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
72Experimental Support for Windows
73--------------------------------
74
75The Windows support requires building with clang-cl as cl does not support one
76required extension: `#include_next`.  Furthermore, VS 2015 or newer (19.00) is
77required.  In the case of clang-cl, we need to specify the "MS Compatibility
78Version" as it defaults to 2014 (18.00).
79
80CMake + Visual Studio
81~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
82
83Building with Visual Studio currently does not permit running tests. However,
84it is the simplest way to build.
85
86.. code-block:: batch
87
88  > cmake -G "Visual Studio 14 2015"              ^
89          -T "LLVM-vs2014"                        ^
90          -DLIBCXX_ENABLE_SHARED=YES              ^
91          -DLIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC=NO               ^
92          -DLIBCXX_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_LIBRARY=NO ^
93          \path\to\libcxx
94  > cmake --build .
95
96CMake + ninja
97~~~~~~~~~~~~~
98
99Building with ninja is required for development to enable tests.
100Unfortunately, doing so requires additional configuration as we cannot
101just specify a toolset.
102
103.. code-block:: batch
104
105  > cmake -G Ninja                                                                    ^
106          -DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM=/path/to/ninja                                         ^
107          -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Windows                                                 ^
108          -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang-cl                                                 ^
109          -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="-fms-compatibility-version=19.00 --target=i686--windows"   ^
110          -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang-cl                                                ^
111          -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-fms-compatibility-version=19.00 --target=i686--windows" ^
112          -DLLVM_PATH=/path/to/llvm/tree                                              ^
113          -DLIBCXX_ENABLE_SHARED=YES                                                  ^
114          -DLIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC=NO                                                   ^
115          -DLIBCXX_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_LIBRARY=NO                                     ^
116          \path\to\libcxx
117  > /path/to/ninja cxx
118  > /path/to/ninja check-cxx
119
120Note that the paths specified with backward slashes must use the `\\` as the
121directory separator as clang-cl may otherwise parse the path as an argument.
122
123.. _`libc++abi`: http://libcxxabi.llvm.org/
124
125
126.. _CMake Options:
127
128CMake Options
129=============
130
131Here are some of the CMake variables that are used often, along with a
132brief explanation and LLVM-specific notes. For full documentation, check the
133CMake docs or execute ``cmake --help-variable VARIABLE_NAME``.
134
135**CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE**:STRING
136  Sets the build type for ``make`` based generators. Possible values are
137  Release, Debug, RelWithDebInfo and MinSizeRel. On systems like Visual Studio
138  the user sets the build type with the IDE settings.
139
140**CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX**:PATH
141  Path where LLVM will be installed if "make install" is invoked or the
142  "INSTALL" target is built.
143
144**CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER**:STRING
145  The C++ compiler to use when building and testing libc++.
146
147
148.. _libcxx-specific options:
149
150libc++ specific options
151-----------------------
152
153.. option:: LIBCXX_INSTALL_LIBRARY:BOOL
154
155  **Default**: ``ON``
156
157  Toggle the installation of the library portion of libc++.
158
159.. option:: LIBCXX_INSTALL_HEADERS:BOOL
160
161  **Default**: ``ON``
162
163  Toggle the installation of the libc++ headers.
164
165.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS:BOOL
166
167  **Default**: ``OFF``
168
169  Build libc++ with assertions enabled.
170
171.. option:: LIBCXX_BUILD_32_BITS:BOOL
172
173  **Default**: ``OFF``
174
175  Build libc++ as a 32 bit library. Also see `LLVM_BUILD_32_BITS`.
176
177.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_SHARED:BOOL
178
179  **Default**: ``ON``
180
181  Build libc++ as a shared library. Either `LIBCXX_ENABLE_SHARED` or
182  `LIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC` has to be enabled.
183
184.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC:BOOL
185
186  **Default**: ``ON``
187
188  Build libc++ as a static library. Either `LIBCXX_ENABLE_SHARED` or
189  `LIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC` has to be enabled.
190
191.. option:: LIBCXX_LIBDIR_SUFFIX:STRING
192
193  Extra suffix to append to the directory where libraries are to be installed.
194  This option overrides `LLVM_LIBDIR_SUFFIX`.
195
196.. option:: LIBCXX_INSTALL_PREFIX:STRING
197
198  **Default**: ``""``
199
200  Define libc++ destination prefix.
201
202.. option:: LIBCXX_HERMETIC_STATIC_LIBRARY:BOOL
203
204  **Default**: ``OFF``
205
206  Do not export any symbols from the static libc++ library.
207  This is useful when the static libc++ library is being linked into shared
208  libraries that may be used in with other shared libraries that use different
209  C++ library. We want to avoid exporting any libc++ symbols in that case.
210
211.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_FILESYSTEM:BOOL
212
213   **Default**: ``ON`` except on Windows.
214
215   This option can be used to enable or disable the filesystem components on
216   platforms that may not support them. For example on Windows.
217
218.. _libc++experimental options:
219
220libc++experimental Specific Options
221------------------------------------
222
223.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_LIBRARY:BOOL
224
225  **Default**: ``ON``
226
227  Build and test libc++experimental.a.
228
229.. option:: LIBCXX_INSTALL_EXPERIMENTAL_LIBRARY:BOOL
230
231  **Default**: ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_LIBRARY AND LIBCXX_INSTALL_LIBRARY``
232
233  Install libc++experimental.a alongside libc++.
234
235
236.. _ABI Library Specific Options:
237
238ABI Library Specific Options
239----------------------------
240
241.. option:: LIBCXX_CXX_ABI:STRING
242
243  **Values**: ``none``, ``libcxxabi``, ``libcxxrt``, ``libstdc++``, ``libsupc++``.
244
245  Select the ABI library to build libc++ against.
246
247.. option:: LIBCXX_CXX_ABI_INCLUDE_PATHS:PATHS
248
249  Provide additional search paths for the ABI library headers.
250
251.. option:: LIBCXX_CXX_ABI_LIBRARY_PATH:PATH
252
253  Provide the path to the ABI library that libc++ should link against.
254
255.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC_ABI_LIBRARY:BOOL
256
257  **Default**: ``OFF``
258
259  If this option is enabled, libc++ will try and link the selected ABI library
260  statically.
261
262.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_ABI_LINKER_SCRIPT:BOOL
263
264  **Default**: ``ON`` by default on UNIX platforms other than Apple unless
265  'LIBCXX_ENABLE_STATIC_ABI_LIBRARY' is ON. Otherwise the default value is ``OFF``.
266
267  This option generate and installs a linker script as ``libc++.so`` which
268  links the correct ABI library.
269
270.. option:: LIBCXXABI_USE_LLVM_UNWINDER:BOOL
271
272  **Default**: ``OFF``
273
274  Build and use the LLVM unwinder. Note: This option can only be used when
275  libc++abi is the C++ ABI library used.
276
277
278libc++ Feature Options
279----------------------
280
281.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_EXCEPTIONS:BOOL
282
283  **Default**: ``ON``
284
285  Build libc++ with exception support.
286
287.. option:: LIBCXX_ENABLE_RTTI:BOOL
288
289  **Default**: ``ON``
290
291  Build libc++ with run time type information.
292
293.. option:: LIBCXX_INCLUDE_TESTS:BOOL
294
295  **Default**: ``ON`` (or value of ``LLVM_INCLUDE_DIR``)
296
297  Build the libc++ tests.
298
299.. option:: LIBCXX_INCLUDE_BENCHMARKS:BOOL
300
301  **Default**: ``ON``
302
303  Build the libc++ benchmark tests and the Google Benchmark library needed
304  to support them.
305
306.. option:: LIBCXX_BENCHMARK_TEST_ARGS:STRING
307
308  **Default**: ``--benchmark_min_time=0.01``
309
310  A semicolon list of arguments to pass when running the libc++ benchmarks using the
311  ``check-cxx-benchmarks`` rule. By default we run the benchmarks for a very short amount of time,
312  since the primary use of ``check-cxx-benchmarks`` is to get test and sanitizer coverage, not to
313  get accurate measurements.
314
315.. option:: LIBCXX_BENCHMARK_NATIVE_STDLIB:STRING
316
317  **Default**:: ``""``
318
319  **Values**:: ``libc++``, ``libstdc++``
320
321  Build the libc++ benchmark tests and Google Benchmark library against the
322  specified standard library on the platform. On Linux this can be used to
323  compare libc++ to libstdc++ by building the benchmark tests against both
324  standard libraries.
325
326.. option:: LIBCXX_BENCHMARK_NATIVE_GCC_TOOLCHAIN:STRING
327
328  Use the specified GCC toolchain and standard library when building the native
329  stdlib benchmark tests.
330
331.. option:: LIBCXX_HIDE_FROM_ABI_PER_TU_BY_DEFAULT:BOOL
332
333  **Default**: ``OFF``
334
335  Pick the default for whether to constrain ABI-unstable symbols to
336  each individual translation unit. This setting controls whether
337  `_LIBCPP_HIDE_FROM_ABI_PER_TU_BY_DEFAULT` is defined by default --
338  see the documentation of that macro for details.
339
340
341libc++ ABI Feature Options
342--------------------------
343
344The following options allow building libc++ for a different ABI version.
345
346.. option:: LIBCXX_ABI_VERSION:STRING
347
348  **Default**: ``1``
349
350  Defines the target ABI version of libc++.
351
352.. option:: LIBCXX_ABI_UNSTABLE:BOOL
353
354  **Default**: ``OFF``
355
356  Build the "unstable" ABI version of libc++. Includes all ABI changing features
357  on top of the current stable version.
358
359.. option:: LIBCXX_ABI_NAMESPACE:STRING
360
361  **Default**: ``__n`` where ``n`` is the current ABI version.
362
363  This option defines the name of the inline ABI versioning namespace. It can be used for building
364  custom versions of libc++ with unique symbol names in order to prevent conflicts or ODR issues
365  with other libc++ versions.
366
367  .. warning::
368    When providing a custom namespace, it's the users responsibility to ensure the name won't cause
369    conflicts with other names defined by libc++, both now and in the future. In particular, inline
370    namespaces of the form ``__[0-9]+`` are strictly reserved by libc++ and may not be used by users.
371    Doing otherwise could cause conflicts and hinder libc++ ABI evolution.
372
373.. option:: LIBCXX_ABI_DEFINES:STRING
374
375  **Default**: ``""``
376
377  A semicolon-separated list of ABI macros to persist in the site config header.
378  See ``include/__config`` for the list of ABI macros.
379
380
381.. _LLVM-specific variables:
382
383LLVM-specific options
384---------------------
385
386.. option:: LLVM_LIBDIR_SUFFIX:STRING
387
388  Extra suffix to append to the directory where libraries are to be
389  installed. On a 64-bit architecture, one could use ``-DLLVM_LIBDIR_SUFFIX=64``
390  to install libraries to ``/usr/lib64``.
391
392.. option:: LLVM_BUILD_32_BITS:BOOL
393
394  Build 32-bits executables and libraries on 64-bits systems. This option is
395  available only on some 64-bits Unix systems. Defaults to OFF.
396
397.. option:: LLVM_LIT_ARGS:STRING
398
399  Arguments given to lit.  ``make check`` and ``make clang-test`` are affected.
400  By default, ``'-sv --no-progress-bar'`` on Visual C++ and Xcode, ``'-sv'`` on
401  others.
402
403
404Using Alternate ABI libraries
405=============================
406
407
408.. _libsupcxx:
409
410Using libsupc++ on Linux
411------------------------
412
413You will need libstdc++ in order to provide libsupc++.
414
415Figure out where the libsupc++ headers are on your system. On Ubuntu this
416is ``/usr/include/c++/<version>`` and ``/usr/include/c++/<version>/<target-triple>``
417
418You can also figure this out by running
419
420.. code-block:: bash
421
422  $ echo | g++ -Wp,-v -x c++ - -fsyntax-only
423  ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/local/include/x86_64-linux-gnu"
424  ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.7/../../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/include"
425  #include "..." search starts here:
426  #include &lt;...&gt; search starts here:
427  /usr/include/c++/4.7
428  /usr/include/c++/4.7/x86_64-linux-gnu
429  /usr/include/c++/4.7/backward
430  /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.7/include
431  /usr/local/include
432  /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.7/include-fixed
433  /usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu
434  /usr/include
435  End of search list.
436
437Note that the first two entries happen to be what we are looking for. This
438may not be correct on other platforms.
439
440We can now run CMake:
441
442.. code-block:: bash
443
444  $ CC=clang CXX=clang++ cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" \
445    -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libstdc++ \
446    -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_INCLUDE_PATHS="/usr/include/c++/4.7/;/usr/include/c++/4.7/x86_64-linux-gnu/" \
447    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr \
448    <libc++-source-dir>
449
450
451You can also substitute ``-DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libsupc++``
452above, which will cause the library to be linked to libsupc++ instead
453of libstdc++, but this is only recommended if you know that you will
454never need to link against libstdc++ in the same executable as libc++.
455GCC ships libsupc++ separately but only as a static library.  If a
456program also needs to link against libstdc++, it will provide its
457own copy of libsupc++ and this can lead to subtle problems.
458
459.. code-block:: bash
460
461  $ make cxx
462  $ make install
463
464You can now run clang with -stdlib=libc++.
465
466
467.. _libcxxrt_ref:
468
469Using libcxxrt on Linux
470------------------------
471
472You will need to keep the source tree of `libcxxrt`_ available
473on your build machine and your copy of the libcxxrt shared library must
474be placed where your linker will find it.
475
476We can now run CMake like:
477
478.. code-block:: bash
479
480  $ CC=clang CXX=clang++ cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" \
481          -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libcxxrt \
482          -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_INCLUDE_PATHS=path/to/libcxxrt-sources/src \
483                -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
484                -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr \
485                <libc++-source-directory>
486  $ make cxx
487  $ make install
488
489Unfortunately you can't simply run clang with "-stdlib=libc++" at this point, as
490clang is set up to link for libc++ linked to libsupc++.  To get around this
491you'll have to set up your linker yourself (or patch clang).  For example,
492
493.. code-block:: bash
494
495  $ clang++ -stdlib=libc++ helloworld.cpp \
496            -nodefaultlibs -lc++ -lcxxrt -lm -lc -lgcc_s -lgcc
497
498Alternately, you could just add libcxxrt to your libraries list, which in most
499situations will give the same result:
500
501.. code-block:: bash
502
503  $ clang++ -stdlib=libc++ helloworld.cpp -lcxxrt
504
505.. _`libcxxrt`: https://github.com/pathscale/libcxxrt/
506
507
508Using a local ABI library installation
509---------------------------------------
510
511.. warning::
512  This is not recommended in almost all cases.
513
514These instructions should only be used when you can't install your ABI library.
515
516Normally you must link libc++ against a ABI shared library that the
517linker can find.  If you want to build and test libc++ against an ABI
518library not in the linker's path you need to set
519``-DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/to/abi/lib`` when configuring CMake.
520
521An example build using libc++abi would look like:
522
523.. code-block:: bash
524
525  $ CC=clang CXX=clang++ cmake \
526              -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libc++abi  \
527              -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_INCLUDE_PATHS="/path/to/libcxxabi/include" \
528              -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI_LIBRARY_PATH="/path/to/libcxxabi-build/lib" \
529               path/to/libcxx
530  $ make
531
532When testing libc++ LIT will automatically link against the proper ABI
533library.
534