In order to make xmake better support cross-compilation, this version I refactored the entire tool chain, making the tool chain switching more convenient and fast, and now users can easily extend their tool chain in xmake.lua.
With regard to platform support, we have added support for *BSD systems. In addition, this version also adds a ninja theme style to achieve ninja-like compilation progress display, for example:
Introduction of New Features
Toolchain improvements
Toolchain and platform are completely separated
In previous versions, the platform and tool chain were too tightly bound. For example, the xmake f -p windows platform can only use msvc compilation by default. If you want to switch to clang or other compilers, you can only cross the compilation platform: xmake f -p cross.
But in this case, some settings specific to the windows platform are lost, and users cannot use if is_plat("windows") then to judge the windows platform to make specific settings.
In fact, the platform and the tool chain can be opened independently. After the new version has been refactored, even the windows platform and any other platforms can easily and quickly switch to other tool chains such as clang, llvm and so on.
$ xmake f -p windows --toolchain=clang
Built-in toolchain
Although xmake’s cross-compilation configuration supports all toolchains, and also provides a certain degree of intelligent analysis and toolchain detection, the general solution needs to add various additional configurations for specific toolchain support, such as passing some --ldflags= , --cxflags= parameter or something.
The new version of xmake has some common tool chains built in, which can save the complicated configuration process of cross-compiling tool chains, and only need to pass the tool chain name to --toolchain=xxx.
Switch to the llvm tool chain:
$ xmake f -p cross --toolchain=llvm --sdk="C:\Program Files\LLVM"
$ xmake
切换到GNU-RM工具链：
$ xmake f -p cross --toolchain=gnu-rm --sdk=/xxx/cc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major
$ xmake
You can quickly switch the designated cross-compilation toolchain. For the built-in toolchain, you can save most of the configuration. Usually only need to be --toolchain= and --sdk=, other configurations will be automatically set Ok, make sure it compiles normally.
What other built-in tool chains does xmake support? We can view through the following command:
$ xmake show -l toolchains
xcode Xcode IDE
vs VisualStudio IDE
yasm The Yasm Modular Assembler
clang A C language family frontend for LLVM
go Go Programming Language Compiler
dlang D Programming Language Compiler
sdcc Small Device C Compiler
cuda CUDA Toolkit
ndk Android NDK
rust Rust Programming Language Compiler
llvm A collection of modular and reusable compiler and toolchain technologies
cross Common cross compilation toolchain
nasm NASM Assembler
gcc GNU Compiler Collection
mingw Minimalist GNU for Windows
gnu-rm GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain
envs Environment variables toolchain
fasm Flat Assembler
Synchronous switching of toolchain
The new version of xmake also supports full synchronous switching of the toolchain. What does this mean?
For example, if we want to switch from the default gcc to clang compilation, we may need to cut some toolset, xmake f --cc=clang --cxx=clang --ld=clang++ --sh=clang++, because the compiler cut , Corresponding linker, static library archiver must cut everything at the same time.
It’s really painful to cut one side by one, and the author himself can’t stand it, so when refactoring the tool chain, this piece has also been focused on improvement. Now only need:
$ xmake f --toolchain=clang
$ xmake
You can completely cut through all the clang tool set as a whole, so how to switch back to gcc, it is also very convenient:
or
$ xmake f --toolchain=gcc
$ xmake
Custom toolchain
In addition, we can also customize the toolchain in xmake.lua, and then specify the switch through xmake f --toolchain=myclang, for example:
toolchain("myclang")
set_kind("standalone")
set_toolset("cc", "clang")
set_toolset("cxx", "clang", "clang++")
set_toolset("ld", "clang++", "clang")
set_toolset("sh", "clang++", "clang")
set_toolset("ar", "ar")
set_toolset("ex", "ar")
set_toolset("strip", "strip")
set_toolset("mm", "clang")
set_toolset("mxx", "clang", "clang++")
set_toolset("as", "clang")
-- ...
Among them set_toolset is used to set different tool sets one by one, such as compiler, linker, assembler, etc.
By default, xmake will detect tools from the sdk parameters of xmake f --sdk=xx. Of course, we can also call set_sdk("/xxx/llvm") for each custom tool chain in xmake.lua Write the toolchain SDK address.
For more details about this piece, you can go to the [Custom Tool Chain] (https://xmake.io/zh-cn/manual/custom_toolchain) chapter to view
For more details, please see: #780
Set up a toolchain for a specific target
In addition to custom toolchains, we can also switch different toolchains individually for a specific target. Unlike set_toolset, this interface is an overall switchover of the complete toolchain, such as cc/ld/sh and a series of tools. set.
This is also a recommended practice, because most compiler tool chains like gcc/clang, the compiler and the linker are used together. To cut it, you have to cut it as a whole. Separate and scattered switch settings will be cumbersome.
For example, we switch the test target to two tool chains of clang+yasm:
target("test")
set_kind("binary")
add_files("src/*.c")
set_toolchains("clang", "yasm")
Or you can set specific tools in each target’s tool chain through set_toolset.
target("test")
set_kind("binary")
set_toolset("cxx", "clang")
set_toolset("ld", "clang++")
ninja build theme
The construction progress style is similar to ninja, using a single-line progress bar, no longer rolling back the progress, users can set according to their own preferences.
The configuration of the default theme is the same except that the progress is displayed differently.
$ xmake g --theme=ninja
Set Build Behavior Strategy
Xmake has many default behaviors, such as: automatic detection and mapping of flags, cross-target parallel construction, etc. Although it provides a certain amount of intelligent processing, it is difficult to adjust and may not meet all users’ habits and needs.
Therefore, starting with v2.3.4, xmake provides modified settings for the default build strategy, which is open to users to a certain degree of configurability.
The usage is as follows:
set_policy("check.auto_ignore_flags", false)
You only need to set this configuration in the project root domain to disable the automatic detection and ignore mechanism of flags. In addition, set_policy can also take effect locally for a specific target.
target("test")
set_policy("check.auto_ignore_flags", false)
!> In addition, if the set policy name is invalid, xmake will also have a warning prompt.
If you want to get a list and description of all the policy configurations supported by the current xmake, you can execute the following command:
$ xmake l core.project.policy.policies
{
"check.auto_map_flags" = {
type = "boolean",
description = "Enable map gcc flags to the current compiler and linker automatically.",
default = true
},
"build.across_targets_in_parallel" = {
type = "boolean",
description = "Enable compile the source files for each target in parallel.",
default = true
},
"check.auto_ignore_flags" = {
type = "boolean",
description = "Enable check and ignore unsupported flags automatically.",
default = true
}
}
check.auto_ignore_flags
By default, xmake will automatically detect all the original flags set by the add_cxflags and add_ldflags interfaces. If the current compiler and linker do not support them, they will be automatically ignored.
This is usually very useful. Like some optional compilation flags, it can be compiled normally even if it is not supported, but it is forced to be set up. When compiling, other users may have a certain degree of support due to the different strength of the compiler. The compilation failed.
However, because automatic detection does not guarantee 100% reliability, sometimes there will be a certain degree of misjudgment, so some users do not like this setting (especially for cross-compilation tool chains, which are more likely to fail).
At present, if the detection fails in v2.3.4, there will be a warning prompt to prevent users from lying inexplicably, for example:
warning: add_ldflags("-static") is ignored, please pass `{force = true}` or call `set_policy("check.auto_ignore_flags", false)` if you want to set it.
According to the prompt, we can analyze and judge ourselves whether it is necessary to set this flags. One way is to pass:
add_ldflags("-static", {force = true})
To display the mandatory settings, skip automatic detection, which is an effective and fast way to deal with occasional flags failure, but for cross-compilation, if a bunch of flags settings cannot be detected, each set force Too tedious.
At this time, we can use set_policy to directly disable the default automatic detection behavior for a target or the entire project:
set_policy("check.auto_ignore_flags", false)
target("test")
add_ldflags("-static")
Then we can set various original flags at will, xmake will not automatically detect and ignore them.
check.auto_map_flags
This is another intelligent analysis processing of flags by xmake. Usually, the configuration of xmake built-in api like add_links, add_defines has cross-platform characteristics, and different compiler platforms will automatically process them into corresponding ones. Original flags.
However, in some cases, users still need to set the original compilation link flags by add_cxflags, add_ldflags, these flags are not good cross compiler
Take -O0 compiler optimization flags. Although set_optimize is used to implement cross-compiler configuration, what if the user directly sets add_cxflags("-O0")? It can be processed normally under gcc/clang, but it is not supported under msvc
Maybe we can use if is_plat() then to process by platform, but it is very cumbersome, so xmake has built-in automatic mapping function of flags.
Based on the popularity of gcc flags, xmake uses gcc’s flags naming convention to automatically map it according to different compilations, for example:
add_cxflags("-O0")
This line setting is still -O0 under gcc/clang, but if it is currently msvc compiler, it will be automatically mapped to msvc corresponding to -Od compilation option to disable optimization.
Throughout the process, users are completely unaware, and can execute xmake directly to compile across compilers.
!> Of course, the current implementation of automatic mapping is not very mature. There is no 100% coverage of all gcc flags, so there are still many flags that are not mapped.
Some users do not like this automatic mapping behavior, so we can completely disable this default behavior through the following settings:
set_policy("check.auto_map_flags", false)
build.across_targets_in_parallel
This strategy is also enabled by default and is mainly used to perform parallel builds between targets. In versions prior to v2.3.3, parallel builds can only target all source files within a single target. For cross-target compilation, you must wait until the previous target is fully linked before you can execute the compilation of the next target, which will affect the compilation speed to a certain extent.
However, the source files of each target can be completely parallelized, and finally the link process is executed together. Versions after v2.3.3 through this optimization, the construction speed is increased by 30%.
Of course, if the build source files in some special targets depend on previous targets (especially in the case of some custom rules, although rarely encountered), we can also disable this optimization behavior through the following settings:
set_policy("build.across_targets_in_parallel", false)
Add compilation mode
mode.releasedbg
Add releasedbg compilation mode configuration rules for the current project xmake.lua, for example:
add_rules("mode.releasedbg")
!> Compared with the release mode, this mode will also enable additional debugging symbols, which is usually very useful.
Equivalent to:
if is_mode("releasedbg") then
set_symbols("debug")
set_optimize("fastest")
set_strip("all")
end
We can switch to this compilation mode by: xmake f -m releasedbg.
mode.minsizerel
Add minsizerel configuration mode configuration rules for the current project xmake.lua, for example:
add_rules("mode.minsizerel")
!> Compared with the release mode, this mode is more inclined to the minimum code compilation optimization, rather than speed priority.
Equivalent to:
if is_mode("minsizerel") then
set_symbols("hidden")
set_optimize("smallest")
set_strip("all")
end
We can switch to this compilation mode by: xmake f -m minsizerel.
Show specified information and list
Show basic information about xmake itself and the current project
$ xmake show
The information of xmake:
version: 2.3.3+202006011009
host: macosx/x86_64
programdir: /Users/ruki/.local/share/xmake
programfile: /Users/ruki/.local/bin/xmake
globaldir: /Users/ruki/.xmake
tmpdir: /var/folders/32/w9cz0y_14hs19lkbs6v6_fm80000gn/T/.xmake501/200603
workingdir: /Users/ruki/projects/personal/tbox
packagedir: /Users/ruki/.xmake/packages
packagedir(cache): /Users/ruki/.xmake/cache/packages/2006
The information of project: tbox
version: 1.6.5
plat: macosx
arch: x86_64
mode: release
buildir: build
configdir: /Users/ruki/projects/personal/tbox/.xmake/macosx/x86_64
projectdir: /Users/ruki/projects/personal/tbox
projectfile: /Users/ruki/projects/personal/tbox/xmake.lua
Show toolchains list
$ xmake show -l toolchains
xcode Xcode IDE
vs VisualStudio IDE
yasm The Yasm Modular Assembler
clang A C language family frontend for LLVM
...
Show the specified target configuration information
$ xmake show --target=tbox
The information of target(tbox):
kind: static
targetfile: build/macosx/x86_64/release/libtbox.a
rules: mode.release, mode.debug, mode.profile, mode.coverage
options: info, float, wchar, exception, force-utf8, deprecated, xml, zip, hash, regex, coroutine, object, charset, database
packages: mbedtls, polarssl, openssl, pcre2, pcre, zlib, mysql, sqlite3
links: pthread
syslinks: pthread, dl, m, c
cxflags: -Wno-error=deprecated-declarations, -fno-strict-aliasing, -Wno-error=expansion-to-defined, -fno-stack-protector
defines: __tb_small__, __tb_prefix__="tbox"
mxflags: -Wno-error=deprecated-declarations, -fno-strict-aliasing, -Wno-error=expansion-to-defined
headerfiles: src/(tbox/**.h)|**/impl/**.h, src/(tbox/prefix/**/prefix.S), src/(tbox/math/impl/*.h), src/(tbox/utils/impl/*.h), build/macosx/x86_64/release/tbox.config.h
includedirs: src, build/macosx/x86_64/release
at: /Users/ruki/projects/personal/tbox/src/tbox/xmake.lua
sourcebatch(cc): with rule(c.build)
-> src/tbox/string/static_string.c
-> build/.objs/tbox/macosx/x86_64/release/src/tbox/string/static_string.c.o
-> build/.deps/tbox/macosx/x86_64/release/src/tbox/string/static_string.c.o.d
-> src/tbox/platform/sched.c
-> build/.objs/tbox/macosx/x86_64/release/src/tbox/platform/sched.c.o
-> build/.deps/tbox/macosx/x86_64/release/src/tbox/platform/sched.c.o.d
-> src/tbox/stream/stream.c
-> build/.objs/tbox/macosx/x86_64/release/src/tbox/stream/stream.c.o
-> build/.deps/tbox/macosx/x86_64/release/src/tbox/stream/stream.c.o.d
-> src/tbox/utils/base32.c
-> build/.objs/tbox/macosx/x86_64/release/src/tbox/utils/base32.c.o
-> build/.deps/tbox/macosx/x86_64/release/src/tbox/utils/base32.c.o.d
Show a list of built-in compilation modes
$ xmake show -l modes
Show the list of built-in compilation rules
$ xmake show -l rules
Show additional information
It is still being perfected, see: https://github.com/xmake-io/xmake/issues/798
Or run:
$ xmake show --help
New features
- #630: Support *BSD system, e.g. FreeBSD, ..
- Add wprint builtin api to show warnings
- #784: Add
set_policy()to set and modify some builtin policies - #780: Add set_toolchains/set_toolsets for target and improve to detect cross-compilation toolchains
- #798: Add
xmake showplugin to show some builtin configuration values and infos - #797: Add ninja theme style, e.g.
xmake g --theme=ninja - #816: Add mode.releasedbg and mode.minsizerel rules
- #819: Support ansi/vt100 terminal control
Change
- #771: Check includedirs, linkdirs and frameworkdirs
- #774: Support ltui windows resize for
xmake f --menu - #782: Add check flags failed tips for add_cxflags, ..
- #808: Support add_frameworks for cmakelists
- #820: Support independent working/build directory