docs/GettingStartedVS.html

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   6   <title>Getting Started with LLVM System for Microsoft Visual Studio</title>
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  10
  11 <h1>
  12   Getting Started with the LLVM System using Microsoft Visual Studio
  13 </h1>
  14
  15 <ul>
  16   <li><a href="#overview">Overview</a>
  17   <li><a href="#requirements">Requirements</a>
  18     <ol>
  19       <li><a href="#hardware">Hardware</a>
  20       <li><a href="#software">Software</a>
  21     </ol></li>
  22   <li><a href="#quickstart">Getting Started</a>
  23   <li><a href="#tutorial">An Example Using the LLVM Tool Chain</a>
  24   <li><a href="#problems">Common Problems</a>
  25   <li><a href="#links">Links</a>
  26 </ul>
  27
  28 <div class="doc_author">
  29   <p>Written by: <a href="http://llvm.org/">The LLVM Team</a></p>
  30 </div>
  31
  32
  33 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
  34 <h2>
  35   <a name="overview"><b>Overview</b></a>
  36 </h2>
  37 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
  38
  39 <div>
  40
  41   <p>Welcome to LLVM on Windows! This document only covers LLVM on Windows using
  42   Visual Studio, not mingw or cygwin. In order to get started, you first need to
  43   know some basic information.</p>
  44
  45   <p>There are many different projects that compose LLVM. The first is the LLVM
  46   suite. This contains all of the tools, libraries, and header files needed to
  47   use the low level virtual machine. It contains an assembler, disassembler,
  48   bitcode analyzer and bitcode optimizer. It also contains a test suite that can
  49   be used to test the LLVM tools.</p>
  50
  51   <p>Another useful project on Windows is
  52   <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/">clang</a>. Clang is a C family
  53   ([Objective]C/C++) compiler. Clang mostly works on Windows, but does not
  54   currently understand all of the Microsoft extensions to C and C++. Because of
  55   this, clang cannot parse the C++ standard library included with Visual Studio,
  56   nor parts of the Windows Platform SDK. However, most standard C programs do
  57   compile. Clang can be used to emit bitcode, directly emit object files or
  58   even linked executables using Visual Studio's <tt>link.exe</tt></p>
  59
  60   <p>The large LLVM test suite cannot be run on the Visual Studio port at this
  61   time.</p>
  62
  63   <p>Most of the tools build and work.  <tt>bugpoint</tt> does build, but does
  64   not work.</p>
  65
  66   <p>Additional information about the LLVM directory structure and tool chain
  67   can be found on the main <a href="GettingStarted.html">Getting Started</a>
  68   page.</p>
  69
  70 </div>
  71
  72 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
  73 <h2>
  74   <a name="requirements"><b>Requirements</b></a>
  75 </h2>
  76 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
  77
  78 <div>
  79
  80   <p>Before you begin to use the LLVM system, review the requirements given
  81   below.  This may save you some trouble by knowing ahead of time what hardware
  82   and software you will need.</p>
  83
  84 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
  85 <h3>
  86   <a name="hardware"><b>Hardware</b></a>
  87 </h3>
  88
  89 <div>
  90
  91   <p>Any system that can adequately run Visual Studio .NET 2005 SP1 is fine.
  92   The LLVM source tree and object files, libraries and executables will consume
  93   approximately 3GB.</p>
  94
  95 </div>
  96
  97 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
  98 <h3><a name="software"><b>Software</b></a></h3>
  99 <div>
 100
 101   <p>You will need Visual Studio .NET 2005 SP1 or higher.  The VS2005 SP1
 102   beta and the normal VS2005 still have bugs that are not completely
 103   compatible.  Earlier versions of Visual Studio do not support the C++ standard
 104   well enough and will not work.</p>
 105
 106   <p>You will also need the <a href="http://www.cmake.org/">CMake</a> build
 107   system since it generates the project files you will use to build with.</p>
 108
 109   <p>If you would like to run the LLVM tests you will need
 110   <a href="http://www.python.org/">Python</a>. Versions 2.4-2.7 are known to
 111   work. You will need <a href="http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/">"GnuWin32"</a>
 112   tools, too.</p>
 113
 114   <p>Do not install the LLVM directory tree into a path containing spaces (e.g.
 115   C:\Documents and Settings\...) as the configure step will fail.</p>
 116
 117 </div>
 118
 119 </div>
 120
 121 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 122 <h2>
 123   <a name="quickstart"><b>Getting Started</b></a>
 124 </h2>
 125 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 126
 127 <div>
 128
 129 <p>Here's the short story for getting up and running quickly with LLVM:</p>
 130
 131 <ol>
 132   <li>Read the documentation.</li>
 133   <li>Seriously, read the documentation.</li>
 134   <li>Remember that you were warned twice about reading the documentation.</li>
 135
 136   <li>Get the Source Code
 137   <ul>
 138     <li>With the distributed files:
 139     <ol>
 140       <li><tt>cd <i>where-you-want-llvm-to-live</i></tt>
 141       <li><tt>gunzip --stdout llvm-<i>version</i>.tar.gz | tar -xvf -</tt>
 142       <i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;or use WinZip</i>
 143       <li><tt>cd llvm</tt></li>
 144     </ol></li>
 145
 146     <li>With anonymous Subversion access:
 147     <ol>
 148       <li><tt>cd <i>where-you-want-llvm-to-live</i></tt></li>
 149       <li><tt>svn co http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk llvm</tt></li>
 150       <li><tt>cd llvm</tt></li>
 151     </ol></li>
 152   </ul></li>
 153
 154   <li> Use <a href="http://www.cmake.org/">CMake</a> to generate up-to-date
 155     project files:
 156     <ul>
 157       <li>Once CMake is installed then the simplest way is to just start the
 158         CMake GUI, select the directory where you have LLVM extracted to, and the
 159         default options should all be fine.  One option you may really want to
 160         change, regardless of anything else, might be the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX
 161         setting to select a directory to INSTALL to once compiling is complete,
 162         although installation is not mandatory for using LLVM.  Another important
 163         option is LLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD, which controls the LLVM target
 164         architectures that are included on the build.
 165       <li>See the <a href="CMake.html">LLVM CMake guide</a> for
 166         detailed information about how to configure the LLVM
 167         build.</li>
 168     </ul>
 169   </li>
 170
 171   <li>Start Visual Studio
 172   <ul>
 173     <li>In the directory you created the project files will have
 174     an <tt>llvm.sln</tt> file, just double-click on that to open
 175     Visual Studio.</li>
 176   </ul></li>
 177
 178   <li>Build the LLVM Suite:
 179   <ul>
 180     <li>The projects may still be built individually, but
 181     to build them all do not just select all of them in batch build (as some
 182     are meant as configuration projects), but rather select and build just
 183     the ALL_BUILD project to build everything, or the INSTALL project, which
 184     first builds the ALL_BUILD project, then installs the LLVM headers, libs,
 185     and other useful things to the directory set by the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX
 186     setting when you first configured CMake.</li>
 187     <li>The Fibonacci project is a sample program that uses the JIT.
 188     Modify the project's debugging properties to provide a numeric
 189     command line argument or run it from the command line.  The
 190     program will print the corresponding fibonacci value.</li>
 191   </ul></li>
 192
 193   <li>Test LLVM on Visual Studio:
 194   <ul>
 195     <li>If %PATH% does not contain GnuWin32, you may specify LLVM_LIT_TOOLS_DIR
 196     on CMake for the path to GnuWin32.</li>
 197     <li>You can run LLVM tests by merely building the project
 198       "check". The test results will be shown in the VS output
 199       window.</li>
 200   </ul>
 201   </li>
 202
 203   <!-- FIXME: Is it up-to-date? -->
 204   <li>Test LLVM:
 205   <ul>
 206     <li>The LLVM tests can be run by <tt>cd</tt>ing to the llvm source directory
 207         and running:
 208
 209 <div class="doc_code">
 210 <pre>
 211 % llvm-lit test
 212 </pre>
 213 </div>
 214
 215     <p>Note that quite a few of these test will fail.</p>
 216     </li>
 217
 218     <li>A specific test or test directory can be run with:
 219
 220 <div class="doc_code">
 221 <pre>
 222 % llvm-lit test/path/to/test
 223 </pre>
 224 </div>
 225     </li>
 226   </ul>
 227 </ol>
 228
 229 </div>
 230
 231 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 232 <h2>
 233   <a name="tutorial">An Example Using the LLVM Tool Chain</a>
 234 </h2>
 235 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 236
 237 <div>
 238
 239 <ol>
 240   <li><p>First, create a simple C file, name it 'hello.c':</p>
 241
 242 <div class="doc_code">
 243 <pre>
 244 #include &lt;stdio.h&gt;
 245 int main() {
 246   printf("hello world\n");
 247   return 0;
 248 }
 249 </pre></div></li>
 250
 251   <li><p>Next, compile the C file into a LLVM bitcode file:</p>
 252
 253 <div class="doc_code">
 254 <pre>
 255 % clang -c hello.c -emit-llvm -o hello.bc
 256 </pre>
 257 </div>
 258
 259       <p>This will create the result file <tt>hello.bc</tt> which is the LLVM
 260          bitcode that corresponds the the compiled program and the library
 261          facilities that it required.  You can execute this file directly using
 262          <tt>lli</tt> tool, compile it to native assembly with the <tt>llc</tt>,
 263          optimize or analyze it further with the <tt>opt</tt> tool, etc.</p>
 264
 265       <p>Alternatively you can directly output an executable with clang with:
 266       </p>
 267
 268 <div class="doc_code">
 269 <pre>
 270 % clang hello.c -o hello.exe
 271 </pre>
 272 </div>
 273
 274   <p>The <tt>-o hello.exe</tt> is required because clang currently outputs
 275   <tt>a.out</tt> when neither <tt>-o</tt> nor <tt>-c</tt> are given.</p>
 276
 277   <li><p>Run the program using the just-in-time compiler:</p>
 278
 279 <div class="doc_code">
 280 <pre>
 281 % lli hello.bc
 282 </pre>
 283 </div>
 284
 285   <li><p>Use the <tt>llvm-dis</tt> utility to take a look at the LLVM assembly
 286       code:</p>
 287
 288 <div class="doc_code">
 289 <pre>
 290 % llvm-dis &lt; hello.bc | more
 291 </pre>
 292 </div></li>
 293
 294   <li><p>Compile the program to object code using the LLC code generator:</p>
 295
 296 <div class="doc_code">
 297 <pre>
 298 % llc -filetype=obj hello.bc
 299 </pre>
 300 </div></li>
 301
 302   <li><p>Link to binary using Microsoft link:</p>
 303
 304 <div class="doc_code">
 305 <pre>
 306 % link hello.obj -defaultlib:libcmt
 307 </pre>
 308 </div>
 309
 310   <li><p>Execute the native code program:</p>
 311
 312 <div class="doc_code">
 313 <pre>
 314 % hello.exe
 315 </pre>
 316 </div></li>
 317 </ol>
 318
 319 </div>
 320
 321 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 322 <h2>
 323   <a name="problems">Common Problems</a>
 324 </h2>
 325 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 326
 327 <div>
 328
 329 <p>If you are having problems building or using LLVM, or if you have any other
 330 general questions about LLVM, please consult the <a href="FAQ.html">Frequently
 331 Asked Questions</a> page.</p>
 332
 333 </div>
 334
 335 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 336 <h2>
 337   <a name="links">Links</a>
 338 </h2>
 339 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 340
 341 <div>
 342
 343 <p>This document is just an <b>introduction</b> to how to use LLVM to do
 344 some simple things... there are many more interesting and complicated things
 345 that you can do that aren't documented here (but we'll gladly accept a patch
 346 if you want to write something up!).  For more information about LLVM, check
 347 out:</p>
 348
 349 <ul>
 350   <li><a href="http://llvm.org/">LLVM homepage</a></li>
 351   <li><a href="http://llvm.org/doxygen/">LLVM doxygen tree</a></li>
 352 </ul>
 353
 354 </div>
 355
 356 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 357
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