Build Instructions

Instructions for building this repository on Windows, Linux, and MacOS.

Index

  1. Contributing
  2. Repository Content
  3. Repository Set-up
  4. Windows Build
  5. Linux Build
  6. MacOS Build

Contributing to the Repository

The contents of this repository are sourced primarily from the Khronos Vulkan API specification repository. Please visit that repository for information on contributing.

Repository Content

This repository contains the Vulkan header files and the Vulkan API definition (registry) with its related files. This repository does not create libraries or executables.

However, this repository contains CMake build configuration files to "install" the files from this repository to a specific install directory. For example, you can install the files to a system directory such as /usr/local on Linux.

If you are building other Vulkan-related repositories such as Vulkan-Loader, you need to build the install target of this repository and provide the resulting install directory to those repositories.

Installed Files

The install target installs the following files under the directory indicated by install_dir:

  • install_dir/include/vulkan : The header files found in the include/vulkan directory of this repository
  • install_dir/share/vulkan/registry : The registry files found in the registry directory of this repository

The uninstall target can be used to remove the above files from the install directory.

Repository Set-Up

Download the Repository

To create your local git repository:

git clone https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Headers.git

Repository Dependencies

This repository does not depend on any other repositories.

Build and Install Directories

A common convention is to place the build directory in the top directory of the repository with a name of build and place the install directory as a child of the build directory with the name install. The remainder of these instructions follow this convention, although you can use any name for these directories and place them in any location.

Building On Windows

Windows Development Environment Requirements

  • Windows
    • Any Personal Computer version supported by Microsoft
  • Microsoft Visual Studio
    • Versions
    • The Community Edition of each of the above versions is sufficient, as well as any more capable edition.
  • CMake 3.10.2 is recommended.
    • Use the installer option to add CMake to the system PATH
  • Git Client Support

Windows Build - Microsoft Visual Studio

The general approach is to run CMake to generate the Visual Studio project files. Then either run CMake with the --build option to build from the command line or use the Visual Studio IDE to open the generated solution and work with the solution interactively.

Windows Quick Start

From a "Developer Command Prompt for VS 201x" console:

cd Vulkan-Headers
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --target install

See below for the details.

Use CMake to Create the Visual Studio Project Files

From within a "Developer Command Prompt for VS 201x" console, change your current directory to the top of the cloned repository directory, create a build directory and generate the Visual Studio project files:

cd Vulkan-Headers
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..

Note: The .. parameter tells cmake the location of the top of the repository. If you place your build directory someplace else, you'll need to specify the location of the repository top differently.

The CMake configuration files set the default install directory location to $CMAKE_BINARY_DIR\install, which is a child of your build directory. In this example, the install directory becomes the Vulkan-Headers\build\install directory.

The project installs the header files to

Vulkan-Headers\build\install\include\vulkan

and installs the registry files to

Vulkan-Headers\build\install\share\vulkan\registry

You can change the install directory with the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX CMake variable.

For example:

cd Vulkan-Headers
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/c/Users/dev/install ..  # MINGW64 shell

As it starts generating the project files, cmake responds with something like:

-- Building for: Visual Studio 14 2015

which is a 32-bit generator.

Since this repository does not compile anything, there is no need to specify a specific generator such as "Visual Studio 14 2015 Win64", so the default generator should suffice.

The above steps create a Windows solution file named Vulkan-Headers.sln in the build directory.

At this point, you can build the solution from the command line or open the generated solution with Visual Studio.

Build the Solution From the Command Line

While still in the build directory:

cmake --build . --target install

to build the install target.

Build the uninstall target to remove the files from the install directory.

cmake --build . --target uninstall

Build the Solution With Visual Studio

Launch Visual Studio and open the "Vulkan-Headers.sln" solution file in the build directory. Build the INSTALL target from the Visual Studio solution explorer.

Build the uninstall target to remove the files from the install directory.

Note: Since there are only the INSTALL and uninstall projects in the solution, building the solution from the command line may be more efficient than starting Visual Studio for these simple operations.

Building On Linux

Linux Development Environment Requirements

There are no specific Linux distribution or compiler version requirements for building this repository. The required tools are

Linux Build

The general approach is to run CMake to generate make files. Then either run CMake with the --build option or make to build from the command line.

Linux Quick Start

cd Vulkan-Headers
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install ..
make install

See below for the details.

Use CMake to Create the Make Files

Change your current directory to the top of the cloned repository directory, create a build directory and generate the make files:

cd Vulkan-Headers
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install ..

Note: The .. parameter tells cmake the location of the top of the repository. If you place your build directory someplace else, you'll need to specify the location of the repository top differently.

Set the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX variable to the directory to serve as the destination directory for the install target.

The above cmake command sets the install directory to $CMAKE_BINARY_DIR/install, which is a child of your build directory. In this example, the install directory becomes the Vulkan-Headers/build/install directory.

The make file install target installs the header files to

Vulkan-Headers/build/install/include/vulkan

and installs the registry files to

Vulkan-Headers/build/install/share/vulkan/registry

Note: For Linux, the default value for CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX is /usr/local, which would be used if you do not specify CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX. In this case, you may need to use sudo to install to system directories later when you run make install.

Note that after generating the make files, running make:

make

does nothing, since there are no libraries or executables to build.

To install the header files:

make install

or

cmake --build . --target install

To uninstall the files from the install directories, you can execute:

make uninstall

or

cmake --build . --target uninstall

Building on MacOS

The instructions for building this repository on MacOS are similar to those for Linux.

CMake 3.10.2 is recommended.