1g-dev libjpeg-dev libpng-dev libfreetype-dev libxml2-dev \
  libx11-dev libxt-dev libxmu-dev libxaw7-dev libgl-dev libglu1-mesa-dev \
  libfontconfig-dev libopenal-dev libalut-dev libode-dev

--with-target: x11 (tested) or motif (needs libmotif-dev)
--with-javascript: duk: bundled Duktape (tested). stub: no scripts. sm (SpiderMonkey) does not configure on current systems.
--enable-plugin: The old NPAPI browser plugin. No current browser loads it; nothing is built.
make dist / distcheck: Both pass. A release tarball builds with ./configure && make, without autogen.sh.
Known: The build prints compiler warnings. None of them stop it. No Linux CI yet. The run test used Xvfb and Mesa, not a real GPU.

§02

macOS, Apple Silicon

macOS 14 or newer, Xcode, no Homebrew needed.

Dependencies, then the appshell

git clone https://github.com/Ascendance3D/freewrl.git && cd freewrl
tools/macos-deps/build.sh -p ~/freewrl-deps
cd OSX_gui/FreeWRL-Desktop
xcodebuild -project FreeWRL.xcodeproj -scheme FreeWRL \
  -configuration Release ARCHS=arm64 CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=- \
  FW_DEPS=$HOME/freewrl-deps build

build.sh builds FreeType 2.14.3, ODE 0.16.6 and freealut 1.1.0 from pinned, checksummed sources. Audio uses Apple’s OpenAL framework. Textures are decoded by the bundled stb_image.

A self-contained app you can signshell

tools/macos-package/package.sh -D ~/freewrl-deps -z

§03

Limits

macOS stops at OpenGL 4.1. There is no Metal renderer. Lines are always one pixel wide.
On macOS, humanoid (HAnim) skinning runs on the CPU.
TIFF and WebP textures are not decoded on macOS. Those shapes draw without texture.
Windows project files (Visual Studio 2022) are in freex3d/projectfiles_2022/. They have not been tested recently.

§04

Old build notes

The upstream site had build pages for Ubuntu 12.04, Windows (2011), macOS on Intel and the iPhone. They are history, not instructions: Linux, Ubuntu from source, Windows, OS X, iPhone.