LLVM Makefile Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. General Concepts
    1. Projects
    2. Variable Values
    3. Including Makefiles
      1. Makefile
      2. Makefile.common
      3. Makefile.config
      4. Makefile.rules
    4. Comments
  3. Tutorial
    1. Libraries
    2. Tools
      1. JIT Tools
  4. Targets Supported
    1. all
    2. all-local
    3. check
    4. check-local
    5. clean
    6. clean-local
    7. dist
    8. dist-check
    9. dist-clean
    10. install
    11. preconditions
    12. printvars
    13. tags
    14. uninstall
  5. Using Variables
    1. Control Variables
    2. Override Variables
    3. Readable Variables
    4. Internal Variables

Written by Reid Spencer

Introduction

This document provides usage information about the LLVM makefile system. While loosely patterned after the BSD makefile system, LLVM has taken a departure from BSD in order to implement additional features needed by LLVM. Although makefile systems such as automake were attempted at one point, it has become clear that the features needed by LLVM and the Makefile norm are too great to use a more limited tool. Consequently, LLVM requires simply GNU Make 3.79, a widely portable makefile processor. LLVM unabashedly makes heavy use of the features of GNU Make so the dependency on GNU Make is firm. If you're not familiar with make, it is recommended that you read the GNU Makefile Manual .

While this document is rightly part of the LLVM Programmer's Manual, it is treated separately here because of the volume of content and because it is often an early source of bewilderment for new developers.

General Concepts

The LLVM Makefile System is the component of LLVM that is responsible for building the software, testing it, generating distributions, checking those distributions, installing and uninstalling, etc. It consists of a several files throughout the source tree. These files and other general concepts are described in this section.

Projects

The LLVM Makefile System is quite generous. It not only builds its own software, but it can build yours too. Built into the system is knowledge of the llvm/projects directory. Any directory under projects that has both a configure script and a Makefile is assumed to be a project that uses the LLVM Makefile system. This allows your project to get up and running quickly by utilizing the built-in features that are used to compile LLVM. LLVM compiles itself using the same features of the makefile system as used for projects.

Variable Values

To use the makefile system, you simply create a file named Makefile in your directory and declare values for certain variables. The variables and values that you select determine what the makefile system will do. These variables enable rules and processing in the makefile system that automatically Do The Right Thing™.

Including Makefiles

Setting variables alone is not enough. You must include into your Makefile additional files that provide the rules of the LLVM Makefile system. The various files involved are described in the sections that follow.

Makefile

Each directory to participate in the build needs to have a file named Makefile. This is the file first read by make. It has three sections:

  1. Settable Variables - Required that must be set first.
  2. include $(LEVEL)/Makefile.common - include the LLVM Makefile system.
  3. Override Variables - Override variables set by the LLVM Makefile system.
Makefile.common

Every project must have a Makefile.common file at its top source directory. This file serves three purposes:

  1. It includes the project's configuration makefile to obtain values determined by the configure script. This is done by including the $(LEVEL)/Makefile.config file.
  2. It specifies any other (static) values that are needed throughout the project. Only values that are used in all or a large proportion of the project's directories should be placed here.
  3. It includes the standard rules for the LLVM Makefile system, $(LLVM_SRC_ROOT)/Makefile.rules. This file is the "guts" of the LLVM Makefile system.
Makefile.config

Every project must have a Makefile.config at the top of its build directory. This file is generated by the configure script from the pattern provided by the Makefile.config.in file located at the top of the project's source directory. The contents of this file depend largely on what configuration items the project uses, however most projects can get what they need by just relying on LLVM's configuration found in $(LLVM_OBJ_ROOT)/Makefile.config.

Makefile.rules

This file, located at $(LLVM_SRC_ROOT)/Makefile.rules is the heart of the LLVM Makefile System. It provides all the logic, dependencies, and rules for building the targets supported by the system. What it does largely depends on the values of make variables that have been set before Makefile.rules is included.

Comments

User Makefiles need not have comments in them unless the construction is unusual or it doesn't strictly follow the rules and patterns of the LLVM makefile system. Makefile comments are invoked with the pound (#) character. The # character and any text following it, to the end of the line, are ignored by make.

Tutorial

This section provides some examples of the different kinds of modules you can build with the LLVM makefile system. In general, each directory you provide will build a single object although that object may be composed of additionally compiled components.

Libraries

Only a few variable definitions are needed to build a regular library. Normally, the makefile system will build all the software into a single libname.o (pre-linked) object. This means the library is not searchable and that the distinction between compilation units has been dissolved. Optionally, you can ask for a shared library (.so), archive library (.a) or to not have the default (relinked) library built. For example:


      LIBRARYNAME = mylib
      SHARED_LIBRARY = 1
      ARCHIVE_LIBRARY = 1
      DONT_BUILT_RELINKED = 1
  

says to build a library named "mylib" with both a shared library (mylib.so) and an archive library (mylib.a) version but not to build the relinked object (mylib.o). The contents of all the libraries produced will be the same, they are just constructed differently. Note that you normally do not need to specify the sources involved. The LLVM Makefile system will infer the source files from the contents of the source directory.

Tools

For building executable programs (tools), you must provide the name of the tool and the names of the libraries you wish to link with the tool. For example:


      TOOLNAME = mytool
      USEDLIBS = mylib
      LLVMLIBS = LLVMSupport.a LLVMSystem.a
  

says that we are to build a tool name mytool and that it requires three libraries: mylib, LLVMSupport.a and LLVMSystem.a.

Note that two different variables are use to indicate which libraries are linked: USEDLIBS and LLVMLIBS. This distinction is necessary to support projects. LLVMLIBS refers to the LLVM libraries found in the LLVM object directory. USEDLIBS refers to the libraries built by your project. In the case of building LLVM tools, USEDLIBS and LLVMLIBS can be used interchangeably since the "project" is LLVM itself and USEDLIBS refers to the same place as LLVMLIBS.

Also note that there are two different ways of specifying a library: with a .a suffix and without. Without the suffix, the entry refers to the re-linked (.o) file which will include all symbols of the library. This is useful, for example, to include all passes from a library of passes. If the .a suffix is used then the library is linked as a searchable library (with the -l option). In this case, only the symbols that are unresolved at that point will be resolved from the library, if they exist. Other (unreferenced) symbols will not be included when the .a syntax is used. Note that in order to use the .a suffix, the library in question must have been built with the ARCHIVE_LIBRARY option set.

JIT Tools

Many tools will want to use the JIT features of LLVM. However, getting the right set of libraries to link with is tedious, platform specific, and error prone. Additionally, the JIT has special linker switch options that it needs. Consequently, to make it easier to build tools that use the JIT, you can use a special value for the LLVMLIBS variable:


      TOOLNAME = my_jit_tool
      USEDLIBS = mylib
      LLVMLIBS = JIT
  

Using a value of JIT for LLVMLIBS tells the makefile system to construct a special value for LLVMLIBS that gives the program all the LLVM libraries needed to run the JIT. Any additional libraries needed can still be specified with USEDLIBS. To get a full understanding of how this changes the linker command, it is recommended that you:


      cd examples/Fibonacci
      make VERBOSE=1
  

By default, using LLVMLIBS=JIT will link in enough to support JIT code generation for the architecture on which the tool is linked. If you need additional target architectures linked in, you may specify them on the command line or in your Makefile. For example:


      ENABLE_X86_JIT=1
      ENABLE_SPARCV9_JIT=1
      ENALBE_PPC_JIT=1
  

will cause the tool to be able to generate code for all three platforms.

Targets Supported

This section describes each of the targets that can be built using the LLVM Makefile system. Any target can be invoked from any directory but not all are applicable to a given directory (e.g. "dist" and "install" will always operate as if invoked from the top level directory).

Target NameImplied TargetsTarget Description
all Compile the software recursively. Default target.
all-local Compile the software in the local directory only.
checkall Test the software recursively.
check-localall-local Test the software in the local directory only.
clean Remove built objects recursively.
clean-local Remove built objects from the local directory only.
distall Prepare a source distribution tarball.
dist-checkall check Prepare a source distribution tarball and check that it builds.
dist-cleanclean Clean source distribution tarball temporary files.
installall Copy built objects to installation directory.
preconditionsall Check to make sure configuration and makefiles are up to date.
printvarsall Prints variables defined by the makefile system (for debugging).
tags Make C and C++ tags files for emacs and vi.
uninstall Remove built objects from installation directory.
all (default)

When you invoke make with no arguments, you are implicitly instructing it to seek the "all" target (goal). This target is used for building the software recursively and will do different things in different directories. For example, in a lib directory, the "all" target will compile source files and generate libraries. But, in a tools directory, it will link libraries and generate executables.

all-local

This target is the same as all but it operates only on the current directory instead of recursively.

check

This target is used to perform any functional, unit or sanity tests as the software is being built. The check target depends on the all target so the software is built in each directory first and then the "check" is applied.

The definition of "check" is pretty general. It depends on the value of the TESTS variable. This variable should be set to a list of executables to run in order to test the software. If they all return 0 then the check succeeds, otherwise not. The programs run can be anything but they should either be local to the directory or in your path.

check-local

This target does the same thing as check but only for the current (local) directory.

clean

This target cleans the build directory, recursively removing all things that the Makefile builds. Despite once or twice attempting to remove /*, the cleaning rules have been made guarded so they shouldn't go awry.

clean-local

This target does the same thing as clean but only for the current (local) directory.

dist

This target builds a distribution tarball. It first builds the entire project using the all target and then tars up the necessary files and compresses it. The generated tarball is sufficient for a casual source distribution, but probably not for a release (see dist-check).

dist-check

This target does the same thing as the dist target but also checks the distribution tarball. The check is made by unpacking the tarball to a new directory, configuring it, building it, installing it, and then verifying that the installation results are correct (by comparing to the original build). This target can take a long time to run but should be done before a release goes out to make sure that the distributed tarball can actually be built into a working release.

dist-clean

This is a special form of the clean clean target. It performs a normal clean but also removes things pertaining to building the distribution.

install

This target finalizes shared objects and executables and copies all libraries, headers, executables and documentation to the directory given with the --prefix option to configure. When completed, the prefix directory will have everything needed to use LLVM.

The LLVM makefiles can generate complete internal documentation for all the classes by using doxygen. By default, this feature is not enabled because it takes a long time and generates a massive amount of data (>100MB). If you want this feature, you must configure LLVM with the --enable-doxygen switch and ensure that a modern version of doxygen (1.3.7 or later) is available in your PATH. You can download doxygen from here.

preconditions

This utility target checks to see if the Makefile in the object directory is older than the Makefile in the source directory and copies it if so. It also reruns the configure script if that needs to be done and rebuilds the Makefile.config file similarly. Users may overload this target to ensure that sanity checks are run before any building of targets as all the targets depend on preconditions.

printvars

This utility target just causes LLVM to print out some of its variables so that you can double check how things are set.

tags

This target will generate a TAGS file in the top-level source directory. It is meant for use with emacs, XEmacs, or ViM. The TAGS file provides an index of symbol definitions so that the editor can jump you to the definition quickly.

uninstall

This target is the opposite of the install target. It removes the header, library and executable files from the installation directories. Note that the directories themselves are not removed because it is not guaranteed that LLVM is the only thing installing there (e.g. --prefix=/usr).

Variables

Variables are used to tell the LLVM Makefile System what to do and to obtain information from it. Variables are also used internally by the LLVM Makefile System. Variable names that contain only the upper case alphabetic letters and underscore are intended for use by the end user. All other variables are internal to the LLVM Makefile System and should not be relied upon nor modified. The sections below describe how to use the LLVM Makefile variables.

Control Variables

Variables listed in the table below should be set before the inclusion of $(LEVEL)/Makefile.common. These variables provide input to the LLVM make system that tell it what to do for the current directory.

BUILD_ARCHIVE
If set to any value, causes an archive (.a) library to be built.
BUILT_SOURCES
Specifies a set of source files that are generated from other source files. These sources will be built before any other target processing to ensure they are present.
BYTECODE_LIBRARY
If set to any value, causes a bytecode library (.bc) to be built.
CONFIG_FILES
Specifies a set of configuration files to be installed.
DIRS
Specifies a set of directories, usually children of the current directory, that should also be made using the same goal. These directories will be built serially.
DISABLE_AUTO_DEPENDENCIES
If set to any value, causes the makefiles to not automatically generate dependencies when running the compiler. Use of this feature is discouraged and it may be removed at a later date.
DONT_BUILD_RELINKED
If set to any value, causes a relinked library (.o) not to be built. By default, libraries are built as re-linked since most LLVM libraries are needed in their entirety and re-linked libraries will be linked more quickly than equivalent archive libraries.
ENABLE_OPTIMIZED
If set to any value, causes the build to generate optimized objects, libraries and executables. This alters the flags specified to the compilers and linkers. Generally debugging won't be a fun experience with an optimized build.
ENABLE_PROFILING
If set to any value, causes the build to generate both optimized and profiled objects, libraries and executables. This alters the flags specified to the compilers and linkers to ensure that profile data can be collected from the tools built. Use the gprof tool to analyze the output from the profiled tools (gmon.out).
EXPERIMENTAL_DIRS
Specify a set of directories that should be built, but if they fail, it should not cause the build to fail. Note that this should only be used temporarily while code is being written.
EXPORTED_SYMBOL_FILE
Specifies the name of a single file that contains a list of the symbols to be exported by the linker. One symbol per line.
EXPORTED_SYMBOL_LIST
Specifies a set of symbols to be exported by the linker.
EXTRA_DIST
Specifies additional files that should be distributed with LLVM. All source files, all built sources, all Makefiles, and most documentation files will be automatically distributed. Use this variable to distribute any files that are not automatically distributed.
KEEP_SYMBOLS
If set to any value, specifies that when linking executables the makefiles should retain debug symbols in the executable. Normally, symbols are stripped from the executable.
LEVEL(required)
Specify the level of nesting from the top level. This variable must be set in each makefile as it is used to find the top level and thus the other makefiles.
LIBRARYNAME
Specify the name of the library to be built. (Required For Libraries)
LLVMLIBS
Specifies the set of libraries from the LLVM $(ObjDir) that will be linked into the tool or library.
OPTIONAL_DIRS
Specify a set of directories that may be built, if they exist, but its not an error for them not to exist.
PARALLEL_DIRS
Specify a set of directories to build recursively and in parallel if the -j option was used with make.
SHARED_LIBRARY
If set to any value, causes a shared library (.so) to be built in addition to any other kinds of libraries. Note that this option will cause all source files to be built twice: once with options for position independent code and once without. Use it only where you really need a shared library.
SOURCES(optional)
Specifies the list of source files in the current directory to be built. Source files of any type may be specified (programs, documentation, config files, etc.). If not specified, the makefile system will infer the set of source files from the files present in the current directory.
SUFFIXES
Specifies a set of filename suffixes that occur in suffix match rules. Only set this if your local Makefile specifies additional suffix match rules.
TARGET
Specifies the name of the LLVM code generation target that the current directory builds. Setting this variable enables additional rules to build .inc files from .td files.
TOOLNAME
Specifies the name of the tool that the current directory should build.
TOOL_VERBOSE
Implies VERBOSE and also tells each tool invoked to be verbose. This is handy when you're trying to see the sub-tools invoked by each tool invoked by the makefile. For example, this will pass -v to the GCC compilers which causes it to print out the command lines it uses to invoke sub-tools (compiler, assembler, linker).
USEDLIBS
Specifies the list of project libraries that will be linked into the tool or library.
VERBOSE
Tells the Makefile system to produce detailed output of what it is doing instead of just summary comments. This will generate a LOT of output.
Override Variables

Override variables can be used to override the default values provided by the LLVM makefile system. These variables can be set in several ways:

The overridable variables are given below:

AR (defaulted)
Specifies the path to the ar tool.
BISON(configured)
Specifies the path to the bison tool.
BUILD_OBJ_DIR
The directory into which the products of build rules will be placed. This might be the same as BUILD_SRC_DIR but typically is not.
BUILD_SRC_DIR
The directory which contains the source files to be built.
BURG
Specifies the path to the burg tool.
BZIP2(configured)
The path to the bzip2 tool.
CC(configured)
The path to the 'C' compiler.
CFLAGS
Additional flags to be passed to the 'C' compiler.
CXX
Specifies the path to the C++ compiler.
CXXFLAGS
Additional flags to be passed to the C++ compiler.
DATE(configured)
Specifies the path to the date program or any program that can generate the current date and time on its standard output
DOT(configured)
Specifies the path to the dot tool or false if there isn't one.
ECHO(configured)
Specifies the path to the echo tool for printing output.
ETAGS(configured)
Specifies the path to the etags tool.
ETAGSFLAGS(configured)
Provides flags to be passed to the etags tool.
EXEEXT(configured)
Provides the extension to be used on executables built by the makefiles. The value may be empty on platforms that do not use file extensions for executables (e.g. Unix).
FLEX(configured)
Specifies the path to the flex tool.
GCCLD(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the gccld tool.
INSTALL(configured)
Specifies the path to the install tool.
LDFLAGS(configured)
Allows users to specify additional flags to pass to the linker.
LIBS(configured)
The list of libraries that should be linked with each tool.
LIBTOOL(configured)
Specifies the path to the libtool tool. This tool is renamed mklib by the configure script and always located in the
LLVMAS(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the llvm-as tool.
LLVMGCC(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the LLVM version of the GCC 'C' Compiler
LLVMGXX(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the LLVM version of the GCC C++ Compiler
LLVM_OBJ_ROOT(configured)
Specifies the top directory into which the output of the build is placed.
LLVM_SRC_ROOT(configured)
Specifies the top directory in which the sources are found.
LLVM_TARBALL_NAME(configured)
Specifies the name of the distribution tarball to create. This is configured from the name of the project and its version number.
MKDIR(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the mkdir tool that creates directories.
PLATFORMSTRIPOPTS
The options to provide to the linker to specify that a stripped (no symbols) executable should be built.
RANLIB(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the ranlib tool.
RM(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the rm tool.
SED(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the sed tool.
SHLIBEXT(configured)
Provides the filename extension to use for shared libraries.
TBLGEN(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the tblgen tool.
TAR(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the tar tool.
ZIP(defaulted)
Specifies the path to the zip tool.
Readable Variables

Variables listed in the table below can be used by the user's Makefile but should not be changed. Changing the value will generally cause the build to go wrong, so don't do it.

bindir
The directory into which executables will ultimately be installed. This value is derived from the --prefix option given to configure.
BuildMode
The name of the type of build being performed: Debug, Release, or Profile
bytecode_libdir
The directory into which bytecode libraries will ultimately be installed. This value is derived from the --prefix option given to configure.
ConfigureScriptFLAGS
Additional flags given to the configure script when reconfiguring.
DistDir
The current directory for which a distribution copy is being made.
Echo
The LLVM Makefile System output command. This provides the llvm[n] prefix and starts with @ so the command itself is not printed by make.
EchoCmd
Same as Echo but without the leading @.
includedir
The directory into which include files will ultimately be installed. This value is derived from the --prefix option given to configure.
libdir
The directory into which native libraries will ultimately be installed. This value is derived from the --prefix option given to configure.
LibDir
The configuration specific directory into which libraries are placed before installation.
MakefileConfig
Full path of the Makefile.config file.
MakefileConfigIn
Full path of the Makefile.config.in file.
ObjDir
The configuration and directory specific directory where build objects (compilation results) are placed.
SubDirs
The complete list of sub-directories of the current directory as specified by other variables.
Sources
The complete list of source files.
sysconfdir
The directory into which configuration files will ultimately be installed. This value is derived from the --prefix option given to configure.
ToolDir
The configuration specific directory into which executables are placed before they are installed.
TopDistDir
The top most directory into which the distribution files are copied.
Verb
Use this as the first thing on your build script lines to enable or disable verbose mode. It expands to either an @ (quiet mode) or nothing (verbose mode).
Internal Variables

Variables listed below are used by the LLVM Makefile System and considered internal. You should not use these variables under any circumstances.

Archive
AR.Flags
BaseNameSources
BCCompile.C
BCCompile.CXX
BCLinkLib
Burg
C.Flags
Compile.C
CompileCommonOpts
Compile.CXX
ConfigStatusScript
ConfigureScript
CPP.Flags
CPP.Flags
CXX.Flags
DependFiles
DestArchiveLib
DestBytecodeLib
DestRelinkedLib
DestSharedLib
DestTool
DistAlways
DistCheckDir
DistCheckTop
DistFiles
DistName
DistOther
DistSources
DistSubDirs
DistTarBZ2
DistTarGZip
DistZip
ExtraLibs
INCFiles
InternalTargets
LD.Flags
LexOutput
LibName.A
LibName.BC
LibName.LA
LibName.O
LibTool.Flags
Link
LLVMGCCLibDir
LLVMLibDir
LLVMLibsOptions
LLVMLibsPaths
LLVMToolDir
LLVMUsedLibs
LocalTargets
LTCompile.C
LTCompile.CXX
LTInstall
ObjectsBC
ObjectsLO
ObjectsO
ObjMakefiles
Parallel_Targets
PreConditions
ProjLibsOptions
ProjLibsPaths
ProjUsedLibs
Ranlib
RecursiveTargets
Relink
SrcMakefiles
Strip
StripWarnMsg
TableGen
TDFiles
ToolBuildPath
TopLevelTargets
UserTargets
YaccOutput

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The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure
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