Building

Table of Contents

• Building Locally
  • Compiler
  • Dependencies
    • FreeBSD
      • Install dependencies
    • Linux
      • KMS Capture
      • CUDA Toolkit
    • macOS
      • Homebrew
      • MacPorts
    • Windows
      • Update all packages
      • Set toolchain variable
      • Install dependencies
  • Clone
  • Build
  • Package
  • Remote Build

Sunshine binaries are built using CMake and requires cmake > 3.25.

Building Locally

Compiler

It is recommended to use one of the following compilers:

Compiler	Version
GCC	14+
Clang	17+
Apple Clang	15+

Dependencies

FreeBSD

Attention

Sunshine support for FreeBSD is experimental and may be incomplete or not work as expected

Install dependencies

pkg install -y \
  audio/opus \
  audio/pulseaudio \
  devel/cmake \
  devel/evdev-proto \
  devel/git \
  devel/libayatana-appindicator \
  devel/libevdev \
  devel/libnotify \
  devel/ninja \
  devel/pkgconf \
  ftp/curl \
  graphics/libdrm \
  graphics/wayland \
  multimedia/libva \
  net/miniupnpc \
  ports-mgmt/pkg \
  security/openssl \
  shells/bash \
  www/npm \
  x11/libX11 \
  x11/libxcb \
  x11/libXfixes \
  x11/libXrandr \
  x11/libXtst

Linux

Dependencies vary depending on the distribution. You can reference our linux_build.sh script for a list of dependencies we use in Debian-based, Fedora-based and Arch-based distributions. Please submit a PR if you would like to extend the script to support other distributions.

KMS Capture

If you are using KMS, patching the Sunshine binary with setcap is required. Some post-install scripts handle this. If building from source and using the binary directly, this will also work:

sudo cp build/sunshine /tmp
sudo setcap cap_sys_admin+p /tmp/sunshine
sudo getcap /tmp/sunshine
sudo mv /tmp/sunshine build/sunshine

CUDA Toolkit

Sunshine requires CUDA Toolkit for NVFBC capture. There are two caveats to CUDA:

1. The version installed depends on the version of GCC.
2. The version of CUDA you use will determine compatibility with various GPU generations. At the time of writing, the recommended version to use is CUDA ~12.9. See CUDA compatibility for more info.

Note

To install older versions, select the appropriate run file based on your desired CUDA version and architecture according to CUDA Toolkit Archive

macOS

You can either use Homebrew or MacPorts to install dependencies.

Homebrew

dependencies=(
  "boost"  # Optional
  "cmake"
  "doxygen"  # Optional, for docs
  "graphviz"  # Optional, for docs
  "icu4c"  # Optional, if boost is not installed
  "miniupnpc"
  "ninja"
  "node"
  "openssl@3"
  "opus"
  "pkg-config"
)
brew install "${dependencies[@]}"

If there are issues with an SSL header that is not found:

• Intel

  ln -s /usr/local/opt/openssl/include/openssl /usr/local/include/openssl

• Apple Silicon

  ln -s /opt/homebrew/opt/openssl/include/openssl /opt/homebrew/include/openssl

MacPorts

dependencies=(
  "cmake"
  "curl"
  "doxygen"  # Optional, for docs
  "graphviz"  # Optional, for docs
  "libopus"
  "miniupnpc"
  "ninja"
  "npm9"
  "pkgconfig"
)
sudo port install "${dependencies[@]}"

Windows

Warning

Cross-compilation is not supported on Windows. You must build on the target architecture.

First, you need to install MSYS2.

For AMD64 startup "MSYS2 UCRT64" (or for ARM64 startup "MSYS2 CLANGARM64") then execute the following commands.

Update all packages

pacman -Syu

Set toolchain variable

For UCRT64:

export TOOLCHAIN="ucrt-x86_64"

For CLANGARM64:

export TOOLCHAIN="clang-aarch64"

Install dependencies

dependencies=(
  "git"
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-boost"  # Optional
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-cmake"
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-cppwinrt"
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-curl-winssl"
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-doxygen"  # Optional, for docs... better to install official Doxygen
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-graphviz"  # Optional, for docs
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-miniupnpc"
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-onevpl"
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-openssl"
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-opus"
  "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-toolchain"
)
if [[ "${MSYSTEM}" == "UCRT64" ]]; then
  dependencies+=(
    "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-MinHook"
    "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-nodejs"
    "mingw-w64-${TOOLCHAIN}-nsis"
  )
fi
pacman -S "${dependencies[@]}"

To create a WiX installer, you also need to install .NET.

For ARM64: To build frontend, you also need to install Node.JS

Clone

Ensure git is installed on your system, then clone the repository using the following command:

git clone https://github.com/lizardbyte/sunshine.git --recurse-submodules
cd sunshine
mkdir build

Build

cmake -B build -G Ninja -S .
ninja -C build

Remarks

Available build options can be found in options.cmake.

Package

• FreeBSD

  • pkg

    cpack -G FREEBSD --config ./build/CPackConfig.cmake

  
  
• Linux

  • deb

    cpack -G DEB --config ./build/CPackConfig.cmake

  • rpm

    cpack -G RPM --config ./build/CPackConfig.cmake

  
  
• macOS

  • DragNDrop

    cpack -G DragNDrop --config ./build/CPackConfig.cmake

  
  
• Windows

  • NSIS Installer

    cpack -G NSIS --config ./build/CPackConfig.cmake

  • WiX Installer

    cpack -G WIX --config ./build/CPackConfig.cmake

  • Portable

    cpack -G ZIP --config ./build/CPackConfig.cmake

  
  

Remote Build

It may be beneficial to build remotely in some cases. This will enable easier building on different operating systems.

1. Fork the project
2. Activate workflows
3. Trigger the CI workflow manually
4. Download the artifacts/binaries from the workflow run summary

Previous	Next
Troubleshooting	Contributing