1 ========================
2 Building LLVM with CMake
3 ========================
11 `CMake <http://www.cmake.org/>`_ is a cross-platform build-generator tool. CMake
12 does not build the project, it generates the files needed by your build tool
13 (GNU make, Visual Studio, etc.) for building LLVM.
15 If **you are a new contributor**, please start with the :doc:`GettingStarted`
16 page. This page is geared for existing contributors moving from the
17 legacy configure/make system.
19 If you are really anxious about getting a functional LLVM build, go to the
20 `Quick start`_ section. If you are a CMake novice, start with `Basic CMake usage`_
21 and then go back to the `Quick start`_ section once you know what you are doing. The
22 `Options and variables`_ section is a reference for customizing your build. If
23 you already have experience with CMake, this is the recommended starting point.
25 This page is geared towards users of the LLVM CMake build. If you're looking for
26 information about modifying the LLVM CMake build system you may want to see the
27 :doc:`CMakePrimer` page. It has a basic overview of the CMake language.
34 We use here the command-line, non-interactive CMake interface.
36 #. `Download <http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html>`_ and install
37 CMake. Version 3.20.0 is the minimum required.
39 #. Open a shell. Your development tools must be reachable from this shell
40 through the PATH environment variable.
42 #. Create a build directory. Building LLVM in the source
43 directory is not supported. cd to this directory:
45 .. code-block:: console
50 #. Execute this command in the shell replacing `path/to/llvm/source/root` with
51 the path to the root of your LLVM source tree:
53 .. code-block:: console
55 $ cmake path/to/llvm/source/root
57 CMake will detect your development environment, perform a series of tests, and
58 generate the files required for building LLVM. CMake will use default values
59 for all build parameters. See the `Options and variables`_ section for
60 a list of build parameters that you can modify.
62 This can fail if CMake can't detect your toolset, or if it thinks that the
63 environment is not sane enough. In this case, make sure that the toolset that
64 you intend to use is the only one reachable from the shell, and that the shell
65 itself is the correct one for your development environment. CMake will refuse
66 to build MinGW makefiles if you have a POSIX shell reachable through the PATH
67 environment variable, for instance. You can force CMake to use a given build
68 tool; for instructions, see the `Usage`_ section, below. You may
69 also wish to control which targets LLVM enables, or which LLVM
70 components are built; see the `Frequently Used LLVM-related
73 #. After CMake has finished running, proceed to use IDE project files, or start
74 the build from the build directory:
76 .. code-block:: console
80 The ``--build`` option tells ``cmake`` to invoke the underlying build
81 tool (``make``, ``ninja``, ``xcodebuild``, ``msbuild``, etc.)
83 The underlying build tool can be invoked directly, of course, but
84 the ``--build`` option is portable.
86 #. After LLVM has finished building, install it from the build directory:
88 .. code-block:: console
90 $ cmake --build . --target install
92 The ``--target`` option with ``install`` parameter in addition to
93 the ``--build`` option tells ``cmake`` to build the ``install`` target.
95 It is possible to set a different install prefix at installation time
96 by invoking the ``cmake_install.cmake`` script generated in the
99 .. code-block:: console
101 $ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/tmp/llvm -P cmake_install.cmake
103 .. _Basic CMake usage:
109 This section explains basic aspects of CMake
110 which you may need in your day-to-day usage.
112 CMake comes with extensive documentation, in the form of html files, and as
113 online help accessible via the ``cmake`` executable itself. Execute ``cmake
114 --help`` for further help options.
116 CMake allows you to specify a build tool (e.g., GNU make, Visual Studio,
117 or Xcode). If not specified on the command line, CMake tries to guess which
118 build tool to use, based on your environment. Once it has identified your
119 build tool, CMake uses the corresponding *Generator* to create files for your
120 build tool (e.g., Makefiles or Visual Studio or Xcode project files). You can
121 explicitly specify the generator with the command line option ``-G "Name of the
122 generator"``. To see a list of the available generators on your system, execute
124 .. code-block:: console
128 This will list the generator names at the end of the help text.
130 Generators' names are case-sensitive, and may contain spaces. For this reason,
131 you should enter them exactly as they are listed in the ``cmake --help``
132 output, in quotes. For example, to generate project files specifically for
133 Visual Studio 12, you can execute:
135 .. code-block:: console
137 $ cmake -G "Visual Studio 12" path/to/llvm/source/root
139 For a given development platform there can be more than one adequate
140 generator. If you use Visual Studio, "NMake Makefiles" is a generator you can use
141 for building with NMake. By default, CMake chooses the most specific generator
142 supported by your development environment. If you want an alternative generator,
143 you must tell this to CMake with the ``-G`` option.
147 Explain variables and cache. Move explanation here from #options section.
149 .. _Options and variables:
151 Options and variables
152 =====================
154 Variables customize how the build will be generated. Options are boolean
155 variables, with possible values ON/OFF. Options and variables are defined on the
156 CMake command line like this:
158 .. code-block:: console
160 $ cmake -DVARIABLE=value path/to/llvm/source
162 You can set a variable after the initial CMake invocation to change its
163 value. You can also undefine a variable:
165 .. code-block:: console
167 $ cmake -UVARIABLE path/to/llvm/source
169 Variables are stored in the CMake cache. This is a file named ``CMakeCache.txt``
170 stored at the root of your build directory that is generated by ``cmake``.
171 Editing it yourself is not recommended.
173 Variables are listed in the CMake cache and later in this document with
174 the variable name and type separated by a colon. You can also specify the
175 variable and type on the CMake command line:
177 .. code-block:: console
179 $ cmake -DVARIABLE:TYPE=value path/to/llvm/source
181 Frequently-used CMake variables
182 -------------------------------
184 Here are some of the CMake variables that are used often, along with a
185 brief explanation. For full documentation, consult the CMake manual,
186 or execute ``cmake --help-variable VARIABLE_NAME``. See `Frequently
187 Used LLVM-related Variables`_ below for information about commonly
188 used variables that control features of LLVM and enabled subprojects.
190 .. _cmake_build_type:
192 **CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE**:STRING
193 This configures the optimization level for ``make`` or ``ninja`` builds.
197 =========================== ============= ========== ========== ==========================
198 Build Type Optimizations Debug Info Assertions Best suited for
199 =========================== ============= ========== ========== ==========================
200 **Release** For Speed No No Users of LLVM and Clang
201 **Debug** None Yes Yes Developers of LLVM
202 **RelWithDebInfo** For Speed Yes No Users that also need Debug
203 **MinSizeRel** For Size No No When disk space matters
204 =========================== ============= ========== ========== ==========================
206 * Optimizations make LLVM/Clang run faster, but can be an impediment for
207 step-by-step debugging.
208 * Builds with debug information can use a lot of RAM and disk space and is
209 usually slower to run. You can improve RAM usage by using ``lld``, see
210 the :ref:`LLVM_USE_LINKER <llvm_use_linker>` option.
211 * Assertions are internal checks to help you find bugs. They typically slow
212 down LLVM and Clang when enabled, but can be useful during development.
213 You can manually set :ref:`LLVM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS <llvm_enable_assertions>`
214 to override the default from `CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE`.
216 If you are using an IDE such as Visual Studio or Xcode, you should use
217 the IDE settings to set the build type.
219 **CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX**:PATH
220 Path where LLVM will be installed when the "install" target is built.
222 **CMAKE_{C,CXX}_FLAGS**:STRING
223 Extra flags to use when compiling C and C++ source files respectively.
225 **CMAKE_{C,CXX}_COMPILER**:STRING
226 Specify the C and C++ compilers to use. If you have multiple
227 compilers installed, CMake might not default to the one you wish to
230 .. _Frequently Used LLVM-related variables:
232 Frequently Used LLVM-related variables
233 --------------------------------------
235 The default configuration may not match your requirements. Here are
236 LLVM variables that are frequently used to control that. The full
237 description is in `LLVM-related variables`_ below.
239 **LLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS**:STRING
240 Control which projects are enabled. For example you may want to work on clang
241 or lldb by specifying ``-DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS="clang;lldb"``.
243 **LLVM_ENABLE_RUNTIMES**:STRING
244 Control which runtimes are enabled. For example you may want to work on
245 libc++ or libc++abi by specifying ``-DLLVM_ENABLE_RUNTIMES="libcxx;libcxxabi"``.
247 **LLVM_LIBDIR_SUFFIX**:STRING
248 Extra suffix to append to the directory where libraries are to be
249 installed. On a 64-bit architecture, one could use ``-DLLVM_LIBDIR_SUFFIX=64``
250 to install libraries to ``/usr/lib64``.
252 **LLVM_PARALLEL_{COMPILE,LINK}_JOBS**:STRING
253 Building the llvm toolchain can use a lot of resources, particularly
254 linking. These options, when you use the Ninja generator, allow you
255 to restrict the parallelism. For example, to avoid OOMs or going
256 into swap, permit only one link job per 15GB of RAM available on a
257 32GB machine, specify ``-G Ninja -DLLVM_PARALLEL_LINK_JOBS=2``.
259 **LLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD**:STRING
260 Control which targets are enabled. For example you may only need to enable
261 your native target with, for example, ``-DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD=X86``.
265 **LLVM_USE_LINKER**:STRING
266 Override the system's default linker. For instance use ``lld`` with
267 ``-DLLVM_USE_LINKER=lld``.
269 Rarely-used CMake variables
270 ---------------------------
272 Here are some of the CMake variables that are rarely used, along with a brief
273 explanation and LLVM-related notes. For full documentation, consult the CMake
274 manual, or execute ``cmake --help-variable VARIABLE_NAME``.
276 **CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD**:STRING
277 Sets the C++ standard to conform to when building LLVM. Possible values are
278 17 and 20. LLVM Requires C++ 17 or higher. This defaults to 17.
280 **CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR**:PATH
281 The path to install executables, relative to the *CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX*.
284 **CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR**:PATH
285 The path to install header files, relative to the *CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX*.
286 Defaults to "include".
288 **CMAKE_INSTALL_DOCDIR**:PATH
289 The path to install documentation, relative to the *CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX*.
290 Defaults to "share/doc".
292 **CMAKE_INSTALL_MANDIR**:PATH
293 The path to install manpage files, relative to the *CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX*.
294 Defaults to "share/man".
296 .. _LLVM-related variables:
298 LLVM-related variables
299 -----------------------
301 These variables provide fine control over the build of LLVM and
302 enabled sub-projects. Nearly all of these variable names begin with
305 **BUILD_SHARED_LIBS**:BOOL
306 Flag indicating if each LLVM component (e.g. Support) is built as a shared
307 library (ON) or as a static library (OFF). Its default value is OFF. On
308 Windows, shared libraries may be used when building with MinGW, including
309 mingw-w64, but not when building with the Microsoft toolchain.
311 .. note:: BUILD_SHARED_LIBS is only recommended for use by LLVM developers.
312 If you want to build LLVM as a shared library, you should use the
313 ``LLVM_BUILD_LLVM_DYLIB`` option.
315 **LLVM_ABI_BREAKING_CHECKS**:STRING
316 Used to decide if LLVM should be built with ABI breaking checks or
317 not. Allowed values are `WITH_ASSERTS` (default), `FORCE_ON` and
318 `FORCE_OFF`. `WITH_ASSERTS` turns on ABI breaking checks in an
319 assertion enabled build. `FORCE_ON` (`FORCE_OFF`) turns them on
320 (off) irrespective of whether normal (`NDEBUG`-based) assertions are
321 enabled or not. A version of LLVM built with ABI breaking checks
322 is not ABI compatible with a version built without it.
324 **LLVM_UNREACHABLE_OPTIMIZE**:BOOL
325 This flag controls the behavior of `llvm_unreachable()` in release build
326 (when assertions are disabled in general). When ON (default) then
327 `llvm_unreachable()` is considered "undefined behavior" and optimized as
328 such. When OFF it is instead replaced with a guaranteed "trap".
330 **LLVM_APPEND_VC_REV**:BOOL
331 Embed version control revision info (Git revision id).
332 The version info is provided by the ``LLVM_REVISION`` macro in
333 ``llvm/include/llvm/Support/VCSRevision.h``. Developers using git who don't
334 need revision info can disable this option to avoid re-linking most binaries
335 after a branch switch. Defaults to ON.
337 **LLVM_BUILD_32_BITS**:BOOL
338 Build 32-bit executables and libraries on 64-bit systems. This option is
339 available only on some 64-bit Unix systems. Defaults to OFF.
341 **LLVM_BUILD_BENCHMARKS**:BOOL
342 Adds benchmarks to the list of default targets. Defaults to OFF.
344 **LLVM_BUILD_DOCS**:BOOL
345 Adds all *enabled* documentation targets (i.e. Doxgyen and Sphinx targets) as
346 dependencies of the default build targets. This results in all of the (enabled)
347 documentation targets being as part of a normal build. If the ``install``
348 target is run then this also enables all built documentation targets to be
349 installed. Defaults to OFF. To enable a particular documentation target, see
350 see LLVM_ENABLE_SPHINX and LLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN.
352 **LLVM_BUILD_EXAMPLES**:BOOL
353 Build LLVM examples. Defaults to OFF. Targets for building each example are
354 generated in any case. See documentation for *LLVM_BUILD_TOOLS* above for more
357 **LLVM_BUILD_INSTRUMENTED_COVERAGE**:BOOL
358 If enabled, `source-based code coverage
359 <https://clang.llvm.org/docs/SourceBasedCodeCoverage.html>`_ instrumentation
360 is enabled while building llvm. If CMake can locate the code coverage
361 scripts and the llvm-cov and llvm-profdata tools that pair to your compiler,
362 the build will also generate the `generate-coverage-report` target to generate
363 the code coverage report for LLVM, and the `clear-profile-data` utility target
364 to delete captured profile data. See documentation for
365 *LLVM_CODE_COVERAGE_TARGETS* and *LLVM_COVERAGE_SOURCE_DIRS* for more
366 information on configuring code coverage reports.
368 **LLVM_CODE_COVERAGE_TARGETS**:STRING
369 If set to a semicolon separated list of targets, those targets will be used
370 to drive the code coverage reports. If unset, the target list will be
371 constructed using the LLVM build's CMake export list.
373 **LLVM_COVERAGE_SOURCE_DIRS**:STRING
374 If set to a semicolon separated list of directories, the coverage reports
375 will limit code coverage summaries to just the listed directories. If unset,
376 coverage reports will include all sources identified by the tooling.
378 **LLVM_BUILD_LLVM_DYLIB**:BOOL
379 If enabled, the target for building the libLLVM shared library is added.
380 This library contains all of LLVM's components in a single shared library.
381 Defaults to OFF. This cannot be used in conjunction with BUILD_SHARED_LIBS.
382 Tools will only be linked to the libLLVM shared library if LLVM_LINK_LLVM_DYLIB
384 The components in the library can be customised by setting LLVM_DYLIB_COMPONENTS
385 to a list of the desired components.
386 This option is not available on Windows.
388 **LLVM_BUILD_TESTS**:BOOL
389 Include LLVM unit tests in the 'all' build target. Defaults to OFF. Targets
390 for building each unit test are generated in any case. You can build a
391 specific unit test using the targets defined under *unittests*, such as
392 ADTTests, IRTests, SupportTests, etc. (Search for ``add_llvm_unittest`` in
393 the subdirectories of *unittests* for a complete list of unit tests.) It is
394 possible to build all unit tests with the target *UnitTests*.
396 **LLVM_BUILD_TOOLS**:BOOL
397 Build LLVM tools. Defaults to ON. Targets for building each tool are generated
398 in any case. You can build a tool separately by invoking its target. For
399 example, you can build *llvm-as* with a Makefile-based system by executing *make
400 llvm-as* at the root of your build directory.
402 **LLVM_CCACHE_BUILD**:BOOL
403 If enabled and the ``ccache`` program is available, then LLVM will be
404 built using ``ccache`` to speed up rebuilds of LLVM and its components.
405 Defaults to OFF. The size and location of the cache maintained
406 by ``ccache`` can be adjusted via the LLVM_CCACHE_MAXSIZE and LLVM_CCACHE_DIR
407 options, which are passed to the CCACHE_MAXSIZE and CCACHE_DIR environment
408 variables, respectively.
410 **LLVM_CREATE_XCODE_TOOLCHAIN**:BOOL
411 macOS Only: If enabled CMake will generate a target named
412 'install-xcode-toolchain'. This target will create a directory at
413 $CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX/Toolchains containing an xctoolchain directory which can
414 be used to override the default system tools.
416 **LLVM_DEFAULT_TARGET_TRIPLE**:STRING
417 LLVM target to use for code generation when no target is explicitly specified.
418 It defaults to "host", meaning that it shall pick the architecture
419 of the machine where LLVM is being built. If you are building a cross-compiler,
420 set it to the target triple of your desired architecture.
422 **LLVM_DOXYGEN_QCH_FILENAME**:STRING
423 The filename of the Qt Compressed Help file that will be generated when
424 ``-DLLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN=ON`` and
425 ``-DLLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN_QT_HELP=ON`` are given. Defaults to
427 This option is only useful in combination with
428 ``-DLLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN_QT_HELP=ON``;
429 otherwise it has no effect.
431 **LLVM_DOXYGEN_QHELPGENERATOR_PATH**:STRING
432 The path to the ``qhelpgenerator`` executable. Defaults to whatever CMake's
433 ``find_program()`` can find. This option is only useful in combination with
434 ``-DLLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN_QT_HELP=ON``; otherwise it has no
437 **LLVM_DOXYGEN_QHP_CUST_FILTER_NAME**:STRING
438 See `Qt Help Project`_ for
439 more information. Defaults to the CMake variable ``${PACKAGE_STRING}`` which
440 is a combination of the package name and version string. This filter can then
441 be used in Qt Creator to select only documentation from LLVM when browsing
442 through all the help files that you might have loaded. This option is only
443 useful in combination with ``-DLLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN_QT_HELP=ON``;
444 otherwise it has no effect.
446 .. _Qt Help Project: http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-4.8/qthelpproject.html#custom-filters
448 **LLVM_DOXYGEN_QHP_NAMESPACE**:STRING
449 Namespace under which the intermediate Qt Help Project file lives. See `Qt
451 for more information. Defaults to "org.llvm". This option is only useful in
452 combination with ``-DLLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN_QT_HELP=ON``; otherwise
455 **LLVM_DOXYGEN_SVG**:BOOL
456 Uses .svg files instead of .png files for graphs in the Doxygen output.
459 .. _llvm_enable_assertions:
461 **LLVM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS**:BOOL
462 Enables code assertions. Defaults to ON if and only if ``CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE``
465 **LLVM_ENABLE_BINDINGS**:BOOL
466 If disabled, do not try to build the OCaml bindings.
468 **LLVM_ENABLE_DIA_SDK**:BOOL
469 Enable building with MSVC DIA SDK for PDB debugging support. Available
470 only with MSVC. Defaults to ON.
472 **LLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN**:BOOL
473 Enables the generation of browsable HTML documentation using doxygen.
476 **LLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN_QT_HELP**:BOOL
477 Enables the generation of a Qt Compressed Help file. Defaults to OFF.
478 This affects the make target ``doxygen-llvm``. When enabled, apart from
479 the normal HTML output generated by doxygen, this will produce a QCH file
480 named ``org.llvm.qch``. You can then load this file into Qt Creator.
481 This option is only useful in combination with ``-DLLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN=ON``;
482 otherwise this has no effect.
484 **LLVM_ENABLE_EH**:BOOL
485 Build LLVM with exception-handling support. This is necessary if you wish to
486 link against LLVM libraries and make use of C++ exceptions in your own code
487 that need to propagate through LLVM code. Defaults to OFF.
489 **LLVM_ENABLE_EXPENSIVE_CHECKS**:BOOL
490 Enable additional time/memory expensive checking. Defaults to OFF.
492 **LLVM_ENABLE_FFI**:BOOL
493 Indicates whether the LLVM Interpreter will be linked with the Foreign Function
494 Interface library (libffi) in order to enable calling external functions.
495 If the library or its headers are installed in a custom
496 location, you can also set the variables FFI_INCLUDE_DIR and
497 FFI_LIBRARY_DIR to the directories where ffi.h and libffi.so can be found,
498 respectively. Defaults to OFF.
500 **LLVM_ENABLE_IDE**:BOOL
501 Tell the build system that an IDE is being used. This in turn disables the
502 creation of certain convenience build system targets, such as the various
503 ``install-*`` and ``check-*`` targets, since IDEs don't always deal well with
504 a large number of targets. This is usually autodetected, but it can be
505 configured manually to explicitly control the generation of those targets.
507 **LLVM_ENABLE_LIBCXX**:BOOL
508 If the host compiler and linker supports the stdlib flag, -stdlib=libc++ is
509 passed to invocations of both so that the project is built using libc++
510 instead of stdlibc++. Defaults to OFF.
512 **LLVM_ENABLE_LIBPFM**:BOOL
513 Enable building with libpfm to support hardware counter measurements in LLVM
517 **LLVM_ENABLE_LLD**:BOOL
518 This option is equivalent to `-DLLVM_USE_LINKER=lld`, except during a 2-stage
519 build where a dependency is added from the first stage to the second ensuring
520 that lld is built before stage2 begins.
522 **LLVM_ENABLE_LTO**:STRING
523 Add ``-flto`` or ``-flto=`` flags to the compile and link command
524 lines, enabling link-time optimization. Possible values are ``Off``,
525 ``On``, ``Thin`` and ``Full``. Defaults to OFF.
527 **LLVM_ENABLE_MODULES**:BOOL
528 Compile with `Clang Header Modules
529 <https://clang.llvm.org/docs/Modules.html>`_.
531 **LLVM_ENABLE_PEDANTIC**:BOOL
532 Enable pedantic mode. This disables compiler-specific extensions, if
533 possible. Defaults to ON.
535 **LLVM_ENABLE_PIC**:BOOL
536 Add the ``-fPIC`` flag to the compiler command-line, if the compiler supports
537 this flag. Some systems, like Windows, do not need this flag. Defaults to ON.
539 **LLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS**:STRING
540 Semicolon-separated list of projects to build, or *all* for building all
541 (clang, lldb, lld, polly, etc) projects. This flag assumes that projects
542 are checked out side-by-side and not nested, i.e. clang needs to be in
543 parallel of llvm instead of nested in `llvm/tools`. This feature allows
544 to have one build for only LLVM and another for clang+llvm using the same
547 ``clang;clang-tools-extra;cross-project-tests;libc;libclc;lld;lldb;openmp;polly;pstl``
549 **LLVM_ENABLE_RUNTIMES**:STRING
550 Build libc++, libc++abi, libunwind or compiler-rt using the just-built compiler.
551 This is the correct way to build runtimes when putting together a toolchain.
552 It will build the builtins separately from the other runtimes to preserve
553 correct dependency ordering. If you want to build the runtimes using a system
554 compiler, see the `libc++ documentation <https://libcxx.llvm.org/BuildingLibcxx.html>`_.
555 Note: the list should not have duplicates with `LLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS`.
557 ``compiler-rt;libc;libcxx;libcxxabi;libunwind;openmp``
558 To enable all of them, use:
559 ``LLVM_ENABLE_RUNTIMES=all``
562 **LLVM_ENABLE_RTTI**:BOOL
563 Build LLVM with run-time type information. Defaults to OFF.
565 **LLVM_ENABLE_SPHINX**:BOOL
566 If specified, CMake will search for the ``sphinx-build`` executable and will make
567 the ``SPHINX_OUTPUT_HTML`` and ``SPHINX_OUTPUT_MAN`` CMake options available.
570 **LLVM_ENABLE_THREADS**:BOOL
571 Build with threads support, if available. Defaults to ON.
573 **LLVM_ENABLE_UNWIND_TABLES**:BOOL
574 Enable unwind tables in the binary. Disabling unwind tables can reduce the
575 size of the libraries. Defaults to ON.
577 **LLVM_ENABLE_WARNINGS**:BOOL
578 Enable all compiler warnings. Defaults to ON.
580 **LLVM_ENABLE_WERROR**:BOOL
581 Stop and fail the build, if a compiler warning is triggered. Defaults to OFF.
583 **LLVM_ENABLE_Z3_SOLVER**:BOOL
584 If enabled, the Z3 constraint solver is activated for the Clang static analyzer.
585 A recent version of the z3 library needs to be available on the system.
587 **LLVM_ENABLE_ZLIB**:BOOL
588 Enable building with zlib to support compression/uncompression in LLVM tools.
591 **LLVM_EXPERIMENTAL_TARGETS_TO_BUILD**:STRING
592 Semicolon-separated list of experimental targets to build and linked into
593 llvm. This will build the experimental target without needing it to add to the
594 list of all the targets available in the LLVM's main CMakeLists.txt.
596 **LLVM_EXTERNAL_{CLANG,LLD,POLLY}_SOURCE_DIR**:PATH
597 These variables specify the path to the source directory for the external
598 LLVM projects Clang, lld, and Polly, respectively, relative to the top-level
599 source directory. If the in-tree subdirectory for an external project
600 exists (e.g., llvm/tools/clang for Clang), then the corresponding variable
601 will not be used. If the variable for an external project does not point
602 to a valid path, then that project will not be built.
604 **LLVM_EXTERNAL_PROJECTS**:STRING
605 Semicolon-separated list of additional external projects to build as part of
606 llvm. For each project LLVM_EXTERNAL_<NAME>_SOURCE_DIR have to be specified
607 with the path for the source code of the project. Example:
608 ``-DLLVM_EXTERNAL_PROJECTS="Foo;Bar"
609 -DLLVM_EXTERNAL_FOO_SOURCE_DIR=/src/foo
610 -DLLVM_EXTERNAL_BAR_SOURCE_DIR=/src/bar``.
612 **LLVM_EXTERNALIZE_DEBUGINFO**:BOOL
613 Generate dSYM files and strip executables and libraries (Darwin Only).
616 **LLVM_FORCE_USE_OLD_TOOLCHAIN**:BOOL
617 If enabled, the compiler and standard library versions won't be checked. LLVM
618 may not compile at all, or might fail at runtime due to known bugs in these
621 **LLVM_INCLUDE_BENCHMARKS**:BOOL
622 Generate build targets for the LLVM benchmarks. Defaults to ON.
624 **LLVM_INCLUDE_EXAMPLES**:BOOL
625 Generate build targets for the LLVM examples. Defaults to ON. You can use this
626 option to disable the generation of build targets for the LLVM examples.
628 **LLVM_INCLUDE_TESTS**:BOOL
629 Generate build targets for the LLVM unit tests. Defaults to ON. You can use
630 this option to disable the generation of build targets for the LLVM unit
633 **LLVM_INCLUDE_TOOLS**:BOOL
634 Generate build targets for the LLVM tools. Defaults to ON. You can use this
635 option to disable the generation of build targets for the LLVM tools.
637 **LLVM_INSTALL_BINUTILS_SYMLINKS**:BOOL
638 Install symlinks from the binutils tool names to the corresponding LLVM tools.
639 For example, ar will be symlinked to llvm-ar.
641 **LLVM_INSTALL_CCTOOLS_SYMLINKS**:BOOL
642 Install symliks from the cctools tool names to the corresponding LLVM tools.
643 For example, lipo will be symlinked to llvm-lipo.
645 **LLVM_INSTALL_OCAMLDOC_HTML_DIR**:STRING
646 The path to install OCamldoc-generated HTML documentation to. This path can
647 either be absolute or relative to the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX. Defaults to
648 ``${CMAKE_INSTALL_DOCDIR}/llvm/ocaml-html``.
650 **LLVM_INSTALL_SPHINX_HTML_DIR**:STRING
651 The path to install Sphinx-generated HTML documentation to. This path can
652 either be absolute or relative to the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX. Defaults to
653 ``${CMAKE_INSTALL_DOCDIR}/llvm/html``.
655 **LLVM_INSTALL_UTILS**:BOOL
656 If enabled, utility binaries like ``FileCheck`` and ``not`` will be installed
657 to CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX.
659 **LLVM_INTEGRATED_CRT_ALLOC**:PATH
660 On Windows, allows embedding a different C runtime allocator into the LLVM
661 tools and libraries. Using a lock-free allocator such as the ones listed below
662 greatly decreases ThinLTO link time by about an order of magnitude. It also
663 midly improves Clang build times, by about 5-10%. At the moment, rpmalloc,
664 snmalloc and mimalloc are supported. Use the path to `git clone` to select
665 the respective allocator, for example:
667 .. code-block:: console
669 $ D:\git> git clone https://github.com/mjansson/rpmalloc
670 $ D:\llvm-project> cmake ... -DLLVM_INTEGRATED_CRT_ALLOC=D:\git\rpmalloc
672 This flag needs to be used along with the static CRT, ie. if building the
673 Release target, add -DLLVM_USE_CRT_RELEASE=MT.
675 **LLVM_INSTALL_DOXYGEN_HTML_DIR**:STRING
676 The path to install Doxygen-generated HTML documentation to. This path can
677 either be absolute or relative to the *CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX*. Defaults to
678 ``${CMAKE_INSTALL_DOCDIR}/llvm/doxygen-html``.
680 **LLVM_LINK_LLVM_DYLIB**:BOOL
681 If enabled, tools will be linked with the libLLVM shared library. Defaults
682 to OFF. Setting LLVM_LINK_LLVM_DYLIB to ON also sets LLVM_BUILD_LLVM_DYLIB
684 This option is not available on Windows.
686 **LLVM_LIT_ARGS**:STRING
687 Arguments given to lit. ``make check`` and ``make clang-test`` are affected.
688 By default, ``'-sv --no-progress-bar'`` on Visual C++ and Xcode, ``'-sv'`` on
691 **LLVM_LIT_TOOLS_DIR**:PATH
692 The path to GnuWin32 tools for tests. Valid on Windows host. Defaults to
693 the empty string, in which case lit will look for tools needed for tests
694 (e.g. ``grep``, ``sort``, etc.) in your %PATH%. If GnuWin32 is not in your
695 %PATH%, then you can set this variable to the GnuWin32 directory so that
696 lit can find tools needed for tests in that directory.
698 **LLVM_NATIVE_TOOL_DIR**:STRING
699 Full path to a directory containing executables for the build host
700 (containing binaries such as ``llvm-tblgen`` and ``clang-tblgen``). This is
701 intended for cross-compiling: if the user sets this variable and the
702 directory contains executables with the expected names, no separate
703 native versions of those executables will be built.
705 **LLVM_OPTIMIZED_TABLEGEN**:BOOL
706 If enabled and building a debug or asserts build the CMake build system will
707 generate a Release build tree to build a fully optimized tablegen for use
708 during the build. Enabling this option can significantly speed up build times
709 especially when building LLVM in Debug configurations.
711 **LLVM_PARALLEL_COMPILE_JOBS**:STRING
712 Define the maximum number of concurrent compilation jobs.
714 **LLVM_PARALLEL_LINK_JOBS**:STRING
715 Define the maximum number of concurrent link jobs.
717 **LLVM_PROFDATA_FILE**:PATH
718 Path to a profdata file to pass into clang's -fprofile-instr-use flag. This
719 can only be specified if you're building with clang.
721 **LLVM_REVERSE_ITERATION**:BOOL
722 If enabled, all supported unordered llvm containers would be iterated in
723 reverse order. This is useful for uncovering non-determinism caused by
724 iteration of unordered containers.
726 **LLVM_STATIC_LINK_CXX_STDLIB**:BOOL
727 Statically link to the C++ standard library if possible. This uses the flag
728 "-static-libstdc++", but a Clang host compiler will statically link to libc++
729 if used in conjunction with the **LLVM_ENABLE_LIBCXX** flag. Defaults to OFF.
731 **LLVM_TABLEGEN**:STRING
732 Full path to a native TableGen executable (usually named ``llvm-tblgen``). This is
733 intended for cross-compiling: if the user sets this variable, no native
734 TableGen will be created.
736 **LLVM_TARGET_ARCH**:STRING
737 LLVM target to use for native code generation. This is required for JIT
738 generation. It defaults to "host", meaning that it shall pick the architecture
739 of the machine where LLVM is being built. If you are cross-compiling, set it
740 to the target architecture name.
742 **LLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD**:STRING
743 Semicolon-separated list of targets to build, or *all* for building all
744 targets. Case-sensitive. Defaults to *all*. Example:
745 ``-DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD="X86;PowerPC"``.
746 The full list, as of March 2023, is:
747 ``AArch64;AMDGPU;ARM;AVR;BPF;Hexagon;Lanai;LoongArch;Mips;MSP430;NVPTX;PowerPC;RISCV;Sparc;SystemZ;VE;WebAssembly;X86;XCore``
749 **LLVM_TEMPORARILY_ALLOW_OLD_TOOLCHAIN**:BOOL
750 If enabled, the compiler version check will only warn when using a toolchain
751 which is about to be deprecated, instead of emitting an error.
753 **LLVM_UBSAN_FLAGS**:STRING
754 Defines the set of compile flags used to enable UBSan. Only used if
755 ``LLVM_USE_SANITIZER`` contains ``Undefined``. This can be used to override
756 the default set of UBSan flags.
758 **LLVM_USE_CRT_{target}**:STRING
759 On Windows, tells which version of the C runtime library (CRT) should be used.
760 For example, -DLLVM_USE_CRT_RELEASE=MT would statically link the CRT into the
761 LLVM tools and library.
763 **LLVM_USE_INTEL_JITEVENTS**:BOOL
764 Enable building support for Intel JIT Events API. Defaults to OFF.
766 **LLVM_USE_LINKER**:STRING
767 Add ``-fuse-ld={name}`` to the link invocation. The possible value depend on
768 your compiler, for clang the value can be an absolute path to your custom
769 linker, otherwise clang will prefix the name with ``ld.`` and apply its usual
770 search. For example to link LLVM with the Gold linker, cmake can be invoked
771 with ``-DLLVM_USE_LINKER=gold``.
773 **LLVM_USE_OPROFILE**:BOOL
774 Enable building OProfile JIT support. Defaults to OFF.
776 **LLVM_USE_PERF**:BOOL
777 Enable building support for Perf (linux profiling tool) JIT support. Defaults to OFF.
779 **LLVM_USE_RELATIVE_PATHS_IN_FILES**:BOOL
780 Rewrite absolute source paths in sources and debug info to relative ones. The
781 source prefix can be adjusted via the LLVM_SOURCE_PREFIX variable.
783 **LLVM_USE_RELATIVE_PATHS_IN_DEBUG_INFO**:BOOL
784 Rewrite absolute source paths in debug info to relative ones. The source prefix
785 can be adjusted via the LLVM_SOURCE_PREFIX variable.
787 **LLVM_USE_SANITIZER**:STRING
788 Define the sanitizer used to build LLVM binaries and tests. Possible values
789 are ``Address``, ``Memory``, ``MemoryWithOrigins``, ``Undefined``, ``Thread``,
790 ``DataFlow``, and ``Address;Undefined``. Defaults to empty string.
792 **LLVM_USE_SPLIT_DWARF**:BOOL
793 If enabled CMake will pass ``-gsplit-dwarf`` to the compiler. This option
794 reduces link-time memory usage by reducing the amount of debug information that
795 the linker needs to resolve. It is recommended for platforms using the ELF object
796 format, like Linux systems when linker memory usage is too high.
798 **SPHINX_EXECUTABLE**:STRING
799 The path to the ``sphinx-build`` executable detected by CMake.
800 For installation instructions, see
801 https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/installation.html
803 **SPHINX_OUTPUT_HTML**:BOOL
804 If enabled (and ``LLVM_ENABLE_SPHINX`` is enabled) then the targets for
805 building the documentation as html are added (but not built by default unless
806 ``LLVM_BUILD_DOCS`` is enabled). There is a target for each project in the
807 source tree that uses sphinx (e.g. ``docs-llvm-html``, ``docs-clang-html``
808 and ``docs-lld-html``). Defaults to ON.
810 **SPHINX_OUTPUT_MAN**:BOOL
811 If enabled (and ``LLVM_ENABLE_SPHINX`` is enabled) the targets for building
812 the man pages are added (but not built by default unless ``LLVM_BUILD_DOCS``
813 is enabled). Currently the only target added is ``docs-llvm-man``. Defaults
816 **SPHINX_WARNINGS_AS_ERRORS**:BOOL
817 If enabled then sphinx documentation warnings will be treated as
818 errors. Defaults to ON.
823 These are niche, and changing them from their defaults is more likely to cause
824 things to go wrong. They are also unstable across LLVM versions.
826 **LLVM_TOOLS_INSTALL_DIR**:STRING
827 The path to install the main LLVM tools, relative to the *CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX*.
828 Defaults to *CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR*.
830 **LLVM_UTILS_INSTALL_DIR**:STRING
831 The path to install auxiliary LLVM utilities, relative to the *CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX*.
832 Only matters if *LLVM_INSTALL_UTILS* is enabled.
833 Defaults to *LLVM_TOOLS_INSTALL_DIR*.
835 **LLVM_EXAMPLES_INSTALL_DIR**:STRING
836 The path for examples of using LLVM, relative to the *CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX*.
837 Only matters if *LLVM_BUILD_EXAMPLES* is enabled.
838 Defaults to "examples".
843 Recently LLVM and Clang have been adding some more complicated build system
844 features. Utilizing these new features often involves a complicated chain of
845 CMake variables passed on the command line. Clang provides a collection of CMake
846 cache scripts to make these features more approachable.
848 CMake cache files are utilized using CMake's -C flag:
850 .. code-block:: console
852 $ cmake -C <path to cache file> <path to sources>
854 CMake cache scripts are processed in an isolated scope, only cached variables
855 remain set when the main configuration runs. CMake cached variables do not reset
856 variables that are already set unless the FORCE option is specified.
858 A few notes about CMake Caches:
860 - Order of command line arguments is important
862 - -D arguments specified before -C are set before the cache is processed and
863 can be read inside the cache file
864 - -D arguments specified after -C are set after the cache is processed and
865 are unset inside the cache file
867 - All -D arguments will override cache file settings
868 - CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE is evaluated after both the cache file and the command
870 - It is recommended that all -D options should be specified *before* -C
872 For more information about some of the advanced build configurations supported
873 via Cache files see :doc:`AdvancedBuilds`.
878 Testing is performed when the *check-all* target is built. For instance, if you are
879 using Makefiles, execute this command in the root of your build directory:
881 .. code-block:: console
885 On Visual Studio, you may run tests by building the project "check-all".
886 For more information about testing, see the :doc:`TestingGuide`.
891 See `this wiki page <https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/community/wikis/doc/cmake/CrossCompiling>`_ for
892 generic instructions on how to cross-compile with CMake. It goes into detailed
893 explanations and may seem daunting, but it is not. On the wiki page there are
894 several examples including toolchain files. Go directly to the
895 ``Information how to set up various cross compiling toolchains`` section
896 for a quick solution.
898 Also see the `LLVM-related variables`_ section for variables used when
901 Embedding LLVM in your project
902 ==============================
904 From LLVM 3.5 onwards the CMake build system exports LLVM libraries as
905 importable CMake targets. This means that clients of LLVM can now reliably use
906 CMake to develop their own LLVM-based projects against an installed version of
907 LLVM regardless of how it was built.
909 Here is a simple example of a CMakeLists.txt file that imports the LLVM libraries
910 and uses them to build a simple application ``simple-tool``.
912 .. code-block:: cmake
914 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20.0)
915 project(SimpleProject)
917 find_package(LLVM REQUIRED CONFIG)
919 message(STATUS "Found LLVM ${LLVM_PACKAGE_VERSION}")
920 message(STATUS "Using LLVMConfig.cmake in: ${LLVM_DIR}")
922 # Set your project compile flags.
923 # E.g. if using the C++ header files
924 # you will need to enable C++11 support
927 include_directories(${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
928 separate_arguments(LLVM_DEFINITIONS_LIST NATIVE_COMMAND ${LLVM_DEFINITIONS})
929 add_definitions(${LLVM_DEFINITIONS_LIST})
931 # Now build our tools
932 add_executable(simple-tool tool.cpp)
934 # Find the libraries that correspond to the LLVM components
935 # that we wish to use
936 llvm_map_components_to_libnames(llvm_libs support core irreader)
938 # Link against LLVM libraries
939 target_link_libraries(simple-tool ${llvm_libs})
941 The ``find_package(...)`` directive when used in CONFIG mode (as in the above
942 example) will look for the ``LLVMConfig.cmake`` file in various locations (see
943 cmake manual for details). It creates a ``LLVM_DIR`` cache entry to save the
944 directory where ``LLVMConfig.cmake`` is found or allows the user to specify the
945 directory (e.g. by passing ``-DLLVM_DIR=/usr/lib/cmake/llvm`` to
946 the ``cmake`` command or by setting it directly in ``ccmake`` or ``cmake-gui``).
948 This file is available in two different locations.
950 * ``<LLVM_INSTALL_PACKAGE_DIR>/LLVMConfig.cmake`` where
951 ``<LLVM_INSTALL_PACKAGE_DIR>`` is the location where LLVM CMake modules are
952 installed as part of an installed version of LLVM. This is typically
953 ``cmake/llvm/`` within the lib directory. On Linux, this is typically
954 ``/usr/lib/cmake/llvm/LLVMConfig.cmake``.
956 * ``<LLVM_BUILD_ROOT>/lib/cmake/llvm/LLVMConfig.cmake`` where
957 ``<LLVM_BUILD_ROOT>`` is the root of the LLVM build tree. **Note: this is only
958 available when building LLVM with CMake.**
960 If LLVM is installed in your operating system's normal installation prefix (e.g.
961 on Linux this is usually ``/usr/``) ``find_package(LLVM ...)`` will
962 automatically find LLVM if it is installed correctly. If LLVM is not installed
963 or you wish to build directly against the LLVM build tree you can use
964 ``LLVM_DIR`` as previously mentioned.
966 The ``LLVMConfig.cmake`` file sets various useful variables. Notable variables
970 The path to the LLVM CMake directory (i.e. the directory containing
974 A list of preprocessor defines that should be used when building against LLVM.
976 ``LLVM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS``
977 This is set to ON if LLVM was built with assertions, otherwise OFF.
980 This is set to ON if LLVM was built with exception handling (EH) enabled,
984 This is set to ON if LLVM was built with run time type information (RTTI),
987 ``LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS``
988 A list of include paths to directories containing LLVM header files.
990 ``LLVM_PACKAGE_VERSION``
991 The LLVM version. This string can be used with CMake conditionals, e.g., ``if
992 (${LLVM_PACKAGE_VERSION} VERSION_LESS "3.5")``.
994 ``LLVM_TOOLS_BINARY_DIR``
995 The path to the directory containing the LLVM tools (e.g. ``llvm-as``).
997 Notice that in the above example we link ``simple-tool`` against several LLVM
998 libraries. The list of libraries is determined by using the
999 ``llvm_map_components_to_libnames()`` CMake function. For a list of available
1000 components look at the output of running ``llvm-config --components``.
1002 Note that for LLVM < 3.5 ``llvm_map_components_to_libraries()`` was
1003 used instead of ``llvm_map_components_to_libnames()``. This is now deprecated
1004 and will be removed in a future version of LLVM.
1006 .. _cmake-out-of-source-pass:
1008 Developing LLVM passes out of source
1009 ------------------------------------
1011 It is possible to develop LLVM passes out of LLVM's source tree (i.e. against an
1012 installed or built LLVM). An example of a project layout is provided below.
1014 .. code-block:: none
1025 Contents of ``<project dir>/CMakeLists.txt``:
1027 .. code-block:: cmake
1029 find_package(LLVM REQUIRED CONFIG)
1031 separate_arguments(LLVM_DEFINITIONS_LIST NATIVE_COMMAND ${LLVM_DEFINITIONS})
1032 add_definitions(${LLVM_DEFINITIONS_LIST})
1033 include_directories(${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
1035 add_subdirectory(<pass name>)
1037 Contents of ``<project dir>/<pass name>/CMakeLists.txt``:
1039 .. code-block:: cmake
1041 add_library(LLVMPassname MODULE Pass.cpp)
1043 Note if you intend for this pass to be merged into the LLVM source tree at some
1044 point in the future it might make more sense to use LLVM's internal
1045 ``add_llvm_library`` function with the MODULE argument instead by...
1048 Adding the following to ``<project dir>/CMakeLists.txt`` (after
1049 ``find_package(LLVM ...)``)
1051 .. code-block:: cmake
1053 list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${LLVM_CMAKE_DIR}")
1056 And then changing ``<project dir>/<pass name>/CMakeLists.txt`` to
1058 .. code-block:: cmake
1060 add_llvm_library(LLVMPassname MODULE
1064 When you are done developing your pass, you may wish to integrate it
1065 into the LLVM source tree. You can achieve it in two easy steps:
1067 #. Copying ``<pass name>`` folder into ``<LLVM root>/lib/Transform`` directory.
1069 #. Adding ``add_subdirectory(<pass name>)`` line into
1070 ``<LLVM root>/lib/Transform/CMakeLists.txt``.
1072 Compiler/Platform-specific topics
1073 =================================
1075 Notes for specific compilers and/or platforms.
1080 **LLVM_COMPILER_JOBS**:STRING
1081 Specifies the maximum number of parallel compiler jobs to use per project
1082 when building with msbuild or Visual Studio. Only supported for the Visual
1083 Studio 2010 CMake generator. 0 means use all processors. Default is 0.
1086 When compiling with clang-cl, recent CMake versions will default to selecting
1087 `llvm-mt` as the Manifest Tool instead of Microsoft's `mt.exe`. This will
1088 often cause errors like:
1090 .. code-block:: console
1092 -- Check for working C compiler: [...]clang-cl.exe - broken
1094 MT: command [...] failed (exit code 0x1) with the following output:
1095 llvm-mt: error: no libxml2
1096 ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.
1098 To work around this error, set `CMAKE_MT=mt`.