From: Jason Ish <jason.ish@oisf.net>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2025 18:26:39 +0000 (-0600)
Subject: doc/install: windows build documentation
X-Git-Tag: suricata-8.0.0~58
X-Git-Url: http://git.ipfire.org/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=4a0f2785023789d02169fd2e40bf53b06f0a115f;p=thirdparty%2Fsuricata.git

doc/install: windows build documentation

Ticket: #5911
---

diff --git a/doc/userguide/Makefile.am b/doc/userguide/Makefile.am
index dc0e5593e3..dea2298959 100644
--- a/doc/userguide/Makefile.am
+++ b/doc/userguide/Makefile.am
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
 	upgrade.rst \
 	initscripts.rst \
 	install.rst \
+	install \
 	licenses \
 	lua \
 	make-sense-alerts.rst \
diff --git a/doc/userguide/install.rst b/doc/userguide/install.rst
index 2487093e67..f6208cd988 100644
--- a/doc/userguide/install.rst
+++ b/doc/userguide/install.rst
@@ -104,6 +104,11 @@ one of the following ways::
     :start-after: # install-guide-documentation tag start: Minimal RPM-based dependencies
     :end-before: # install-guide-documentation tag end: Minimal RPM-based dependencies
 
+Windows
+"""""""
+
+For building and installing from source on Windows, see :doc:`install/windows`.
+
 Compilation
 """""""""""
 
diff --git a/doc/userguide/install/windows.rst b/doc/userguide/install/windows.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6a4f779854
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/userguide/install/windows.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+:orphan: Linked from install page, just not a TOC.
+
+Building on Windows
+###################
+
+The following are instructions for building Suricata on Windows in an
+MSYS2 environment. This is targeted to users who plan to develop
+Suricata, or create Suricata packages for Windows. For end users we
+recommend the Windows installer available on the Suricata download
+page: https://suricata.io/download/
+
+Dependencies
+************
+
+Before building on Windows, the following dependencies must be
+installed:
+
+* MSYS2: MSYS2 provides the Windows build environment required by
+  Suricata. Install from https://www.msys2.org/.
+
+* Npcap for Windows: This is required for live capture on Windows. If
+  only PCAP processing is desired, this dependency can be skipped. The
+  "Npcap Installer" package as well as the "Npcap SDK" need to be
+  installed. Download from https://npcap.com/.
+
+MSYS2
+=====
+
+First, MSYS2 must be installed. This can be done with the MSYS2
+installer from https://www.msys2.org/.
+
+Once installed, the following directions assume the default ``UCRT64``
+environment will be used.
+
+MSYS2 Dependencies
+------------------
+
+Prepare your MSYS2 development environment by installing the following
+dependencies::
+
+  pacman -S \
+    autoconf \
+    automake \
+    git \
+    make \
+    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cbindgen \
+    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-jansson \
+    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libpcap \
+    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libtool \
+    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libyaml \
+    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-pcre2 \
+    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-rust \
+    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-toolchain \
+    unzip
+
+.. note:: If asked to enter a selection, particularly for the
+          toolchain dependency, select the default of ``all``.
+
+Npcap
+=====
+
+Npcap is required for live capture on Windows. The driver and the SDK
+must be installed to build Suricata on Windows with live capture
+support.
+
+Both the driver installers and the SDK can be downloaded from
+https://npcap.com/.
+
+Npcap Driver
+------------
+
+The driver is a native Windows application installer. Install it using
+the downloaded installer.
+
+Npcap SDK
+---------
+
+The SDK can be installed from Windows, or from inside the MSYS2
+environment. The following documentation assumes the SDK was installed
+inside the MSYS2 environment like so::
+
+  curl -OL https://npcap.com/dist/npcap-sdk-1.15.zip
+  unzip npcap-sdk-1.15.zip -d /npcap
+
+Building
+********
+
+::
+
+   ./autogen.sh
+   ./configure --prefix=/usr/local \
+       --with-libpcap-includes=/c/npcap/Include \
+       --with-libpcap-libraries=/c/npcap/Lib/x64
+
+.. note:: If intentionally building without ``Npcap`` support you can
+          leave off the ``--with-libpcap`` configure options, and the
+          MSYS2 libpcap will be used without live capture support.
+
+Installation
+************
+
+To install in the MSYS2 environment, run::
+
+  make install
+
+.. attention:: At this time, ``make install-conf`` and ``make
+               install-full`` do not work properly. See ticket
+               https://redmine.openinfosecfoundation.org/issues/7763
+               for details. You will manually need to copy
+               configuration files, and/or update command line and
+               configuration file options to find relevant
+               configuration files to run inside the MSYS2
+               environment.