| ================================================================== | 
 | Getting Started with the LLVM System using Microsoft Visual Studio | 
 | ================================================================== | 
 |  | 
 | .. contents:: | 
 |    :local: | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | Overview | 
 | ======== | 
 | Welcome to LLVM on Windows! This document only covers LLVM on Windows using | 
 | Visual Studio, not mingw or cygwin. In order to get started, you first need to | 
 | know some basic information. | 
 |  | 
 | There are many different projects that compose LLVM. The first is the LLVM | 
 | suite. This contains all of the tools, libraries, and header files needed to | 
 | use LLVM. It contains an assembler, disassembler, | 
 | bitcode analyzer and bitcode optimizer. It also contains a test suite that can | 
 | be used to test the LLVM tools. | 
 |  | 
 | Another useful project on Windows is `Clang <http://clang.llvm.org/>`_. | 
 | Clang is a C family ([Objective]C/C++) compiler. Clang mostly works on | 
 | Windows, but does not currently understand all of the Microsoft extensions | 
 | to C and C++. Because of this, clang cannot parse the C++ standard library | 
 | included with Visual Studio, nor parts of the Windows Platform SDK. However, | 
 | most standard C programs do compile. Clang can be used to emit bitcode, | 
 | directly emit object files or even linked executables using Visual Studio's | 
 | ``link.exe``. | 
 |  | 
 | The large LLVM test suite cannot be run on the Visual Studio port at this | 
 | time. | 
 |  | 
 | Most of the tools build and work.  ``bugpoint`` does build, but does | 
 | not work. | 
 |  | 
 | Additional information about the LLVM directory structure and tool chain | 
 | can be found on the main :doc:`GettingStarted` page. | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | Requirements | 
 | ============ | 
 | Before you begin to use the LLVM system, review the requirements given | 
 | below.  This may save you some trouble by knowing ahead of time what hardware | 
 | and software you will need. | 
 |  | 
 | Hardware | 
 | -------- | 
 | Any system that can adequately run Visual Studio 2013 is fine. The LLVM | 
 | source tree and object files, libraries and executables will consume | 
 | approximately 3GB. | 
 |  | 
 | Software | 
 | -------- | 
 | You will need Visual Studio 2013 or higher. | 
 |  | 
 | You will also need the `CMake <http://www.cmake.org/>`_ build system since it | 
 | generates the project files you will use to build with. | 
 |  | 
 | If you would like to run the LLVM tests you will need `Python | 
 | <http://www.python.org/>`_. Version 2.7 and newer are known to work. You will | 
 | need `GnuWin32 <http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/>`_ tools, too. | 
 |  | 
 | Do not install the LLVM directory tree into a path containing spaces (e.g. | 
 | ``C:\Documents and Settings\...``) as the configure step will fail. | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | Getting Started | 
 | =============== | 
 | Here's the short story for getting up and running quickly with LLVM: | 
 |  | 
 | 1. Read the documentation. | 
 | 2. Seriously, read the documentation. | 
 | 3. Remember that you were warned twice about reading the documentation. | 
 | 4. Get the Source Code | 
 |  | 
 |    * With the distributed files: | 
 |  | 
 |       1. ``cd <where-you-want-llvm-to-live>`` | 
 |       2. ``gunzip --stdout llvm-VERSION.tar.gz | tar -xvf -`` | 
 |          (*or use WinZip*) | 
 |       3. ``cd llvm`` | 
 |  | 
 |    * With anonymous Subversion access: | 
 |  | 
 |       1. ``cd <where-you-want-llvm-to-live>`` | 
 |       2. ``svn co http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk llvm`` | 
 |       3. ``cd llvm`` | 
 |  | 
 | 5. Use `CMake <http://www.cmake.org/>`_ to generate up-to-date project files: | 
 |  | 
 |    * Once CMake is installed then the simplest way is to just start the | 
 |      CMake GUI, select the directory where you have LLVM extracted to, and | 
 |      the default options should all be fine.  One option you may really | 
 |      want to change, regardless of anything else, might be the | 
 |      ``CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX`` setting to select a directory to INSTALL to | 
 |      once compiling is complete, although installation is not mandatory for | 
 |      using LLVM.  Another important option is ``LLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD``, | 
 |      which controls the LLVM target architectures that are included on the | 
 |      build. | 
 |    * See the :doc:`LLVM CMake guide <CMake>` for detailed information about | 
 |      how to configure the LLVM build. | 
 |    * CMake generates project files for all build types. To select a specific | 
 |      build type, use the Configuration manager from the VS IDE or the  | 
 |      ``/property:Configuration`` command line option when using MSBuild. | 
 |  | 
 | 6. Start Visual Studio | 
 |  | 
 |    * In the directory you created the project files will have an ``llvm.sln`` | 
 |      file, just double-click on that to open Visual Studio. | 
 |  | 
 | 7. Build the LLVM Suite: | 
 |  | 
 |    * The projects may still be built individually, but to build them all do | 
 |      not just select all of them in batch build (as some are meant as | 
 |      configuration projects), but rather select and build just the | 
 |      ``ALL_BUILD`` project to build everything, or the ``INSTALL`` project, | 
 |      which first builds the ``ALL_BUILD`` project, then installs the LLVM | 
 |      headers, libs, and other useful things to the directory set by the | 
 |      ``CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX`` setting when you first configured CMake. | 
 |    * The Fibonacci project is a sample program that uses the JIT. Modify the | 
 |      project's debugging properties to provide a numeric command line argument | 
 |      or run it from the command line.  The program will print the | 
 |      corresponding fibonacci value. | 
 |  | 
 | 8. Test LLVM in Visual Studio: | 
 |  | 
 |    * If ``%PATH%`` does not contain GnuWin32, you may specify | 
 |      ``LLVM_LIT_TOOLS_DIR`` on CMake for the path to GnuWin32. | 
 |    * You can run LLVM tests by merely building the project "check". The test | 
 |      results will be shown in the VS output window. | 
 |  | 
 | 9. Test LLVM on the command line: | 
 |  | 
 |    * The LLVM tests can be run by changing directory to the llvm source | 
 |      directory and running: | 
 |  | 
 |      .. code-block:: bat | 
 |  | 
 |         C:\..\llvm> python ..\build\bin\llvm-lit --param build_config=Win32 --param build_mode=Debug --param llvm_site_config=../build/test/lit.site.cfg test | 
 |  | 
 |      This example assumes that Python is in your PATH variable, you | 
 |      have built a Win32 Debug version of llvm with a standard out of | 
 |      line build. You should not see any unexpected failures, but will | 
 |      see many unsupported tests and expected failures. | 
 |  | 
 |      A specific test or test directory can be run with: | 
 |  | 
 |      .. code-block:: bat | 
 |  | 
 |         C:\..\llvm> python ..\build\bin\llvm-lit --param build_config=Win32 --param build_mode=Debug --param llvm_site_config=../build/test/lit.site.cfg test/path/to/test | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | An Example Using the LLVM Tool Chain | 
 | ==================================== | 
 |  | 
 | 1. First, create a simple C file, name it '``hello.c``': | 
 |  | 
 |    .. code-block:: c | 
 |  | 
 |       #include <stdio.h> | 
 |       int main() { | 
 |         printf("hello world\n"); | 
 |         return 0; | 
 |       } | 
 |  | 
 | 2. Next, compile the C file into an LLVM bitcode file: | 
 |  | 
 |    .. code-block:: bat | 
 |  | 
 |       C:\..> clang -c hello.c -emit-llvm -o hello.bc | 
 |  | 
 |    This will create the result file ``hello.bc`` which is the LLVM bitcode | 
 |    that corresponds the compiled program and the library facilities that | 
 |    it required.  You can execute this file directly using ``lli`` tool, | 
 |    compile it to native assembly with the ``llc``, optimize or analyze it | 
 |    further with the ``opt`` tool, etc. | 
 |  | 
 |    Alternatively you can directly output an executable with clang with: | 
 |  | 
 |    .. code-block:: bat | 
 |  | 
 |       C:\..> clang hello.c -o hello.exe | 
 |  | 
 |    The ``-o hello.exe`` is required because clang currently outputs ``a.out`` | 
 |    when neither ``-o`` nor ``-c`` are given. | 
 |  | 
 | 3. Run the program using the just-in-time compiler: | 
 |  | 
 |    .. code-block:: bat | 
 |  | 
 |       C:\..> lli hello.bc | 
 |  | 
 | 4. Use the ``llvm-dis`` utility to take a look at the LLVM assembly code: | 
 |  | 
 |    .. code-block:: bat | 
 |  | 
 |       C:\..> llvm-dis < hello.bc | more | 
 |  | 
 | 5. Compile the program to object code using the LLC code generator: | 
 |  | 
 |    .. code-block:: bat | 
 |  | 
 |       C:\..> llc -filetype=obj hello.bc | 
 |  | 
 | 6. Link to binary using Microsoft link: | 
 |  | 
 |    .. code-block:: bat | 
 |  | 
 |       C:\..> link hello.obj -defaultlib:libcmt | 
 |  | 
 | 7. Execute the native code program: | 
 |  | 
 |    .. code-block:: bat | 
 |  | 
 |       C:\..> hello.exe | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | Common Problems | 
 | =============== | 
 | If you are having problems building or using LLVM, or if you have any other | 
 | general questions about LLVM, please consult the :doc:`Frequently Asked Questions | 
 | <FAQ>` page. | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | Links | 
 | ===== | 
 | This document is just an **introduction** to how to use LLVM to do some simple | 
 | things... there are many more interesting and complicated things that you can | 
 | do that aren't documented here (but we'll gladly accept a patch if you want to | 
 | write something up!).  For more information about LLVM, check out: | 
 |  | 
 | * `LLVM homepage <http://llvm.org/>`_ | 
 | * `LLVM doxygen tree <http://llvm.org/doxygen/>`_ | 
 |  |