xref: /netbsd-src/external/apache2/llvm/dist/libcxx/docs/BuildingLibcxx.rst (revision 4d6fc14bc9b0c5bf3e30be318c143ee82cadd108)
1.. _BuildingLibcxx:
2
3===============
4Building libc++
5===============
6
7.. contents::
8  :local:
9
10.. _build instructions:
11
12Getting Started
13===============
14
15On Mac OS 10.7 (Lion) and later, the easiest way to get this library is to install
16Xcode 4.2 or later.  However if you want to install tip-of-trunk from here
17(getting the bleeding edge), read on.
18
19The following instructions describe how to checkout, build, test and
20(optionally) install libc++ and libc++abi.
21
22If your system already provides a libc++ installation it is important to be
23careful not to replace it. Remember Use the CMake option
24``CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX`` to select a safe place to install libc++.
25
26.. warning::
27  * Replacing your systems libc++ installation could render the system non-functional.
28  * macOS will not boot without a valid copy of ``libc++.1.dylib`` in ``/usr/lib``.
29
30.. code-block:: bash
31
32  $ git clone https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project.git
33  $ cd llvm-project
34  $ mkdir build && cd build
35  $ cmake -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang \
36          -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ \
37          -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS="libcxx;libcxxabi" \
38          ../llvm
39  $ make # Build
40  $ make check-cxx # Test
41  $ make install-cxx install-cxxabi # Install
42
43For more information about configuring libc++ see :ref:`CMake Options`. You may
44also want to read the `LLVM getting started
45<https://llvm.org/docs/GettingStarted.html>`_ documentation.
46
47Shared libraries for libc++ and libc++ abi should now be present in
48``build/lib``.  See :ref:`using an alternate libc++ installation <alternate
49libcxx>` for information on how to use this libc++.
50
51The instructions are for building libc++ on
52FreeBSD, Linux, or Mac using `libc++abi`_ as the C++ ABI library.
53On Linux, it is also possible to use :ref:`libsupc++ <libsupcxx>` or libcxxrt.
54
55It is possible to build libc++ standalone (i.e. without building other LLVM
56projects). A standalone build would look like this:
57
58.. code-block:: bash
59
60  $ git clone https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project.git llvm-project
61  $ cd llvm-project
62  $ mkdir build && cd build
63  $ cmake -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang \
64          -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ \
65          -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libcxxabi \
66          -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_INCLUDE_PATHS=path/to/separate/libcxxabi/include \
67          ../libcxx
68  $ make
69  $ make check-cxx # optional
70
71
72Support for Windows
73-------------------
74
75libcxx supports being built with clang-cl, but not with MSVC's cl.exe, as
76cl doesn't support the ``#include_next`` extension. Furthermore, VS 2017 or
77newer (19.14) is required.
78
79libcxx also supports being built with clang targeting MinGW environments.
80
81CMake + Visual Studio
82~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
83
84Building with Visual Studio currently does not permit running tests. However,
85it is the simplest way to build.
86
87.. code-block:: batch
88
89  > cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019"              ^
90          -T "ClangCL"                            ^
91          -DLIBCXX_ENABLE_SHARED=YES              ^
92          -DLIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC=NO               ^
93          -DLIBCXX_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_LIBRARY=NO ^
94          \path\to\libcxx
95  > cmake --build .
96
97CMake + ninja (MSVC)
98~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
99
100Building with ninja is required for development to enable tests.
101A couple of tests require Bash to be available, and a couple dozens
102of tests require other posix tools (cp, grep and similar - LLVM's tests
103require the same). Without those tools the vast majority of tests
104can still be ran successfully.
105
106If Git for Windows is available, that can be used to provide the bash
107shell by adding the right bin directory to the path, e.g.
108``set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin``.
109
110Alternatively, one can also choose to run the whole build in a MSYS2
111shell. That can be set up e.g. by starting a Visual Studio Tools Command
112Prompt (for getting the environment variables pointing to the headers and
113import libraries), and making sure that clang-cl is available in the
114path. From there, launch an MSYS2 shell via e.g.
115``C:\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd -full-path -mingw64`` (preserving the earlier
116environment, allowing the MSVC headers/libraries and clang-cl to be found).
117
118In either case, then run:
119
120.. code-block:: batch
121
122  > cmake -G Ninja                                                                    ^
123          -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release                                                  ^
124          -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang-cl                                                 ^
125          -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang-cl                                               ^
126          -DLIBCXX_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_LIBRARY=NO                                     ^
127          path/to/libcxx
128  > ninja cxx
129  > ninja check-cxx
130
131If you are running in an MSYS2 shell and you have installed the
132MSYS2-provided clang package (which defaults to a non-MSVC target), you
133should add e.g. ``-DLIBCXX_TARGET_TRIPLE=x86_64-windows-msvc`` (replacing
134``x86_64`` with the architecture you're targeting) to the ``cmake`` command
135line above. This will instruct ``check-cxx`` to use the right target triple
136when invoking ``clang++``.
137
138Also note that if not building in Release mode, a failed assert in the tests
139pops up a blocking dialog box, making it hard to run a larger number of tests.
140
141CMake + ninja (MinGW)
142~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
143
144libcxx can also be built in MinGW environments, e.g. with the MinGW
145compilers in MSYS2. This requires clang to be available (installed with
146e.g. the ``mingw-w64-x86_64-clang`` package), together with CMake and ninja.
147
148.. code-block:: bash
149
150  > cmake -G Ninja                                                                    \
151          -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang                                                    \
152          -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++                                                \
153          -DLIBCXX_HAS_WIN32_THREAD_API=ON                                            \
154          -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libstdc++                                                  \
155          -DLIBCXX_TARGET_INFO="libcxx.test.target_info.MingwLocalTI"                 \
156          path/to/libcxx
157  > ninja cxx
158  > cp /mingw64/bin/{libstdc++-6,libgcc_s_seh-1,libwinpthread-1}.dll lib
159  > ninja check-cxx
160
161As this build configuration ends up depending on a couple other DLLs that
162aren't available in path while running tests, copy them into the same
163directory as the tested libc++ DLL.
164
165(Building a libc++ that depends on libstdc++ isn't necessarily a config one
166would want to deploy, but it simplifies the config for testing purposes.)
167
168.. _`libc++abi`: http://libcxxabi.llvm.org/
169
170
171.. _CMake Options:
172
173CMake Options
174=============
175
176Here are some of the CMake variables that are used often, along with a
177brief explanation and LLVM-specific notes. For full documentation, check the
178CMake docs or execute ``cmake --help-variable VARIABLE_NAME``.
179
180**CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE**:STRING
181  Sets the build type for ``make`` based generators. Possible values are
182  Release, Debug, RelWithDebInfo and MinSizeRel. On systems like Visual Studio
183  the user sets the build type with the IDE settings.
184
185**CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX**:PATH
186  Path where LLVM will be installed if "make install" is invoked or the
187  "INSTALL" target is built.
188
189**CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER**:STRING
190  The C++ compiler to use when building and testing libc++.
191
192
193.. _libcxx-specific options:
194
195libc++ specific options
196-----------------------
197
198.. option:: LIBCXX_INSTALL_LIBRARY:BOOL
199
200  **Default**: ``ON``
201
202  Toggle the installation of the library portion of libc++.
203
204.. option:: LIBCXX_INSTALL_HEADERS:BOOL
205
206  **Default**: ``ON``
207
208  Toggle the installation of the libc++ headers.
209
210.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS:BOOL
211
212  **Default**: ``OFF``
213
214  Build libc++ with assertions enabled.
215
216.. option:: LIBCXX_BUILD_32_BITS:BOOL
217
218  **Default**: ``OFF``
219
220  Build libc++ as a 32 bit library. Also see `LLVM_BUILD_32_BITS`.
221
222.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_SHARED:BOOL
223
224  **Default**: ``ON``
225
226  Build libc++ as a shared library. Either `LIBCXX_ENABLE_SHARED` or
227  `LIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC` has to be enabled.
228
229.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC:BOOL
230
231  **Default**: ``ON``
232
233  Build libc++ as a static library. Either `LIBCXX_ENABLE_SHARED` or
234  `LIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC` has to be enabled.
235
236.. option:: LIBCXX_LIBDIR_SUFFIX:STRING
237
238  Extra suffix to append to the directory where libraries are to be installed.
239  This option overrides `LLVM_LIBDIR_SUFFIX`.
240
241.. option:: LIBCXX_HERMETIC_STATIC_LIBRARY:BOOL
242
243  **Default**: ``OFF``
244
245  Do not export any symbols from the static libc++ library.
246  This is useful when the static libc++ library is being linked into shared
247  libraries that may be used in with other shared libraries that use different
248  C++ library. We want to avoid exporting any libc++ symbols in that case.
249
250.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_FILESYSTEM:BOOL
251
252   **Default**: ``ON`` except on Windows.
253
254   This option can be used to enable or disable the filesystem components on
255   platforms that may not support them. For example on Windows.
256
257.. _libc++experimental options:
258
259libc++experimental Specific Options
260------------------------------------
261
262.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_LIBRARY:BOOL
263
264  **Default**: ``ON``
265
266  Build and test libc++experimental.a.
267
268.. option:: LIBCXX_INSTALL_EXPERIMENTAL_LIBRARY:BOOL
269
270  **Default**: ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_LIBRARY AND LIBCXX_INSTALL_LIBRARY``
271
272  Install libc++experimental.a alongside libc++.
273
274
275.. _ABI Library Specific Options:
276
277ABI Library Specific Options
278----------------------------
279
280.. option:: LIBCXX_CXX_ABI:STRING
281
282  **Values**: ``none``, ``libcxxabi``, ``libcxxrt``, ``libstdc++``, ``libsupc++``.
283
284  Select the ABI library to build libc++ against.
285
286.. option:: LIBCXX_CXX_ABI_INCLUDE_PATHS:PATHS
287
288  Provide additional search paths for the ABI library headers.
289
290.. option:: LIBCXX_CXX_ABI_LIBRARY_PATH:PATH
291
292  Provide the path to the ABI library that libc++ should link against.
293
294.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC_ABI_LIBRARY:BOOL
295
296  **Default**: ``OFF``
297
298  If this option is enabled, libc++ will try and link the selected ABI library
299  statically.
300
301.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_ABI_LINKER_SCRIPT:BOOL
302
303  **Default**: ``ON`` by default on UNIX platforms other than Apple unless
304  'LIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC_ABI_LIBRARY' is ON. Otherwise the default value is ``OFF``.
305
306  This option generate and installs a linker script as ``libc++.so`` which
307  links the correct ABI library.
308
309.. option:: LIBCXXABI_USE_LLVM_UNWINDER:BOOL
310
311  **Default**: ``OFF``
312
313  Build and use the LLVM unwinder. Note: This option can only be used when
314  libc++abi is the C++ ABI library used.
315
316
317libc++ Feature Options
318----------------------
319
320.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_EXCEPTIONS:BOOL
321
322  **Default**: ``ON``
323
324  Build libc++ with exception support.
325
326.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_RTTI:BOOL
327
328  **Default**: ``ON``
329
330  Build libc++ with run time type information.
331
332.. option:: LIBCXX_INCLUDE_TESTS:BOOL
333
334  **Default**: ``ON`` (or value of ``LLVM_INCLUDE_TESTS``)
335
336  Build the libc++ tests.
337
338.. option:: LIBCXX_INCLUDE_BENCHMARKS:BOOL
339
340  **Default**: ``ON``
341
342  Build the libc++ benchmark tests and the Google Benchmark library needed
343  to support them.
344
345.. option:: LIBCXX_BENCHMARK_TEST_ARGS:STRING
346
347  **Default**: ``--benchmark_min_time=0.01``
348
349  A semicolon list of arguments to pass when running the libc++ benchmarks using the
350  ``check-cxx-benchmarks`` rule. By default we run the benchmarks for a very short amount of time,
351  since the primary use of ``check-cxx-benchmarks`` is to get test and sanitizer coverage, not to
352  get accurate measurements.
353
354.. option:: LIBCXX_BENCHMARK_NATIVE_STDLIB:STRING
355
356  **Default**:: ``""``
357
358  **Values**:: ``libc++``, ``libstdc++``
359
360  Build the libc++ benchmark tests and Google Benchmark library against the
361  specified standard library on the platform. On Linux this can be used to
362  compare libc++ to libstdc++ by building the benchmark tests against both
363  standard libraries.
364
365.. option:: LIBCXX_BENCHMARK_NATIVE_GCC_TOOLCHAIN:STRING
366
367  Use the specified GCC toolchain and standard library when building the native
368  stdlib benchmark tests.
369
370.. option:: LIBCXX_HIDE_FROM_ABI_PER_TU_BY_DEFAULT:BOOL
371
372  **Default**: ``OFF``
373
374  Pick the default for whether to constrain ABI-unstable symbols to
375  each individual translation unit. This setting controls whether
376  `_LIBCPP_HIDE_FROM_ABI_PER_TU_BY_DEFAULT` is defined by default --
377  see the documentation of that macro for details.
378
379
380libc++ ABI Feature Options
381--------------------------
382
383The following options allow building libc++ for a different ABI version.
384
385.. option:: LIBCXX_ABI_VERSION:STRING
386
387  **Default**: ``1``
388
389  Defines the target ABI version of libc++.
390
391.. option:: LIBCXX_ABI_UNSTABLE:BOOL
392
393  **Default**: ``OFF``
394
395  Build the "unstable" ABI version of libc++. Includes all ABI changing features
396  on top of the current stable version.
397
398.. option:: LIBCXX_ABI_NAMESPACE:STRING
399
400  **Default**: ``__n`` where ``n`` is the current ABI version.
401
402  This option defines the name of the inline ABI versioning namespace. It can be used for building
403  custom versions of libc++ with unique symbol names in order to prevent conflicts or ODR issues
404  with other libc++ versions.
405
406  .. warning::
407    When providing a custom namespace, it's the users responsibility to ensure the name won't cause
408    conflicts with other names defined by libc++, both now and in the future. In particular, inline
409    namespaces of the form ``__[0-9]+`` are strictly reserved by libc++ and may not be used by users.
410    Doing otherwise could cause conflicts and hinder libc++ ABI evolution.
411
412.. option:: LIBCXX_ABI_DEFINES:STRING
413
414  **Default**: ``""``
415
416  A semicolon-separated list of ABI macros to persist in the site config header.
417  See ``include/__config`` for the list of ABI macros.
418
419
420.. _LLVM-specific variables:
421
422LLVM-specific options
423---------------------
424
425.. option:: LLVM_LIBDIR_SUFFIX:STRING
426
427  Extra suffix to append to the directory where libraries are to be
428  installed. On a 64-bit architecture, one could use ``-DLLVM_LIBDIR_SUFFIX=64``
429  to install libraries to ``/usr/lib64``.
430
431.. option:: LLVM_BUILD_32_BITS:BOOL
432
433  Build 32-bits executables and libraries on 64-bits systems. This option is
434  available only on some 64-bits Unix systems. Defaults to OFF.
435
436.. option:: LLVM_LIT_ARGS:STRING
437
438  Arguments given to lit.  ``make check`` and ``make clang-test`` are affected.
439  By default, ``'-sv --no-progress-bar'`` on Visual C++ and Xcode, ``'-sv'`` on
440  others.
441
442
443Using Alternate ABI libraries
444=============================
445
446
447.. _libsupcxx:
448
449Using libsupc++ on Linux
450------------------------
451
452You will need libstdc++ in order to provide libsupc++.
453
454Figure out where the libsupc++ headers are on your system. On Ubuntu this
455is ``/usr/include/c++/<version>`` and ``/usr/include/c++/<version>/<target-triple>``
456
457You can also figure this out by running
458
459.. code-block:: bash
460
461  $ echo | g++ -Wp,-v -x c++ - -fsyntax-only
462  ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/local/include/x86_64-linux-gnu"
463  ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.7/../../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/include"
464  #include "..." search starts here:
465  #include &lt;...&gt; search starts here:
466  /usr/include/c++/4.7
467  /usr/include/c++/4.7/x86_64-linux-gnu
468  /usr/include/c++/4.7/backward
469  /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.7/include
470  /usr/local/include
471  /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.7/include-fixed
472  /usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu
473  /usr/include
474  End of search list.
475
476Note that the first two entries happen to be what we are looking for. This
477may not be correct on other platforms.
478
479We can now run CMake:
480
481.. code-block:: bash
482
483  $ CC=clang CXX=clang++ cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" \
484    -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libstdc++ \
485    -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_INCLUDE_PATHS="/usr/include/c++/4.7/;/usr/include/c++/4.7/x86_64-linux-gnu/" \
486    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr \
487    <libc++-source-dir>
488
489
490You can also substitute ``-DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libsupc++``
491above, which will cause the library to be linked to libsupc++ instead
492of libstdc++, but this is only recommended if you know that you will
493never need to link against libstdc++ in the same executable as libc++.
494GCC ships libsupc++ separately but only as a static library.  If a
495program also needs to link against libstdc++, it will provide its
496own copy of libsupc++ and this can lead to subtle problems.
497
498.. code-block:: bash
499
500  $ make cxx
501  $ make install
502
503You can now run clang with -stdlib=libc++.
504
505
506.. _libcxxrt_ref:
507
508Using libcxxrt on Linux
509------------------------
510
511You will need to keep the source tree of `libcxxrt`_ available
512on your build machine and your copy of the libcxxrt shared library must
513be placed where your linker will find it.
514
515We can now run CMake like:
516
517.. code-block:: bash
518
519  $ CC=clang CXX=clang++ cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" \
520          -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libcxxrt \
521          -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_INCLUDE_PATHS=path/to/libcxxrt-sources/src \
522                -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
523                -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr \
524                <libc++-source-directory>
525  $ make cxx
526  $ make install
527
528Unfortunately you can't simply run clang with "-stdlib=libc++" at this point, as
529clang is set up to link for libc++ linked to libsupc++.  To get around this
530you'll have to set up your linker yourself (or patch clang).  For example,
531
532.. code-block:: bash
533
534  $ clang++ -stdlib=libc++ helloworld.cpp \
535            -nodefaultlibs -lc++ -lcxxrt -lm -lc -lgcc_s -lgcc
536
537Alternately, you could just add libcxxrt to your libraries list, which in most
538situations will give the same result:
539
540.. code-block:: bash
541
542  $ clang++ -stdlib=libc++ helloworld.cpp -lcxxrt
543
544.. _`libcxxrt`: https://github.com/pathscale/libcxxrt/
545
546
547Using a local ABI library installation
548---------------------------------------
549
550.. warning::
551  This is not recommended in almost all cases.
552
553These instructions should only be used when you can't install your ABI library.
554
555Normally you must link libc++ against a ABI shared library that the
556linker can find.  If you want to build and test libc++ against an ABI
557library not in the linker's path you need to set
558``-DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/to/abi/lib`` when configuring CMake.
559
560An example build using libc++abi would look like:
561
562.. code-block:: bash
563
564  $ CC=clang CXX=clang++ cmake \
565              -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libc++abi  \
566              -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_INCLUDE_PATHS="/path/to/libcxxabi/include" \
567              -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_LIBRARY_PATH="/path/to/libcxxabi-build/lib" \
568               path/to/libcxx
569  $ make
570
571When testing libc++ LIT will automatically link against the proper ABI
572library.
573