xref: /dpdk/doc/guides/linux_gsg/build_dpdk.rst (revision 10b71caecbe1cddcbb65c050ca775fba575e88db)
1..  SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
2    Copyright(c) 2010-2015 Intel Corporation.
3
4.. _linux_gsg_compiling_dpdk:
5
6Compiling the DPDK Target from Source
7=====================================
8
9.. note::
10
11    Parts of this process can also be done using the setup script described in
12    the :ref:`linux_setup_script` section of this document.
13
14Uncompress DPDK and Browse Sources
15----------------------------------
16
17First, uncompress the archive and move to the uncompressed DPDK source directory:
18
19.. code-block:: console
20
21    tar xJf dpdk-<version>.tar.xz
22    cd dpdk-<version>
23
24The DPDK is composed of several directories:
25
26*   lib: Source code of DPDK libraries
27
28*   drivers: Source code of DPDK poll-mode drivers
29
30*   app: Source code of DPDK applications (automatic tests)
31
32*   examples: Source code of DPDK application examples
33
34*   config, buildtools: Framework-related scripts and configuration
35
36Compiling and Installing DPDK System-wide
37-----------------------------------------
38
39DPDK can be configured, built and installed on your system using the tools
40``meson`` and ``ninja``.
41
42
43DPDK Configuration
44~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
45
46To configure a DPDK build use:
47
48.. code-block:: console
49
50     meson <options> build
51
52where "build" is the desired output build directory, and "<options>" can be
53empty or one of a number of meson or DPDK-specific build options, described
54later in this section. The configuration process will finish with a summary
55of what DPDK libraries and drivers are to be built and installed, and for
56each item disabled, a reason why that is the case. This information can be
57used, for example, to identify any missing required packages for a driver.
58
59Once configured, to build and then install DPDK system-wide use:
60
61.. code-block:: console
62
63        cd build
64        ninja
65        ninja install
66        ldconfig
67
68The last two commands above generally need to be run as root,
69with the `ninja install` step copying the built objects to their final system-wide locations,
70and the last step causing the dynamic loader `ld.so` to update its cache to take account of the new objects.
71
72.. note::
73
74   On some linux distributions, such as Fedora or Redhat, paths in `/usr/local` are
75   not in the default paths for the loader. Therefore, on these
76   distributions, `/usr/local/lib` and `/usr/local/lib64` should be added
77   to a file in `/etc/ld.so.conf.d/` before running `ldconfig`.
78
79
80Adjusting Build Options
81~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
82
83DPDK has a number of options that can be adjusted as part of the build configuration process.
84These options can be listed by running ``meson configure`` inside a configured build folder.
85Many of these options come from the "meson" tool itself and can be seen documented on the
86`Meson Website <https://mesonbuild.com/Builtin-options.html>`_.
87
88For example, to change the build-type from the default, "debugoptimized",
89to a regular "debug" build, you can either:
90
91* pass ``-Dbuildtype=debug`` or ``--buildtype=debug`` to meson when configuring the build folder initially
92
93* run ``meson configure -Dbuildtype=debug`` inside the build folder after the initial meson run.
94
95Other options are specific to the DPDK project but can be adjusted similarly.
96To set the "max_lcores" value to 256, for example, you can either:
97
98* pass ``-Dmax_lcores=256`` to meson when configuring the build folder initially
99
100* run ``meson configure -Dmax_lcores=256`` inside the build folder after the initial meson run.
101
102Some of the DPDK sample applications in the `examples` directory can be
103automatically built as part of a meson build too.
104To do so, pass a comma-separated list of the examples to build to the
105`-Dexamples` meson option as below::
106
107  meson -Dexamples=l2fwd,l3fwd build
108
109As with other meson options, this can also be set post-initial-config using `meson configure` in the build directory.
110There is also a special value "all" to request that all example applications whose
111dependencies are met on the current system are built.
112When `-Dexamples=all` is set as a meson option, meson will check each example application to see if it can be built,
113and add all which can be built to the list of tasks in the ninja build configuration file.
114
115Building Applications Using Installed DPDK
116~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
117
118When installed system-wide, DPDK provides a pkg-config file ``libdpdk.pc`` for applications to query as part of their build.
119It's recommended that the pkg-config file be used, rather than hard-coding the parameters (cflags/ldflags)
120for DPDK into the application build process.
121
122An example of how to query and use the pkg-config file can be found in the ``Makefile`` of each of the example applications included with DPDK.
123A simplified example snippet is shown below, where the target binary name has been stored in the variable ``$(APP)``
124and the sources for that build are stored in ``$(SRCS-y)``.
125
126.. code-block:: makefile
127
128        PKGCONF = pkg-config
129
130        CFLAGS += -O3 $(shell $(PKGCONF) --cflags libdpdk)
131        LDFLAGS += $(shell $(PKGCONF) --libs libdpdk)
132
133        $(APP): $(SRCS-y) Makefile
134                $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(SRCS-y) -o $@ $(LDFLAGS)
135
136.. note::
137
138   Unlike with the older make build system, the meson system is not
139   designed to be used directly from a build directory. Instead it is
140   recommended that it be installed either system-wide or to a known
141   location in the user's home directory. The install location can be set
142   using the `--prefix` meson option (default: `/usr/local`).
143
144an equivalent build recipe for a simple DPDK application using meson as a
145build system is shown below:
146
147.. code-block:: python
148
149   project('dpdk-app', 'c')
150
151   dpdk = dependency('libdpdk')
152   sources = files('main.c')
153   executable('dpdk-app', sources, dependencies: dpdk)
154