Building EmulationStation on Linux

The simplest way to build EmulationStation is through RetroPie.

Assuming you have RetroPie installed:

cd RetroPie-Setup
sudo ./retropie_setup.sh

Manage Packages >> Manage Core Packages >> EmulationStation >> Install From Source

This will install the latest source code of the RetroPie fork of EmulationStation.

If there are experimental branches you want to build and test you can create a custom module in /home/pi/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/supplementary/emulationstation-testing.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# This file is part of The RetroPie Project
#
# The RetroPie Project is the legal property of its developers, whose names are
# too numerous to list here. Please refer to the COPYRIGHT.md file distributed with this source.
#
# See the LICENSE.md file at the top-level directory of this distribution and
# at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/master/LICENSE.md
#

rp_module_id="emulationstation-testing"
rp_module_desc="EmulationStation testing branch"
rp_module_licence="MIT https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RetroPie/EmulationStation/master/LICENSE.md"
rp_module_section="exp"

function depends_emulationstation-testing() {
    depends_emulationstation
}

function sources_emulationstation-testing() {
    sources_emulationstation "https://github.com/GITHUBUSER/EmulationStation" "BRANCHNAME"
}

function build_emulationstation-testing() {
    build_emulationstation
}

function install_emulationstation-testing() {
    install_emulationstation
}

function configure_emulationstation-testing() {
    configure_emulationstation
}

function gui_emulationstation-testing() {
    gui_emulationstation
}

It can then be installed from the setup script:

cd RetroPie-Setup
sudo ./retropie-setup

Manage Packages >> Manage Experimental Packages >> emulationstation-testing >> install from source