Check out and build from Subversion

( This part assumes Windows users are using Cygwin. If you aren't, TortoiseSVN is a good client. )

1. Change into a directory that you want the tree to be kept in.
2. Check out the source tree:
   svn co svn://svn.icculus.org/quake3/trunk quake3
   (You can check out a specific revision with the -r option, like this: svn co svn://svn.icculus.org/quake3/trunk quake3 -r100)
3. Read the readme file. Really. Do it.
4. Compile and install Quake 3:

   • Linux and friends

     1. Install Quake 3 for Linux using the latest point release installer. While the Quake3 engine is Free Software, you still need to copy over legal PK3s like before.
     2. Change into the top level directory (it contains the ui and code directories.)
     3. Run make.
     4. Set $COPYDIR to the directory you installed Quake3 to and make the copyfiles target. Make sure you are changed to the owner of this path (probably root).
        COPYDIR="/opt/quake3" make copyfiles

   • Windows

     Building on Windows is slightly complicated. You can either use Microsoft Visual C++ or MinGW. MinGW works better currently; both methods are described in the readme you already are supposed to have read.

5. If everything has gone well, you should have a binary that works! If not, seek help.

Something isn't working right. Heeeeeeeelp!

You have four choices for help: documentation, the mailing list, the IRC channel, and Bugzilla. There is some great documentation for Linux users at http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/, and also at id's original page (though you should no-longer contact them for support). Windows users and Mac users should just Google their errors to check for preexisting solutions. To subscribe to the mailing list send a blank e-mail to quake3-subscribe@icculus.org. Address e-mails that you want to appear on the list to quake3@icculus.org. To join the IRC channel, connect your client to irc.freenode.net #icculus.org/quake3. To file a bug report with Bugzilla, check out our Bugzilla website.

Pay your dues, contribute!

If you've come up with an improvement or fixed something, we'd love to hear about it! Firstly, try to make sure that the patch breaks less than it fixes. We don't require everyone to be decorated Geniuses, but do attempt to produce a patch that you've tested and at list sort-of understand what you're doing.

The preferred way to get the ball rolling on a patch is to file a Bugzilla bug for your request with the patch attached to it and then send a notice to the mailing list (send mail to quake3-subscribe@icculus.org to subscribe) about it. If you're really so lazy that you can't do this, we would prefer you at least mail it to zakk@icculus.org rather than not do anything at all.

Please make it clear if the patch you're submitting for inclusion isn't yours. Point out where you found it and who authored it. This is so we know who to attribute blame to when it horribly breaks things credit to.

Generating Patches

If you know how to code, but never made a patch before, that's okay. Here's the 10¢ survival guide to generating patches.

• From SVN

  If you checked the source code out with SVN, the client makes it rather easy to generate patches. In fact it's a function of the client itself. Once you've made a change in your checkout that is not upstream, here is how you use it:

  • Create a patch named amazing_new_feature.patch:
  • svn diff > amazing_new_feature.patch
  • Apply a patch amazing_new_feature.patch:
    patch -p0 -i amazing_new_feature.patch

• From a tarball or other release

  If you didn't get the source code via SVN, or for some reason that doesn't work for your situations, here's how to generate them using the tried-and-trusted diff tool between two files:

  • Create a patch named amazing_new_feature.patch between oldfile and newfile:
    diff -u oldfile newfile > amazing_new_feature.patch
  • Create a patch named amazing_new_features.patch between directory olddir and newdir:
    diff -Naur olddir newdir > amazing_new_features.patch
  • Applying a patch is the same as with SVN, see above.

For more information on diff, patch, and svn, read their respective man and info pages. For a more in-depth guide on Subversion take a look at the SVN Book.