Note on installing libxml2 on Windows systems

1. Downloading an adequate binary distribution of libxml2

   As indicated by the Downloads page from the reference site of libxml2, Windows binaries are to be found on:
   
   • http://xmlsoft.org/sources/win32/ for 32 bit architectures
   • http://xmlsoft.org/sources/win32/64bit/ for 64 bit.
   
   For instance, downloading and unpacking the libxml2-2.9.1-win32-x86_64.7z archive yields a folder containing
   
   • bin
   • include
   • lib
   • share
   
   The bin directory contains 4 files:
   
   • libxml2-2.dll
   • xml2-config
   • xmlcatalog.exe
   • xmllint.exe
     
     

2. Installation matters

   • Principle, as stated by Igor Zlatkovic, the author of the Windows ports of libxml2:
     

     If you wish to use libxml solely through the supplied utilities, such as xmllint or xsltproc, then all you need to do is place the contents of the bin directory from the binary package [archive] in a directory on your disc which is mentioned in your PATH environment variable. You can use an existing directory which is already in the path, such as C:\WINDOWS. You can also create a new directory for libxml and place the files there, but be sure to modify the PATH environment variable and add that new directory to its list.

   • A more detailed view, from section 3.3 of the site Installing And Using An XML/SGML DocBook Editing Suite (dated 2002)
     

     It is not necessary to extract the content of these zips [archives] entirely, instead [only] the required functionality will be extracted. Create a suitable directory to contain the stuff that is about to be extracted. For example, on my home machine. If I am running a Windows system I have a directory called c:\tools which contains all the tools I install. Within c:\tools I have a directory called libxml that contains the stuff I want from these zips. Create a suitable directory to extract the desired content from the zips into.

     1. Extract the following files from [the bin subdirectory of] the libxml archive [e.g. libxml2-2.9.1-win32-x86_64.7z] into the directory.
        
        • libxml2.dll
        • xmllint.exe
          
        
        
     2. Extract the following files from [the bin subdirectory of] the libxslt archive [e.g. libxslt-1.1.28-win32-x86_64.7z] into the directory.
        
        • libexslt.dll
        • libxslt.dll
        • xsltproc.exe
          
     
     
     3. Extract the following files from [the bin subdirectory of] the iconv archive [e.g. iconv-1.14-win32-x86_64.7z] into the directory.
        
        • iconv.dll
        • iconv.exe

        
        
     4. Append \directory\you\just\unzipped\everything\to to the PATH environment variable.
        

     
     You might not use all the tools but they are worth having around in case you decide you need them.