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11 The Mesa
3D Graphics Library
14 <iframe src=
"contents.html"></iframe>
17 <h1>Compilation and Installation Using Meson
</h1>
20 <li><a href=
"#intro">Introduction
</a></li>
21 <li><a href=
"#basic">Basic Usage
</a></li>
22 <li><a href=
"#advanced">Advanced Usage
</a></li>
23 <li><a href=
"#cross-compilation">Cross-compilation and
32-bit builds
</a></li>
26 <h2 id=
"intro">1. Introduction
</h2>
28 <p>For general information about Meson see the
29 <a href=
"https://mesonbuild.com/">Meson website
</a>.
</p>
31 <p><strong>Mesa's Meson build system is generally considered stable and ready
32 for production.
</strong></p>
34 <p><strong>Mesa requires Meson
>=
0.46.0 to build.
</strong>
36 <p>The Meson build of Mesa is tested on Linux, macOS, Windows, Cygwin, Haiku, FreeBSD,
37 DragonflyBSD, NetBSD, and should work on OpenBSD.
</p>
39 <h4>Unix-like OSes
</h4>
41 <p>If Meson is not already installed on your system, you can typically
42 install it with your package installer. For example:
</p>
44 sudo apt-get install meson # Ubuntu
48 sudo dnf install meson # Fedora
51 Some older versions of meson do not check that they are too old and will error
55 <p>You'll also need
<a href=
"https://ninja-build.org/">Ninja
</a>.
56 If it's not already installed, use apt-get or dnf to install
57 the
<em>ninja-build
</em> package.
63 You will need to install python3 and meson as a module using pip. This is
64 because we use python for generating code, and rely on external modules
65 (mako). You also need pkg-config (a hard dependency of meson), flex, and bison.
67 The easiest way to install everything you need is with
<a
68 href=
"https://chocolatey.org/">chocolatey
</a>.
71 choco install python3 winflexbison pkgconfiglite
73 <p>You can even use chocolatey to install mingw and ninja (ninja can be used with MSVC as well)
</p>
75 choco install ninja mingw
77 <p>Then install meson using pip
</p>
79 py -
3 -m pip install meson mako
82 You may need to add the python3 scripts directory to your path for meson.
84 <h2 id=
"basic">2. Basic Usage
</h2>
87 The meson program is used to configure the source directory and generates
88 either a ninja build file or Visual Studio® build files. The latter must
89 be enabled via the
<code>--backend
</code> switch, as ninja is the default
90 backend on all operating systems.
94 Meson only supports out-of-tree builds, and must be passed a
95 directory to put built and generated sources into. We'll call that directory
97 It's recommended to create a
98 <a href=
"https://mesonbuild.com/Using-multiple-build-directories.html">
99 separate build directory
</a> for each configuration you might want to use.
104 <p>Basic configuration is done with:
</p>
111 This will create the build directory.
112 If any dependencies are missing, you can install them, or try to remove
113 the dependency with a Meson configuration option (see below).
117 To review the options which Meson chose, run:
120 meson configure build/
124 Meson does not currently support listing configuration options before
125 running
"meson build/" but this feature is being discussed upstream.
126 For now, we have a
<code>bin/meson-options.py
</code> script that prints
128 If that script doesn't work for some reason, you can always look in the
129 <a href=
"https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/blob/master/meson_options.txt">
130 meson_options.txt
</a> file at the root of the project.
134 With additional arguments
<code>meson configure
</code> can be used to change
135 options for a previously configured build directory.
136 All options passed to this command are in the form
137 <code>-D
"option"=
"value"</code>.
142 meson configure build/ -Dprefix=/tmp/install -Dglx=true
146 Note that options taking lists (such as
<code>platforms
</code>) are
147 <a href=
"https://mesonbuild.com/Build-options.html#using-build-options">a bit
148 more complicated
</a>, but the simplest form compatible with Mesa options
149 is to use a comma to separate values (
<code>-D platforms=drm,wayland
</code>)
150 and brackets to represent an empty list (
<code>-D platforms=[]
</code>).
154 Once you've run the initial
<code>meson
</code> command successfully you can use
155 your configured backend to build the project in your build directory:
163 The next step is to install the Mesa libraries, drivers, etc.
164 This also finishes up some final steps of the build process (such as creating
165 symbolic links for drivers). To install:
169 ninja -C build/ install
173 Note: autotools automatically updated translation files (used by the DRI
174 configuration tool) as part of the build process,
175 Meson does not do this. Instead, you will need do this:
178 ninja -C build/ xmlpool-pot xmlpool-update-po xmlpool-gmo
181 <h4>Windows specific instructions
</h4>
184 On windows you have a couple of choices for compilers. If you installed mingw
185 with chocolatey and want to use ninja you should be able to open any shell
186 and follow the instructions above. If you want to you MSVC, clang-cl, or ICL
187 (the Intel Compiler), read on.
190 Both ICL and MSVC come with shell environments, the easiest way to use meson
191 with these it to open a shell. For clang-cl you will need to open an MSVC
192 shell, and then override the compilers, either using a
<a
193 href=
"https://mesonbuild.com/Native-environments.html">native file
</a>, or
194 with the CC and CXX environment variables.
197 All of these compilers are tested and work with ninja, but if you want visual
198 studio integration or you just like msbuild, passing
199 <code>--backend=vs
</code> to meson will generate a visual studio solution. If
200 you want to use ICL or clang-cl with the vsbackend you will need meson
0.52.0
201 or greater. Older versions always use the microsoft compiler.
204 <h2 id=
"advanced">3. Advanced Usage
</h2>
206 <h3>Installation Location
</h3>
208 Meson default to installing libGL.so in your system's main lib/ directory
209 and DRI drivers to a dri/ subdirectory.
212 Developers will often want to install Mesa to a testing directory rather
213 than the system library directory.
214 This can be done with the --prefix option. For example:
217 meson
--prefix=
"${PWD}/build/install" build/
220 will put the final libraries and drivers into the build/install/
222 Then you can set LD_LIBRARY_PATH and LIBGL_DRIVERS_PATH to that location
223 to run/test the driver.
226 Meson also honors
<code>DESTDIR
</code> for installs.
229 <h3>Compiler Options
</h3>
230 <p>Meson supports the common CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, etc. environment
231 variables but their use is discouraged because of the many caveats
234 <p>Instead, it is recomended to use
<code>-D${lang}_args
</code> and
235 <code>-D${lang}_link_args
</code>. Among the benefits of these options
236 is that they are guaranteed to persist across rebuilds and reconfigurations.
239 This example sets -fmax-errors for compiling C sources and -DMAGIC=
123
243 meson builddir/ -Dc_args=-fmax-errors=
10 -Dcpp_args=-DMAGIC=
123
247 <h3>Compiler Specification
</h3>
249 Meson supports the standard CC and CXX environment variables for
250 changing the default compiler. Note that Meson does not allow
251 changing the compilers in a configured builddir so you will need
252 to create a new build dir for a different compiler.
255 This is an example of specifying the clang compilers and cleaning
256 the build directory before reconfiguring with an extra C option:
259 CC=clang CXX=clang++ meson build-clang
261 ninja -C build-clang clean
262 meson configure build
-Dc_args=
"-Wno-typedef-redefinition"
266 The default compilers depends on your operating system. Meson supports most of
267 the popular compilers, a complete list is available
268 <a href=
"https://mesonbuild.com/Reference-tables.html#compiler-ids">here
</a>.
272 <p>Meson includes upstream logic to wrap llvm-config using its standard
273 dependency interface.
276 As of meson
0.51.0 meson can use cmake to find llvm (the cmake finder
277 was added in meson
0.49.0, but LLVM cannot be found until
0.51) Due to the
278 way LLVM implements its cmake finder it will only find static libraries, it
279 will never find libllvm.so.
281 There is also a
<code>-Dcmake_module_path
</code> option in this meson version,
282 which points to the root of an alternative installation (the prefix). For
286 meson builddir -Dcmake_module_path=/home/user/mycmake/prefix
290 As of meson
0.49.0 meson also has the concept of a
291 <a href=
"https://mesonbuild.com/Native-environments.html">"native file"</a>,
292 these files provide information about the native build environment (as opposed
293 to a cross build environment). They are ini formatted and can override where to
300 llvm-config = '/usr/local/bin/llvm/llvm-config'
303 Then configure meson:
306 meson builddir/ --native-file custom-llvm.ini
310 Meson
< 0.49 doesn't support native files, so to specify a custom
311 <code>llvm-config
</code> you need to modify your
<code>$PATH
</code> (or
312 <code>%PATH%
</code> on windows), which will be searched for
313 <code>llvm-config
</code>,
<code>llvm-config
<i>$version
</i></code>,
314 and
<code>llvm-config-
<i>$version
</i></code>:
317 PATH=/path/to/folder/with/llvm-config:$PATH meson build
321 For selecting llvm-config for cross compiling a
322 <a href=
"https://mesonbuild.com/Cross-compilation.html#defining-the-environment">"cross file"</a>
323 should be used. It uses the same format as the native file above:
326 <p>cross-llvm.ini
</p>
330 llvm-config = '/usr/lib/llvm-config-
32'
331 cmake = '/usr/bin/cmake-for-my-arch'
334 <p>Obviously, only cmake or llvm-config is required.
</p>
336 <p>Then configure meson:
</p>
338 meson builddir/ --cross-file cross-llvm.ini
341 See the
<a href=
"#cross-compilation">Cross Compilation
</a> section for more information.
343 <p>On windows (and in other cases), using llvm-config or cmake may be
344 either undesirable or impossible. Meson's solution for this is a
345 <a href=
"https://mesonbuild.com/Wrap-dependency-system-manual.html">wrap
</a>, in
346 this case a
"binary wrap". Follow the steps below:
</p>
348 <li>Install the binaries and headers into the
<code>$mesa_src/subprojects/llvm
</code></li>
349 <li>Add a meson build.build file to that directory (more on that later)
</li>
352 <p>The wrap file must define the following:
</p>
354 <li><code>dep_llvm
</code>: a
<code>declare_dependency()
</code> object with include_directories, dependencies, and version set)
</li>
357 <p>It may also define:
</p>
359 <li><code>irbuilder_h
</code>: a
<code>files()
</code> object pointing to llvm/IR/IRBuilder.h (this is requred for SWR)
</li>
360 <li><code>has_rtti
</code>: a
<code>bool
</code> that declares whether LLVM was built with RTTI. Defaults to true
</li>
363 <p>such a meson.build file might look like:
</p>
365 project('llvm', ['cpp'])
367 cpp = meson.get_compiler('cpp')
370 _search = join_paths(meson.current_source_dir(), 'lib')
371 foreach d : ['libLLVMCodeGen', 'libLLVMScalarOpts', 'libLLVMAnalysis',
372 'libLLVMTransformUtils', 'libLLVMCore', 'libLLVMX86CodeGen',
373 'libLLVMSelectionDAG', 'libLLVMipo', 'libLLVMAsmPrinter',
374 'libLLVMInstCombine', 'libLLVMInstrumentation', 'libLLVMMC',
375 'libLLVMGlobalISel', 'libLLVMObjectYAML', 'libLLVMDebugInfoPDB',
376 'libLLVMVectorize', 'libLLVMPasses', 'libLLVMSupport',
377 'libLLVMLTO', 'libLLVMObject', 'libLLVMDebugInfoCodeView',
378 'libLLVMDebugInfoDWARF', 'libLLVMOrcJIT', 'libLLVMProfileData',
379 'libLLVMObjCARCOpts', 'libLLVMBitReader', 'libLLVMCoroutines',
380 'libLLVMBitWriter', 'libLLVMRuntimeDyld', 'libLLVMMIRParser',
381 'libLLVMX86Desc', 'libLLVMAsmParser', 'libLLVMTableGen',
382 'libLLVMFuzzMutate', 'libLLVMLinker', 'libLLVMMCParser',
383 'libLLVMExecutionEngine', 'libLLVMCoverage', 'libLLVMInterpreter',
384 'libLLVMTarget', 'libLLVMX86AsmParser', 'libLLVMSymbolize',
385 'libLLVMDebugInfoMSF', 'libLLVMMCJIT', 'libLLVMXRay',
386 'libLLVMX86AsmPrinter', 'libLLVMX86Disassembler',
387 'libLLVMMCDisassembler', 'libLLVMOption', 'libLLVMIRReader',
388 'libLLVMLibDriver', 'libLLVMDlltoolDriver', 'libLLVMDemangle',
389 'libLLVMBinaryFormat', 'libLLVMLineEditor',
390 'libLLVMWindowsManifest', 'libLLVMX86Info', 'libLLVMX86Utils']
391 _deps += cpp.find_library(d, dirs : _search)
394 dep_llvm = declare_dependency(
395 include_directories : include_directories('include'),
396 dependencies : _deps,
401 irbuilder_h = files('include/llvm/IR/IRBuilder.h')
404 <p>It is very important that version is defined and is accurate, if it is not,
405 workarounds for the wrong version of LLVM might be used resulting in build
408 <h3><code>PKG_CONFIG_PATH
</code></h3>
410 <code>pkg-config
</code> utility is a hard requirement for configuring and
411 building Mesa on Unix-like systems. It is used to search for external libraries
412 on the system. This environment variable is used to control the search path for
413 <code>pkg-config
</code>. For instance, setting
414 <code>PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/X11R6/lib/pkgconfig
</code> will search for package
415 metadata in
<code>/usr/X11R6
</code> before the standard directories.
</p>
419 One of the oddities of meson is that some options are different when passed to
420 the
<code>meson
</code> than to
<code>meson configure
</code>. These options are
421 passed as --option=foo to
<code>meson
</code>, but -Doption=foo to
<code>meson
422 configure
</code>. Mesa defined options are always passed as -Doption=foo.
425 <p>For those coming from autotools be aware of the following:
</p>
428 <dt><code>--buildtype/-Dbuildtype
</code></dt>
429 <dd><p>This option will set the compiler debug/optimisation levels to aid
430 debugging the Mesa libraries.
</p>
432 <p>Note that in meson this defaults to
<code>debugoptimized
</code>, and
433 not setting it to
<code>release
</code> will yield non-optimal
434 performance and binary size. Not using
<code>debug
</code> may interfere
435 with debugging as some code and validation will be optimized away.
438 <p> For those wishing to pass their own optimization flags, use the
<code>plain
</code>
439 buildtype, which causes meson to inject no additional compiler arguments, only
440 those in the C/CXXFLAGS and those that mesa itself defines.
</p>
443 <dt><code>-Db_ndebug
</code></dt>
444 <dd><p>This option controls assertions in meson projects. When set to
<code>false
</code>
445 (the default) assertions are enabled, when set to true they are disabled. This
446 is unrelated to the
<code>buildtype
</code>; setting the latter to
447 <code>release
</code> will not turn off assertions.
452 <h2 id=
"cross-compilation">4. Cross-compilation and
32-bit builds
</h2>
454 <p><a href=
"https://mesonbuild.com/Cross-compilation.html">Meson supports
455 cross-compilation
</a> by specifying a number of binary paths and
456 settings in a file and passing this file to
<code>meson
</code> or
457 <code>meson configure
</code> with the
<code>--cross-file
</code>
460 <p>This file can live at any location, but you can use the bare filename
461 (without the folder path) if you put it in $XDG_DATA_HOME/meson/cross or
462 ~/.local/share/meson/cross
</p>
464 <p>Below are a few example of cross files, but keep in mind that you
465 will likely have to alter them for your system.
</p>
468 Those running on ArchLinux can use the AUR-maintained packages for some
469 of those, as they'll have the right values for your system:
472 <li><a href=
"https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/meson-cross-x86-linux-gnu">meson-cross-x86-linux-gnu
</a></li>
473 <li><a href=
"https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/meson-cross-aarch64-linux-gnu">meson-cross-aarch64-linux-gnu
</a></li>
477 32-bit build on x86 linux:
483 ar = '/usr/bin/gcc-ar'
484 strip = '/usr/bin/strip'
485 pkgconfig = '/usr/bin/pkg-config-
32'
486 llvm-config = '/usr/bin/llvm-config32'
490 c_link_args = ['-m32']
492 cpp_link_args = ['-m32']
502 64-bit build on ARM linux:
506 c = '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc'
507 cpp = '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-g++'
508 ar = '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc-ar'
509 strip = '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-strip'
510 pkgconfig = '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-pkg-config'
511 exe_wrapper = '/usr/bin/qemu-aarch64-static'
515 cpu_family = 'aarch64'
521 64-bit build on x86 windows:
525 c = '/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc'
526 cpp = '/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++'
527 ar = '/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-ar'
528 strip = '/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-strip'
529 pkgconfig = '/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-pkg-config'
534 cpu_family = 'x86_64'