Apache NiFi - MiNiFi - C++ Windows Build Guide

Requirements

Apache NiFi MiNiFi C++ has been built on Window Server 2016, 2019, and Windows 10 operating systems. The project is CMake focused we suggest building via Visual Studio 2017, Visual Studio 2019 or our win_build_vs.bat script.

The project previously required OpenSSL to be installed. If you follow our build procedures, below, you will not need to install that dependency.

Required software

Visual Studio 2017 or Visual Studio 2019
CMake
Git
(Optional) WiX Toolset (only for building the MSI)
(Optional) JDK (only for JNI support)

JNI support

Though the project is written in C++, JNI functionality supports running Java processors stored in NiFi Archives. These can be run in a much smaller memory footprint and consume fewer resources. If your systems do not support Java or you do not want a JDK installed, please use non-JNI builds.

Building with Visual Studio

Make sure your Visual Studio installation includes the “Visual C++ tools for CMake” and “Visual C++ ATL for x86 and x64” options. You can also add these after installation using the Visual Studio Installer app. We also advise installing WiX and Visual Studio Command Prompt via the marketplace. To do this please go to the Tools Menu, followed by Extensions and Updates. Once the popup displays you may install additional features from Online sources in the Online menu.

A file named CMakeSettings.json provides the CMake configuration.

CMake must generate its cache, under Cache in the CMake Menu. After that is complete go to ‘Build Only’ under the CMake menu. Due to limitations in Visual Studio's CMake support, it is advised that you build minifi.lib then minifi.exe targets. Build All works, too, but it takes much longer. Once you have built these targets, you may use the cpack command to build your MSI. If you are building with JNI functionality the MSI will be significantly larger (about 160 MB) since it contains the base NARs to run the standard set of Apache NiFi processors.

Building via the build script

The preferred way of building the project is via the win_build_vs.bat script found in our root source folder. Its first parameter is mandatory, the directory in which it will build the project. build is a good default choice for this.

After the build directory it will take optional parameters modifying the CMake configuration used in the build:

Argument	Effect
/T	Disables tests
/P	Enables MSI creation
/K	Enables Kafka extension
/J	Enables JNI
/S	Enables SQL
/C	Enables CoAP
/A	Enables AWS
/Z	Enables Azure
/M	Creates installer with merge modules
/64	Creates 64-bit build instead of a 32-bit one
/D	Builds RelWithDebInfo build instead of Release
/DD	Builds Debug build instead of Release
/CI	Sets STRICT_GSL_CHECKS to AUDIT
/2019	Use the Visual Studio 2019 environment instead of the default Visual Studio 2017

Examples:

32-bit build with kafka, disabling tests, enabling MSI creation: win_build_vs.bat build32 /T /K /P
64-bit build with JNI, with debug symbols: win_build_vs.bat build64 /64 /J /D

win_build_vs.bat requires either a Visual Studio 2017 or a Visual Studio 2019 (if called with the /2019 flag) build environment to be set up. With Visual Studio 2017 use the x86 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2017 for 32-bit, or the x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2017 for 64-bit builds. For Visual Studio 2019 use the x86 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019, or the x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019 for 32-bit and 64-bit builds respectively.

Building directly with CMake

The project can also be built manually using CMake. It requires the same environment the build script does (the proper Native Tools Command Prompt).

A basic working CMake configuration can be inferred from the win_build_vs.bat.

win_build_vs.bat /64 /P is equivalent to running the following commands:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -G "Visual Studio 15 2017" -DINSTALLER_MERGE_MODULES=OFF -DENABLE_SQL=OFF -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE_INIT=Release -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DWIN32=WIN32 -DENABLE_LIBRDKAFKA=OFF -DENABLE_JNI=OFF -DOPENSSL_OFF=OFF -DENABLE_COAP=OFF -DUSE_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DDISABLE_CONTROLLER=ON  -DBUILD_ROCKSDB=ON -DFORCE_WINDOWS=ON -DUSE_SYSTEM_UUID=OFF -DDISABLE_LIBARCHIVE=OFF -DDISABLE_SCRIPTING=ON -DEXCLUDE_BOOST=ON -DENABLE_WEL=TRUE -DFAIL_ON_WARNINGS=OFF -DSKIP_TESTS=OFF ..
msbuild /m nifi-minifi-cpp.sln /property:Configuration=Release /property:Platform=Win32
copy main\Release\minifi.exe main\
cpack
ctest -C Release