Download CGAL for Windows

With a Package Manager

We recommand to use vcpkg:

vcpkg install cgal

To see how to use libraries installed with vcpkg refer to the official documentation.

Build from Source

To build CGAL from source on Windows you have to download an installer or tarball or you can clone the current development version of CGAL from GitHub. Below are the installation instructions for the installer.

Please note that the directory layout and build process of the development version on GitHub are different from the release version.

Step by Step Instructions for Installing and Using CGAL from the Installer

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• 1 General Prerequisites
• 2 Installing Dependencies
  • 2.1 Boost
  • 2.2 Qt 5
• 4 Installing CGAL
• 5 Building an Example
• 6 Building a Demo
• 7 Appendix: How to Set the PATH Variable or Other Environment Variables on Windows Systems

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Instructions here are given assuming the user will select the 64-bit version of Visual C++.

General Prerequisites

• Download and install CMake.
• Download the CGAL installer.
• Read the appendix if you don't know how to set/modify an environment variable.
• Qt 5 is only needed if you want to run CGAL demos.
• Identify what is the Visual Studio Command Prompt corresponding to the 64-bit version of the compiler. Look in the start menu under the Visual Studio or Microsoft Windows SDK folders. At the command prompt, type cl.exe to check the version.

Installing Dependencies

Boost

Binary versions of Boost are available on SourceForge.

The installers install both boost headers and precompiled libraries. Please note that the CGAL project is not responsible for the files provided on this web site. At the moment these lines were written, the latest version was 1.71.

I download and run the file boost_1_71_0-msvc-xx.0-64.exe (where xx = 12 for 2013 for example).

I choose to extract the files to a new directory: c:\dev\libboost_1_71_0.

I then need to set the following two environment variables to point respectively to the path of the libraries and the headers

  BOOST_LIBRARYDIR=C:\dev\libboost_1_71_0\lib64-msvc-xx.0
  BOOST_INCLUDEDIR=C:\dev\libboost_1_71_0

I also need to add the path to the Boost dll (C:\dev\libboost_1_71_0\lib64-msvc-xx.0)files in my PATH environment variable.

Qt 5 (Only needed for building demos)

• Download and install the Qt library for open source development package for your Visual Studio version at https://www.qt.io/download/ (here is the direct link to the offline installers).
• Add the environment variable QTDIR pointing to the place you installed Qt: I select C:\Qt\Qt5.13.1 so QTDIR is set to C:\Qt\Qt5.13.1.
• Add to the path the bin directory of Qt: I add C:\Qt\Qt5.13.1\msvcXXXX_XX\bin to my PATH. To avoid any conflict with another dll with the same name from another folder, add this path as the first in the list.

Installing CGAL

Run the installer and select the version you want to install (this is only used to download the precompiled GMP and MPFR):

I choose C:\dev\CGAL-5.0 as installation directory.

CGAL being a header-only library, I do not need to compile it. I then set the environment variable CGAL_DIR to C:\dev\CGAL-5.0.

Building an Example

Examples do not need Qt 5.

• Open cmake-gui.
• Choose "Where is the source code:" to be, for example, the Convex_hull_2 examples directory under the CGAL installation. I set it to C:\dev\CGAL-5.0\example\Convex_hull_2.
• Choose "Where to build the binaries:" to be a build directory. I set it to "C:\dev\CGAL-5.0\build-example\Convex_hull_2"
• Click Configure and then Generate.
• A solution file has been created in the build directory. Open it can compile and run it. I open with Visual Studio the file C:\dev\CGAL-5.0\build-examples\Convex_hull_2\Convex_hull_2_example.sln
• Once the compilation is complete, you can run the executable (directly in Visual or by running the .exe created in the Debug or Release folder), I open the file C:\dev\CGAL-5.0\build-examples\Convex_hull_2\ch_timing.exe (the window automatically closes if not run from the console).

Building a Demo

All demos need Qt 5.

• Open cmake-gui.
• Choose "Where is the source code:" to be, for example, the Triangulation_3 demo directory under the CGAL installation. I set it to C:\dev\CGAL-5.0\demo\Triangulation_3.
• Choose "Where to build the binaries:" to be a build directory. I set it to "C:\dev\CGAL-5.0\build-demo\Triangulation_3".
• Click Configure and then Generate.
• A solution file has been created in the build directory. Open it, build it, and run it. I open the file C:\dev\CGAL-5.0\build-demo\Triangulation_3\Triangulation_3.sln with Visual Studio.
• Once the compilation is complete, you can run the executable (directly in Visual or by running the .exe created in the Debug or Release folder).

Appendix: How to Set the PATH Variable or Other Environment Variables on Windows Systems

From the desktop, right-click My Computer and click properties (on Vista/Win7 click Advanced system settings on the left side).

• In the System Properties window, click on the Advanced tab.
• In the Advanced section, click the Environment Variables button.
• Finally, in the User Variables area, you can add or edit variables.
• To add a new one click on New, the first line is the name of the variable (PATH for example), the second the value. If several values are added, they must be separated by a ;.
• To modify one, select it and click on Edit... C:\Program Files;C:\Winnt;C:\Winnt\System32
• Add or modify the path lines with the paths you wish the computer to access. Each different directory is separated with a semicolon as shown above.