Aestra

Building Aestra

This guide reflects the current public repository layout and CMake options.

Supported Build Shapes

• Full desktop build: UI + app + tests
• Headless build: audio/core/test workflows without UI targets

Primary CMake options from the root CMakeLists.txt:

Option	Description	Default
Aestra_CORE_MODE	Build without premium/private modules and use public assets	ON in public-only checkouts
AESTRA_ENABLE_UI	Build the desktop UI application	ON
AESTRA_HEADLESS_ONLY	Force a headless-only configuration	OFF
AESTRA_ENABLE_TESTS	Build tests under Tests/	ON

Prerequisites

Windows

• Visual Studio 2022 with the C++ workload
• CMake 3.22 or newer
• Git
• PowerShell 7 recommended

Linux

• GCC 9+ or Clang 10+
• CMake 3.22 or newer
• Git
• Build essentials
• OpenGL/X11 development packages if you are building the UI

Windows Build

Full build

git clone https://github.com/currentsuspect/Aestra.git
cd Aestra
pwsh -File scripts/install-hooks.ps1
cmake -S . -B build -DAestra_CORE_MODE=ON -DAESTRA_ENABLE_TESTS=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --config Release --parallel

Headless-only build

cmake -S . -B build-headless -DAestra_CORE_MODE=ON -DAESTRA_HEADLESS_ONLY=ON -DAESTRA_ENABLE_TESTS=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build-headless --config Release --parallel

Running

With multi-config generators such as Visual Studio, binaries are typically under:

• build/bin/Release
• build-headless/bin/Release

Common targets include:

• AestraHeadless
• the main desktop app when UI is enabled
• test executables registered with CTest

Linux Build

Suggested dependencies

Ubuntu/Debian example:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential cmake git libasound2-dev libx11-dev libxrandr-dev libxinerama-dev libgl1-mesa-dev

Full build

git clone https://github.com/currentsuspect/Aestra.git
cd Aestra
cmake -S . -B build -DAestra_CORE_MODE=ON -DAESTRA_ENABLE_TESTS=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --parallel

Headless-only build

cmake -S . -B build-headless -DAestra_CORE_MODE=ON -DAESTRA_HEADLESS_ONLY=ON -DAESTRA_ENABLE_TESTS=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build-headless --parallel

Testing

Run the configured test set with:

ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure

For a headless tree:

ctest --test-dir build-headless --output-on-failure

There is also a helper script in scripts/run-confidence-suite.sh.

Notes on Aestra_CORE_MODE

The public repo includes aestra-core/cmake/AestraCoreMode.cmake, which forces Aestra_CORE_MODE=ON when premium modules are not present. You can still pass it explicitly in commands so CI and contributor instructions stay unambiguous.

Troubleshooting

Configure succeeds, but UI targets are missing

Check whether AESTRA_HEADLESS_ONLY=ON was set, or whether you are intentionally working in a headless build tree.

Linux configure warns about missing SDL2 or RtAudio

The root CMakeLists.txt will fall back to vendored dependencies only if the expected directories are present. Missing warnings usually mean the corresponding system package or vendored dependency tree is absent.

Windows binary path does not match the command in an older doc

Prefer checking build/bin or build/bin/<Config>. Older docs may still mention outdated target names or output folders.

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