LibreMetaverse is a fork of libOpenMetaverse which in turn was a fork of
libSecondLife, a library for developing Second Life-compatible virtual world
clients. LibreMetaverse returns the focus to up-to-date Second Life and OpenSim
compatibility with an eye to performance, multi-threading, and memory management.
On Windows you can use Visual Studio (2022/2023) with .NET workloads installed. On Linux/macOS use the official .NET SDK installers.
Recommended quick build (CLI)
From repository root:
Restore packages:
# Restore packages for the solution
# Example: dotnet restore LibreMetaverse.sln
# Or restore and build directly from the root directory:
dotnet restore
Build the solution (Release):
# Build the entire repo (builds discovered projects)
# Recommended: use 'dotnet build' which runs source generators automatically
dotnet build -c Release
This builds projects for their configured target frameworks (net8.0/net9.0/netstandard2.0, etc.).
If you need to force a single framework for a specific project use -f on the dotnet build command for that project.
Notes:
Some sample programs and tests target Windows-only frameworks (e.g. .NET Framework)
and will produce warnings or errors on non-Windows hosts. You can ignore those when building cross-platform.
If you prefer MSBuild directly, be aware: some projects include custom source generators under the
SourceGenerators folder. When using MSBuild (or dotnet msbuild) you may need to build/run those
generator projects manually before building the consumer projects. Using dotnet build is recommended
because it will execute source generators as part of the normal build flow when configured correctly.
If you still want to run MSBuild directly:
# Build generator projects first (example):
# dotnet build SourceGenerators/PacketSourceGenerator/PacketSourceGenerator.csproj -c Release
# dotnet build SourceGenerators/VisualParamGenerator/VisualParamGenerator.csproj -c Release
# Then run msbuild on the solution (adjust solution filename as needed):
# dotnet msbuild LibreMetaverse.sln -t:Build -p:Configuration=Release
Building specific projects
To build an individual project (example TestClient):
Outputs for each project are under that project's bin/<Configuration>/<TargetFramework>/ directory
(for example LibreMetaverse/bin/Release/net8.0/).
Running examples
Change into the example project's output folder and run with dotnet (or execute the produced
executable on platforms that produce a native runnable file):
cd Programs/examples/TestClient/bin/Release/net8.0/
dotnet TestClient.dll # on platforms that require 'dotnet' to run
# or
./TestClient # if the project produced a runnable executable on your platform
Visual Studio (Windows)
Open the solution file present in the repo root (for example LibreMetaverse.sln) in Visual Studio.
Select the desired solution configuration (Debug/Release) and target framework (if applicable) and build.
Some solution items target .NET Framework for Windows-only tests/tools — you can unload those projects if you don't need them.
Platform-specific notes
Windows
Full .NET Framework projects (e.g. net48 test/tools) require Windows and Visual Studio/MSBuild.
Use Visual Studio or dotnet msbuild from a Developer Command Prompt.
Executables built for Windows can be run directly (./Program.exe) or via dotnet for framework-dependent builds.
Some third-party SDKs (voice/Vivox, native clients) may require platform installers or SDKs — consult the
specific project folders for details.
Linux
Use the official .NET SDK packages for your distribution. dotnet build and dotnet run are the recommended workflow.
Some projects may reference native libraries or Windows-only APIs; those projects will fail or warn during build
and can be ignored if not required.
If you use MSBuild directly, ensure source generators are available (see "MSBuild" notes above).
macOS
Install the official .NET SDK (8.0/9.0). dotnet build / dotnet run are supported similarly to Linux.
GUI or Windows-specific projects will not run; use the example CLI apps and libraries that target cross-platform frameworks.
CI and cross-platform builds
For CI prefer dotnet build and run a matrix across ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, and windows-latest if you
need to validate cross-platform compatibility.
Exclude or conditionally run Windows-only projects on non-Windows runners.
Native dependencies & source generators
Some components (voice, WebRTC, Vivox) may depend on native binaries or SDKs. Check the individual project
README files for native prerequisites and installation steps.
If you choose to use dotnet msbuild directly instead of dotnet build, you may need to build or run
the SourceGenerators projects first so generated sources are available to consumer projects.
Tests
Some tests target Windows-only frameworks; run the cross-platform tests using the CLI where applicable. Example (where supported):
dotnet test LibreMetaverse.Tests/LibreMetaverse.Tests.csproj -c Release
Troubleshooting
Missing Windows-only assemblies: you may see warnings/errors for projects that rely on Windows-specific APIs on Linux/macOS.
These are expected for some example/test projects and can be ignored unless you need those projects.
Out-of-date SDK: Ensure the SDK version reported by dotnet --info matches the frameworks you want to build (8.0/9.0).
If NuGet restore fails, delete the ~/.nuget/packages cache or run dotnet restore with verbosity to inspect failures.
