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Chris Lattnerf9e7e3a2010-05-11 20:53:16 +000025 <a href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/cfe-dev">cfe-dev</a>
26 <a href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/cfe-commits">cfe-commits</a>
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34 <!--*********************************************************************-->
35 <h1>"libc++" C++ Standard Library</h1>
36 <!--*********************************************************************-->
Howard Hinnant2807d4a2010-08-22 01:04:38 +000037
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +000038 <p>libc++ is a new implementation of the C++ standard library, targeting
Howard Hinnant51eb2ad2012-07-19 15:57:51 +000039 C++11.</p>
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +000040
Chris Lattner58dffe62010-11-16 21:40:19 +000041 <p>All of the code in libc++ is <a
42 href="http://llvm.org/docs/DeveloperPolicy.html#license">dual licensed</a>
43 under the MIT license and the UIUC License (a BSD-like license).</p>
Howard Hinnant2807d4a2010-08-22 01:04:38 +000044
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +000045 <!--=====================================================================-->
46 <h2 id="goals">Features and Goals</h2>
47 <!--=====================================================================-->
Howard Hinnant2807d4a2010-08-22 01:04:38 +000048
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +000049 <ul>
Howard Hinnant51eb2ad2012-07-19 15:57:51 +000050 <li>Correctness as defined by the C++11 standard.</li>
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +000051 <li>Fast execution.</li>
52 <li>Minimal memory use.</li>
53 <li>Fast compile times.</li>
54 <li>ABI compatibility with gcc's libstdc++ for some low-level features
55 such as exception objects, rtti and memory allocation.</li>
56 <li>Extensive unit tests.</li>
57 </ul>
58
59 <!--=====================================================================-->
Marshall Clow497d9d22012-11-14 16:31:15 +000060 <h2 id="why">Why a new C++ Standard Library for C++11?</h2>
Chris Lattner27de3d62010-05-12 22:21:15 +000061 <!--=====================================================================-->
Howard Hinnant2807d4a2010-08-22 01:04:38 +000062
Chris Lattner27de3d62010-05-12 22:21:15 +000063 <p>After its initial introduction, many people have asked "why start a new
64 library instead of contributing to an existing library?" (like Apache's
65 libstdcxx, GNU's libstdc++, STLport, etc). There are many contributing
66 reasons, but some of the major ones are:</p>
Howard Hinnant2807d4a2010-08-22 01:04:38 +000067
Chris Lattner27de3d62010-05-12 22:21:15 +000068 <ul>
69 <li><p>From years of experience (including having implemented the standard
70 library before), we've learned many things about implementing
71 the standard containers which require ABI breakage and fundamental changes
72 to how they are implemented. For example, it is generally accepted that
73 building std::string using the "short string optimization" instead of
74 using Copy On Write (COW) is a superior approach for multicore
Marshall Clow497d9d22012-11-14 16:31:15 +000075 machines (particularly in C++11, which has rvalue references). Breaking
Chris Lattnerf005e8d2010-05-12 22:30:22 +000076 ABI compatibility with old versions of the library was
Chris Lattner27de3d62010-05-12 22:21:15 +000077 determined to be critical to achieving the performance goals of
78 libc++.</p></li>
Howard Hinnant2807d4a2010-08-22 01:04:38 +000079
Chris Lattner27de3d62010-05-12 22:21:15 +000080 <li><p>Mainline libstdc++ has switched to GPL3, a license which the developers
81 of libc++ cannot use. libstdc++ 4.2 (the last GPL2 version) could be
Marshall Clow497d9d22012-11-14 16:31:15 +000082 independently extended to support C++11, but this would be a fork of the
Chris Lattnera940b5b2010-05-12 22:33:00 +000083 codebase (which is often seen as worse for a project than starting a new
84 independent one). Another problem with libstdc++ is that it is tightly
85 integrated with G++ development, tending to be tied fairly closely to the
86 matching version of G++.</p>
Chris Lattner27de3d62010-05-12 22:21:15 +000087 </li>
88
89 <li><p>STLport and the Apache libstdcxx library are two other popular
Marshall Clow497d9d22012-11-14 16:31:15 +000090 candidates, but both lack C++11 support. Our experience (and the
Howard Hinnant51eb2ad2012-07-19 15:57:51 +000091 experience of libstdc++ developers) is that adding support for C++11 (in
Chris Lattner27de3d62010-05-12 22:21:15 +000092 particular rvalue references and move-only types) requires changes to
93 almost every class and function, essentially amounting to a rewrite.
Chris Lattnerd55fd112010-05-12 22:34:21 +000094 Faced with a rewrite, we decided to start from scratch and evaluate every
95 design decision from first principles based on experience.</p>
Howard Hinnant2807d4a2010-08-22 01:04:38 +000096
Chris Lattner27de3d62010-05-12 22:21:15 +000097 <p>Further, both projects are apparently abandoned: STLport 5.2.1 was
98 released in Oct'08, and STDCXX 4.2.1 in May'08.</p>
99
100 </ul>
101
102 <!--=====================================================================-->
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +0000103 <h2 id="requirements">Platform Support</h2>
104 <!--=====================================================================-->
105
106 <p>libc++ is known to work on the following platforms, using g++-4.2 and
Howard Hinnant51eb2ad2012-07-19 15:57:51 +0000107 clang (lack of C++11 language support disables some functionality).</p>
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +0000108
109 <ul>
110 <li>Mac OS X i386</li>
111 <li>Mac OS X x86_64</li>
112 </ul>
113
114 <!--=====================================================================-->
115 <h2 id="dir-structure">Current Status</h2>
116 <!--=====================================================================-->
117
Howard Hinnant6852b552012-11-27 18:52:32 +0000118 <p>libc++ is a 100% complete C++11 implementation on Apple's OS X. </p>
Michael J. Spencerbb8cfd02012-12-31 19:34:21 +0000119 <p>LLVM and Clang can self host in C++ and C++11 mode with libc++ on Linux.</p>
Marshall Clow079402d2014-04-03 02:38:12 +0000120 <p>libc++ is also a 100% complete C++14 implementation. A list of new features and changes for
Marshall Clowca6e3662014-04-03 02:35:29 +0000121 C++14 can be found <a href="cxx1y_status.html">here</a>.</p>
Marshall Clowf39d9142014-06-02 23:37:13 +0000122 <p>Implementation of the post-c++14 Technical Specifications is in progress. A list of features and
123 the current status of these features can be found <a href="ts1z_status.html">here</a>.</p>
Howard Hinnantd7aac282011-09-28 15:44:39 +0000124 <p>
Howard Hinnant8eb04fe2012-07-31 21:30:28 +0000125 Ports to other platforms are underway. Here are recent test
126 results for <a href="results.Windows.html">Windows</a>
127 and <a href="results.Linux.html">Linux</a>.
Howard Hinnantd7aac282011-09-28 15:44:39 +0000128 </p>
129
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +0000130 <!--=====================================================================-->
131 <h2>Get it and get involved!</h2>
132 <!--=====================================================================-->
Howard Hinnant2807d4a2010-08-22 01:04:38 +0000133
Howard Hinnant4f4d3102011-09-30 16:58:02 +0000134 <p>First please review our
135 <a href="http://llvm.org/docs/DeveloperPolicy.html">Developer's Policy</a>.
136
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +0000137 <p>To check out the code, use:</p>
Howard Hinnant2807d4a2010-08-22 01:04:38 +0000138
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +0000139 <ul>
Chris Lattner6f12a7f2010-05-11 20:37:52 +0000140 <li><code>svn co http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/libcxx/trunk libcxx</code></li>
Howard Hinnante4de2792011-01-27 23:18:19 +0000141 </ul>
142
Howard Hinnant73191602011-11-17 17:14:16 +0000143 <p>
Howard Hinnant1c8358c2012-11-06 21:31:37 +0000144 On Mac OS 10.7 (Lion) and later, the easiest way to get this library is to install
Howard Hinnant73191602011-11-17 17:14:16 +0000145 Xcode 4.2 or later. However if you want to install tip-of-trunk from here
Howard Hinnant6e3e78a2012-04-03 15:08:42 +0000146 (getting the bleeding edge), read on. However, be warned that Mac OS
147 10.7 will not boot without a valid copy of <code>libc++.1.dylib</code> in
148 <code>/usr/lib</code>.
Howard Hinnant73191602011-11-17 17:14:16 +0000149 </p>
150
Howard Hinnante4de2792011-01-27 23:18:19 +0000151 <p>
152 Next:
153 </p>
154
155 <ul>
156 <li><code>cd libcxx/lib</code></li>
157 <li><code>export TRIPLE=-apple-</code></li>
158 <li><code>./buildit</code></li>
Howard Hinnant1c8358c2012-11-06 21:31:37 +0000159 <li><code>ln -sf libc++.1.dylib libc++.dylib</code></li>
Howard Hinnante4de2792011-01-27 23:18:19 +0000160 </ul>
161
162 <p>
Howard Hinnant1c8358c2012-11-06 21:31:37 +0000163 That should result in a libc++.1.dylib and libc++.dylib. The safest thing
164 to do is to use it from where your libcxx is installed instead of replacing
165 these in your Mac OS.
Howard Hinnante4de2792011-01-27 23:18:19 +0000166 </p>
167
Howard Hinnante4de2792011-01-27 23:18:19 +0000168 <p>
Howard Hinnant1c8358c2012-11-06 21:31:37 +0000169 To use your system-installed libc++ with clang you can:
Howard Hinnante4de2792011-01-27 23:18:19 +0000170 </p>
171
172 <ul>
173 <li><code>clang++ -stdlib=libc++ test.cpp</code></li>
Howard Hinnant51eb2ad2012-07-19 15:57:51 +0000174 <li><code>clang++ -std=c++11 -stdlib=libc++ test.cpp</code></li>
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +0000175 </ul>
176
Howard Hinnant1c8358c2012-11-06 21:31:37 +0000177 <p>
178 To use your tip-of-trunk libc++ on Mac OS with clang you can:
179 </p>
180
181 <ul>
182 <li><code>export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=&lt;path-to-libcxx&gt;/lib</code>
183 <li><code>clang++ -std=c++11 -stdlib=libc++ -nostdinc++
184 -I&lt;path-to-libcxx&gt;/include -L&lt;path-to-libcxx&gt;/lib
185 test.cpp</code></li>
186 </ul>
187
Marshall Clowc740e052012-08-22 00:57:11 +0000188 <p>To run the libc++ test suite (recommended):</p>
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +0000189
190 <ul>
Chris Lattner6f12a7f2010-05-11 20:37:52 +0000191 <li><code>cd libcxx/test</code></li>
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +0000192 <li><code>./testit</code></li>
Howard Hinnant8298b9c2011-06-22 12:13:55 +0000193 <ul>
Howard Hinnant1c8358c2012-11-06 21:31:37 +0000194 <li>You can alter the command line options <code>testit</code> uses
195 with <code>export OPTIONS="whatever you need"</code></li>
Howard Hinnant8298b9c2011-06-22 12:13:55 +0000196 </ul>
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +0000197 </ul>
198
Howard Hinnant49c3b202012-05-20 13:03:53 +0000199 <!--=====================================================================-->
200 <h3>Notes</h3>
201 <!--=====================================================================-->
202
203<p>
204Building libc++ with <code>-fno-rtti</code> is not supported. However linking
205against it with <code>-fno-rtti</code> is supported.
206</p>
207
Howard Hinnant2807d4a2010-08-22 01:04:38 +0000208 <p>Send discussions to the
Howard Hinnant180e1d72010-05-11 19:53:34 +0000209 (<a href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/cfe-dev">clang mailing list</a>).</p>
210
Howard Hinnant1de22662010-10-05 16:44:40 +0000211 <!--=====================================================================-->
Marshall Clow17c6aa02014-04-03 03:13:12 +0000212 <h2>Bug reports and patches</h2>
213 <!--=====================================================================-->
214
215<p>
216If you think you've found a bug in libc++, please report it using
217the <a href="http://llvm.org/bugs">LLVM Bugzilla</a>. If you're not sure, you
Marshall Clow5cf03ab2014-04-07 07:28:33 +0000218can post a message to the <a href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/cfe-dev">cfe-dev</a>
Marshall Clow17c6aa02014-04-03 03:13:12 +0000219mailing list or on IRC. Please include "libc++" in your subject.
220</p>
221
222<p>
223If you want to contribute a patch to libc++, the best place for that is the
224<a href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/cfe-commits">cfe-commits</a>
225mailing list. Please include "libc++" and "PATCH" in your subject.
226</p>
227
228 <!--=====================================================================-->
Michael J. Spencerbb8cfd02012-12-31 19:34:21 +0000229 <h2>Build on Linux using CMake and libsupc++.</h2>
230 <!--=====================================================================-->
231
232 <p>
233 You will need libstdc++ in order to provide libsupc++.
234 </p>
235
236 <p>
237 Figure out where the libsupc++ headers are on your system. On Ubuntu this
238 is <code>/usr/include/c++/&lt;version&gt;</code> and
239 <code>/usr/include/c++/&lt;version&gt;/&lt;target-triple&gt;</code>
240 </p>
241
242 <p>
243 You can also figure this out by running
244 <pre>
245$ echo | g++ -Wp,-v -x c++ - -fsyntax-only
246ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/local/include/x86_64-linux-gnu"
247ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.7/../../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/include"
248#include "..." search starts here:
249#include &lt;...&gt; search starts here:
250 /usr/include/c++/4.7
251 /usr/include/c++/4.7/x86_64-linux-gnu
252 /usr/include/c++/4.7/backward
253 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.7/include
254 /usr/local/include
255 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.7/include-fixed
256 /usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu
257 /usr/include
258End of search list.
259 </pre>
260
261 Note the first two entries happen to be what we are looking for. This
262 may not be correct on other platforms.
263 </p>
264
265 <p>
266 We can now run CMake:
267 <ul>
268 <li><code>CC=clang CXX=clang++ cmake -G "Unix Makefiles"
Peter Collingbourne26dd09e2013-10-06 22:13:19 +0000269 -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libstdc++
Michael J. Spencerbb8cfd02012-12-31 19:34:21 +0000270 -DLIBCXX_LIBSUPCXX_INCLUDE_PATHS="/usr/include/c++/4.7/;/usr/include/c++/4.7/x86_64-linux-gnu/"
271 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
272 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr
273 &lt;libc++-source-dir&gt;</code></li>
Peter Collingbourne26dd09e2013-10-06 22:13:19 +0000274 <li>You can also substitute <code>-DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libsupc++</code>
275 above, which will cause the library to be linked to libsupc++ instead
276 of libstdc++, but this is only recommended if you know that you will
277 never need to link against libstdc++ in the same executable as libc++.
278 GCC ships libsupc++ separately but only as a static library. If a
279 program also needs to link against libstdc++, it will provide its
280 own copy of libsupc++ and this can lead to subtle problems.
Michael J. Spencerbb8cfd02012-12-31 19:34:21 +0000281 <li><code>make</code></li>
282 <li><code>sudo make install</code></li>
283 </ul>
284 <p>
285 You can now run clang with -stdlib=libc++.
286 </p>
287 </p>
288
289 <!--=====================================================================-->
Howard Hinnantaf00dc02013-02-08 19:10:36 +0000290 <h2>Build on Linux using CMake and libc++abi.</h2>
291 <!--=====================================================================-->
292
293 <p>
294 You will need to keep the source tree of <a href="http://libcxxabi.llvm.org">libc++abi</a>
295 available on your build machine and your copy of the libc++abi shared library must
296 be placed where your linker will find it.
297 </p>
298
299 <p>
300 We can now run CMake:
301 <ul>
302 <li><code>CC=clang CXX=clang++ cmake -G "Unix Makefiles"
303 -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libcxxabi
304 -DLIBCXX_LIBCXXABI_INCLUDE_PATHS="&lt;libc++abi-source-dir&gt;/include"
305 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
306 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr
307 &lt;libc++-source-dir&gt;</code></li>
308 <li><code>make</code></li>
309 <li><code>sudo make install</code></li>
310 </ul>
311 <p>
312 Unfortunately you can't simply run clang with "-stdlib=libc++" at this point, as
313 clang is set up to link for libc++ linked to libsupc++. To get around this
314 you'll have to set up your linker yourself (or patch clang). For example,
315 <ul>
316 <li><code>clang++ -stdlib=libc++ helloworld.cpp -nodefaultlibs -lc++ -lc++abi -lm -lc -lgcc_s -lgcc</code></li>
317 </ul>
318 Alternately, you could just add libc++abi to your libraries list, which in most
319 situations will give the same result:
320 <ul>
321 <li><code>clang++ -stdlib=libc++ helloworld.cpp -lc++abi</code></li>
322 </ul>
323 </p>
324 </p>
325
326 <!--=====================================================================-->
327 <h2>Build on Linux using CMake and libcxxrt.</h2>
328 <!--=====================================================================-->
329
330 <p>
331 You will need to keep the source tree of
332 <a href="https://github.com/pathscale/libcxxrt/">libcxxrt</a> available
333 on your build machine and your copy of the libcxxrt shared library must
334 be placed where your linker will find it.
335 </p>
336
337 <p>
338 We can now run CMake:
339 <ul>
340 <li><code>CC=clang CXX=clang++ cmake -G "Unix Makefiles"
341 -DLIBCXX_CXX_ABI=libcxxrt
Howard Hinnant5b22e992013-02-26 16:27:55 +0000342 -DLIBCXX_LIBCXXRT_INCLUDE_PATHS="&lt;libcxxrt-source-dir&gt;/src"
Howard Hinnantaf00dc02013-02-08 19:10:36 +0000343 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
344 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr
345 &lt;libc++-source-dir&gt;</code></li>
346 <li><code>make</code></li>
347 <li><code>sudo make install</code></li>
348 </ul>
349 <p>
350 Unfortunately you can't simply run clang with "-stdlib=libc++" at this point, as
351 clang is set up to link for libc++ linked to libsupc++. To get around this
352 you'll have to set up your linker yourself (or patch clang). For example,
353 <ul>
354 <li><code>clang++ -stdlib=libc++ helloworld.cpp -nodefaultlibs -lc++ -lcxxrt -lm -lc -lgcc_s -lgcc</code></li>
355 </ul>
356 Alternately, you could just add libcxxrt to your libraries list, which in most
357 situations will give the same result:
358 <ul>
359 <li><code>clang++ -stdlib=libc++ helloworld.cpp -lcxxrt</code></li>
360 </ul>
361 </p>
362 </p>
363
364 <!--=====================================================================-->
Howard Hinnant1de22662010-10-05 16:44:40 +0000365 <h2>Design Documents</h2>
366 <!--=====================================================================-->
367
368<ul>
369<li><a href="atomic_design.html"><tt>&lt;atomic&gt;</tt></a></li>
Howard Hinnant4b889672010-11-19 01:38:58 +0000370<li><a href="type_traits_design.html"><tt>&lt;type_traits&gt;</tt></a></li>
Marshall Clow928f65a2013-03-14 19:00:34 +0000371<li><a href="http://cplusplusmusings.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/clang-and-standard-libraries-on-mac-os-x/">Excellent notes by Marshall Clow</a></li>
Howard Hinnantd70e6572013-03-14 18:37:48 +0000372<li><a href="debug_mode.html">Status of debug mode</a></li>
Howard Hinnant1de22662010-10-05 16:44:40 +0000373</ul>
374
Howard Hinnant3e519522010-05-11 19:42:16 +0000375</div>
376</body>
Chris Lattner6f12a7f2010-05-11 20:37:52 +0000377</html>