View source for Building and hacking LDC on Windows using MSVC

LDC on Windows is work in progress. This page documents how to compile LDC2 on Windows 7 x64. It also provides hints on druntime and phobos.

== Building LDC ==

=== Required software ===

* Windows 7 x64, of course!
* [http://microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17718 .NET Framework 4.0] (prerequisite for Windows SDK)
* [http://microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8279 Windows 7.1 SDK]
* [http://python.org/download/ Python 2.7.x or Python 3.3.x] (I use 3.3.0)
* [http://git-scm.com/download/win git 1.8.x] (I use 1.8.0.msysgit.0 installed with option &quot;Run Git from the Windows Command Prompt&quot;)
* [http://cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html CMake 2.8.x] (I use 2.8.12.1 installed with option &quot;Add cmake to the system PATH for all users&quot;)
* a tool to extract .tgz files, e.g. [http://7-zip.org/ 7-Zip]

=== Required source downloads ===

* [http://hyperrealm.com/libconfig/ libconfig++] (Just use latest release 1.4.9.)
* [http://redstar.de/ldc/win64eh_all_20140201.diff Patch adding Win64 SEH to LLVM 3.5]
* Patches for LDC: (currently none)
=== Environment check ===

After installing the software, you can open a Windows SDK 7.1 Command Prompt. You should see that you are targeting &quot;Windows 7 x64 Debug&quot;. If not please execute the command <tt>setenv /x64 /Debug</tt>. Running <tt>cmake --version</tt> should display the banner from cmake. Running <tt>git --version</tt> should display the banner from git. Running <tt>msbuild /version</tt> should display the banner from msbuild. Running <tt>&lt;Python install path&gt;\python --version</tt> should display the banner from python.

My working directory is <tt>C:\ldcenv</tt>. Every step starts in this directory. Please feel free to adjust this to your needs.

=== Build LLVM ===

To build LLVM from the command line, just execute the following steps:

<ul>
<li><tt>md build-llvm-x64</tt></li>
<li><tt>git clone http://llvm.org/git/llvm.git llvm</tt></li>
<li><tt>cd llvm</tt></li>
<li>The next command is only required if LLVM 3.5 head is used and if you want Win64 SEH support:<br />
<tt>git apply &lt;path to LLVM patch&gt;\win64eh_all_20130901.diff</tt></li>
<li>The next command is only required if LLVM 3.4 is used:<br />
<tt>git checkout -t origin/release_34</tt><br />
<li><tt>cd ..\build-llvm-x64</tt></li>
<li><p>Type the next command in one line:</p>
<pre>cmake -G &quot;Visual Studio 10 Win64&quot; -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=&quot;C:\Program Files\LLVM-x64&quot; 
      -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=&quot;C:\Program Files\Python33\python.exe&quot; -DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD=&quot;X86&quot;
      -DLLVM_INCLUDE_TESTS=OFF C:\ldcenv\llvm</pre></li>
<li><p><tt>msbuild ALL_BUILD.vcxproj</tt></p></li></ul>

Open a Windows SDK 7.1 Command Prompt as Administrator.

* <tt>cd build-llvm-x64</tt>
* <tt>msbuild INSTALL.vcxproj</tt>

The [http://llvm.org/docs/CMake.html#id10 LLVM page on CMake] documents other variables you can change. The most common is to add more targets. E.g. to build a target for ARM you change the targets to build to <tt>-DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD=&quot;X86;ARM&quot;</tt>.

=== Build libconfig++ ===

Simple build instructions for libconfig++ are missing. You can do the following:

* Install Visual Studio 2010 (e.g. [http://microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/visual-cpp-express Visual Studio 2010 Express])
* Open the libconfig.sln solution
* Create a profile for Win64 Debug
* If you like to create a static library then change the configuration type of project <tt>libconfig++</tt> to 'Static library'.
* Build the project <tt>libconfig++</tt>

=== Build LDC2 ===

To build LDC2 from the command line, just execute the following steps:

<ul>
<li><tt>md build-ldc2-x64</tt></li>
<li><tt>git clone --recursive git://github.com/ldc-developers/ldc.git ldc</tt></li>
<li><tt>cd ldc</tt></li>
<li>Now apply all the patches for LDC (see section 'Required source downloads' above):<br />
<tt>git apply &lt;patch name&gt;</tt></li>
<li><tt>cd ..\build-ldc2-x64</tt></li>
<li><p>Type the next command in one line:</p>
<pre>cmake -G &quot;Visual Studio 10 Win64&quot; -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=&quot;C:\Program Files\LDC&quot;
      -DLLVM_ROOT_DIR=&quot;C:/Program Files/LLVM-x64&quot;
      -DLIBCONFIG++_INCLUDE_DIR=&quot;C:/ldcenv/libconfig-1.4.9/lib&quot;
      -DLIBCONFIG++_LIBRARY=&quot;C:/ldcenv/libconfig-1.4.9/Debug/libconfig++.lib&quot; C:\ldcenv\ldc</pre>
<p>This assumes that you have a static compiled version of <tt>libconfig++.lib</tt>. If you use the DLL version then you have to add <tt>-DLIBCONFIG_DLL=ON</tt>.</p></li>
<li><p><tt>msbuild ALL_BUILD.vcxproj</tt></p></li></ul>

Open a Windows SDK 7.1 Command Prompt as Administrator.

* <tt>cd build-llvm-x64</tt>
* <tt>msbuild INSTALL.vcxproj</tt>

Check that <tt>C:\Program Files\LDC\bin</tt> is in your path and type <tt>ldc2 -version</tt> to check that you can run <tt>LDC2</tt>.

=== Troubleshooting ===

* git 1.7.11 requires extra setup because of git-svn. Just use 1.7.10 or 1.8.0.
* Using Visual Studio 2012: You do not need to install the Windows SDK. Just open the &quot;VS2012 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt&quot;. The CMake generator for VS 2012 is named <tt>Visual Studio 11 Win64</tt>.

=== Known bugs ===

* Structured Exception Handling is only available for LLVM 3.5 head with the patch above applied. Support has still alpha quality and is known to crash your application under certain circumstances.
* Execution of tests with the <tt>RUN_TESTS</tt> project does not work.

== Hacking druntime and phobos ==

As of version 2.061 (still under development) Druntime and Phobos have support for Win64. The following issues are known:

* <tt>ldc.eh2</tt>: Implementation has alpha quality. Only used together with LLVM 3.4.
* Other missing functions: Most functions related to <tt>real</tt> type (<tt>long double</tt> in C) are missing because Visual C++ has dropped support for it (e.g. <tt>strtold()</tt>, <tt>sinl</tt>, <tt>cosl</tt>, ...). Some of them are already implemented (see e.g. <tt>std.math</tt>) but please be aware that there are still fake implementations present.

If you link your modules you have to specify the libraries <tt>phobos-ldc.lib</tt> and <tt>shell32.lib</tt>. Due to a bug in LLVM you have to specifiy the flag <tt>/LARGEADDRESSAWARE:NO</tt>, too.

== Example ==

The simple D program <tt>hello.d</tt>

<source lang="d">import std.stdio;

int main()
{
    writefln("Hello LDC2");
    return 0;
}</source>
can be compiled and linked with the commands:

<pre>
ldc2 -c hello.d
link hello2.obj phobos-ldc.lib shell32.lib /LARGEADDRESSAWARE:NO
</pre>

or simply with: <tt>ldc2 hello.d</tt>

The resulting <tt>hello.exe</tt> produces the expected output.



[[Category:LDC]]