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Sentinel-C v4.5 - Build & Setup Guide

⚠️ Requirements

Before building Sentinel-C, ensure you have:

  1. CMake (version 3.10 or higher)

  2. C++ Compiler (C++17 support required)

    • Windows: Visual Studio 2015+ OR MinGW
    • Linux: GCC or Clang
    • macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools

  3. Git (optional, for cloning the repository)

🚀 Automated Build Scripts (Recommended)

Sentinel-C provides platform scripts in building-scripts/ with strict error handling. Each script validates tools, runs configure + build, verifies the binary, and copies it to bin-releases/<platform>/releases/bin/.

Windows (PowerShell)

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\building-scripts\build-windows.ps1 -Configuration Release -Clean

Optional parameters:

  • -BuildDir build-windows
  • -Configuration Release|Debug|RelWithDebInfo|MinSizeRel
  • -Generator "Visual Studio 17 2022" (or another installed generator)
  • -Clean

Linux

bash building-scripts/build-linux.sh --build-type Release --clean

Optional parameters:

  • --build-dir build-linux
  • --build-type Release|Debug|RelWithDebInfo|MinSizeRel
  • --generator "<cmake-generator>"
  • --jobs <n>
  • --clean

macOS

bash building-scripts/build-macos.sh --build-type Release --clean

Optional parameters:

  • --build-dir build-macos
  • --build-type Release|Debug|RelWithDebInfo|MinSizeRel
  • --generator "<cmake-generator>"
  • --jobs <n>
  • --clean

Termux (Android)

bash termux-support/build-termux.sh

Optional parameters:

  • --build-dir build-termux
  • --build-type Release|Debug|RelWithDebInfo|MinSizeRel
  • --jobs <n>
  • --clean
  • --yes (auto-approve missing package installs)
  • --no-install (fail if required tools are missing)

🪟 Windows Build Instructions

Option 1: Visual Studio 2022 (Recommended)

  1. Install Visual Studio 2022 with C++ development tools

  2. Clone/extract the repository

  3. Open PowerShell or Command Prompt

  4. Navigate to the project directory:

    cd Sentinel-C-main

  5. Create and enter build directory:

    mkdir build
cd build

  6. Generate Visual Studio project files:

    cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" ..

  7. Build the project:

    cmake --build . --config Release

  8. The executable will be in: build/bin/sentinel-c.exe

Option 2: MinGW Compiler

  1. Install MinGW-w64 from https://www.mingw-w64.org/

  2. Ensure g++ and mingw32-make are in your PATH

  3. Clone/extract the repository

  4. Navigate to project directory and create build folder:

    mkdir build
cd build

  5. Configure with MinGW:

    cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" ..

  6. Build:

    cmake --build .

  7. The executable will be in: build/bin/sentinel-c.exe

🐧 Linux Build Instructions

  1. Install required build tools (Ubuntu/Debian):

    sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake

  2. Install for Fedora/RedHat:

    sudo dnf install gcc-c++ cmake

  3. Clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/voltsparx/Sentinel-C.git
cd Sentinel-C

  4. Create and enter build directory:

    mkdir build
cd build

  5. Generate build files:

    cmake ..

  6. Build the project:

    cmake --build .

  7. The executable will be in: build/bin/sentinel-c

  8. (Optional) Add to PATH:

    sudo cp build/bin/sentinel-c /usr/local/bin/

🍎 macOS Build Instructions

  1. Install Xcode Command Line Tools:

    xcode-select --install

  2. Install CMake (using Homebrew):

    brew install cmake

  3. Clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/voltsparx/Sentinel-C.git
cd Sentinel-C

  4. Create and enter build directory:

    mkdir build
cd build

  5. Generate build files:

    cmake ..

  6. Build the project:

    cmake --build .

  7. The executable will be in: build/bin/sentinel-c

✅ Verify Installation

After building, verify the executable works:

Windows:

./build/bin/sentinel-c.exe --help

Linux/macOS:

./build/bin/sentinel-c --help

Expected output:

Sentinel-C v4.5

--init <path>           Initialize baseline
--scan <path>           Scan and report changes (CLI/HTML/JSON/CSV)
--update <path>         Scan and refresh baseline
--status <path>         CI-friendly integrity status
--verify <path>         Verification workflow (optional reports)
--watch <path>          Continuous interval-based monitoring
--doctor                Environment and storage diagnostics
--guard                 Security-focused hardening checks
--list-baseline         List tracked baseline entries
--show-baseline <path>  Show a specific baseline entry
--export-baseline <f>   Export baseline to file
--import-baseline <f>   Import baseline from file
--purge-reports         Remove old report artifacts
--tail-log              Tail Sentinel-C log output
--report-index          List report artifacts (supports JSON output)
--prompt-mode           Guided interactive console mode
--set-destination       Save destination root for future runs
--show-destination      Show active and saved destination settings
--version               Show version metadata
--about                 Show trust-focused tool overview
--explain               Explain major flags with examples
--help                  Show help

Output destination:

  • Default runtime storage path is alongside the built binary (<binary-dir>/sentinel-c-logs).
  • You can override per command using --output-root <path>.
  • You can persist destination using --set-destination <path>.
  • Logs/reports are written with timestamped meaningful filenames.

🔧 Troubleshooting

Error: "no such file or directory" for nmake/compiler

Cause: No C++ compiler detected on your system

Solution:

  • Windows: Install Visual Studio 2022 or MinGW
  • Linux: Run sudo apt-get install build-essential
  • macOS: Run xcode-select --install

Error: "CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER not set"

Solution: Specify the compiler path explicitly:

cmake -D CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=<path-to-compiler> ..

CMake "could not find any instance of Visual Studio"

Solution: Use MinGW generator instead:

cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" ..

📝 Build Configuration Options

You can customize the build by adding flags to cmake:

# Build in Debug mode (with debug symbols)
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..

# Build in Release mode (optimized)
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..

# Specify custom C++ compiler
cmake -D CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ ..

🧹 Cleaning the Build

To clean and rebuild:

cd build
rm -r * (Linux/macOS)
rmdir /s /q * (Windows)
cmake ..
cmake --build .

📚 Quick Start After Building

# Initialize baseline for a directory
./sentinel-c --init /path/to/directory

# Scan for changes
./sentinel-c --scan /path/to/directory

# Run health diagnostics
./sentinel-c --doctor

# Use CI-friendly status check
./sentinel-c --status /path/to/directory

# View reports in sentinel-c-logs/reports/

💡 Additional Notes

  • The project uses C++17 standard
  • Cross-platform compatible
  • Requires at least 50MB of free disk space for build artifacts
  • Reports are generated in sentinel-c-logs/ directory