1 Compilation and Installation Using Meson
2 ========================================
7 For general information about Meson see the `Meson
8 website <https://mesonbuild.com/>`__.
10 **Mesa's Meson build system is generally considered stable and ready for
13 .. note:: Mesa requires Meson >= 0.52.0 to build.
15 The Meson build of Mesa is tested on Linux, macOS, Windows, Cygwin,
16 Haiku, FreeBSD, DragonflyBSD, NetBSD, and should work on OpenBSD.
21 If Meson is not already installed on your system, you can typically
22 install it with your package installer. For example:
24 .. code-block:: console
26 sudo apt-get install meson # Ubuntu
30 .. code-block:: console
32 sudo dnf install meson # Fedora
34 Some older versions of meson do not check that they are too old and will
35 error out in odd ways.
37 You'll also need `Ninja <https://ninja-build.org/>`__. If it's not
38 already installed, use apt-get or dnf to install the *ninja-build*
44 You will need to install python3 and meson as a module using pip. This
45 is because we use python for generating code, and rely on external
46 modules (mako). You also need pkg-config (a hard dependency of meson),
47 flex, and bison. The easiest way to install everything you need is with
48 `chocolatey <https://chocolatey.org/>`__.
50 .. code-block:: console
52 choco install python3 winflexbison pkgconfiglite
54 You can even use chocolatey to install mingw and ninja (ninja can be
55 used with MSVC as well)
57 .. code-block:: console
59 choco install ninja mingw
61 Then install meson using pip
63 .. code-block:: console
65 py -3 -m pip install meson mako
67 You may need to add the python3 scripts directory to your path for
73 The meson program is used to configure the source directory and
74 generates either a ninja build file or Visual Studio® build files. The
75 latter must be enabled via the ``--backend`` switch, as ninja is the
76 default backend on all operating systems.
78 Meson only supports out-of-tree builds, and must be passed a directory
79 to put built and generated sources into. We'll call that directory
80 "build" here. It's recommended to create a `separate build
81 directory <https://mesonbuild.com/Using-multiple-build-directories.html>`__
82 for each configuration you might want to use.
84 Basic configuration is done with:
86 .. code-block:: console
90 This will create the build directory. If any dependencies are missing,
91 you can install them, or try to remove the dependency with a Meson
92 configuration option (see below).
94 To review the options which Meson chose, run:
96 .. code-block:: console
98 meson configure build/
100 Meson does not currently support listing configuration options before
101 running "meson build/" but this feature is being discussed upstream. For
102 now, we have a ``bin/meson-options.py`` script that prints the options
103 for you. If that script doesn't work for some reason, you can always
105 `meson_options.txt <https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/blob/master/meson_options.txt>`__
106 file at the root of the project.
108 With additional arguments ``meson configure`` can be used to change
109 options for a previously configured build directory. All options passed
110 to this command are in the form ``-D "option"="value"``. For example:
112 .. code-block:: console
114 meson configure build/ -Dprefix=/tmp/install -Dglx=true
116 Note that options taking lists (such as ``platforms``) are `a bit more
117 complicated <https://mesonbuild.com/Build-options.html#using-build-options>`__,
118 but the simplest form compatible with Mesa options is to use a comma to
119 separate values (``-D platforms=drm,wayland``) and brackets to represent
120 an empty list (``-D platforms=[]``).
122 Once you've run the initial ``meson`` command successfully you can use
123 your configured backend to build the project in your build directory:
125 .. code-block:: console
129 The next step is to install the Mesa libraries, drivers, etc. This also
130 finishes up some final steps of the build process (such as creating
131 symbolic links for drivers). To install:
133 .. code-block:: console
135 ninja -C build/ install
139 autotools automatically updated translation files (used by the DRI
140 configuration tool) as part of the build process, Meson does not do
141 this. Instead, you will need do this:
143 .. code-block:: console
145 ninja -C build/ xmlpool-pot xmlpool-update-po xmlpool-gmo
147 Windows specific instructions
148 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
150 On windows you have a couple of choices for compilers. If you installed
151 mingw with chocolatey and want to use ninja you should be able to open
152 any shell and follow the instructions above. If you want to you MSVC,
153 clang-cl, or ICL (the Intel Compiler), read on.
155 Both ICL and MSVC come with shell environments, the easiest way to use
156 meson with these it to open a shell. For clang-cl you will need to open
157 an MSVC shell, and then override the compilers, either using a `native
158 file <https://mesonbuild.com/Native-environments.html>`__, or with the
159 CC and CXX environment variables.
161 All of these compilers are tested and work with ninja, but if you want
162 visual studio integration or you just like msbuild, passing
163 ``--backend=vs`` to meson will generate a visual studio solution. If you
164 want to use ICL or clang-cl with the vsbackend you will need meson
165 0.52.0 or greater. Older versions always use the microsoft compiler.
170 Installation Location
171 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
173 Meson default to installing libGL.so in your system's main lib/
174 directory and DRI drivers to a dri/ subdirectory.
176 Developers will often want to install Mesa to a testing directory rather
177 than the system library directory. This can be done with the --prefix
180 .. code-block:: console
182 meson --prefix="${PWD}/build/install" build/
184 will put the final libraries and drivers into the build/install/
185 directory. Then you can set LD_LIBRARY_PATH and LIBGL_DRIVERS_PATH to
186 that location to run/test the driver.
188 Meson also honors ``DESTDIR`` for installs.
193 Meson supports the common CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, etc. environment variables
194 but their use is discouraged because of the many caveats in using them.
196 Instead, it is recomended to use ``-D${lang}_args`` and
197 ``-D${lang}_link_args``. Among the benefits of these options is that
198 they are guaranteed to persist across rebuilds and reconfigurations.
200 This example sets -fmax-errors for compiling C sources and -DMAGIC=123
203 .. code-block:: console
205 meson builddir/ -Dc_args=-fmax-errors=10 -Dcpp_args=-DMAGIC=123
207 Compiler Specification
208 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
210 Meson supports the standard CC and CXX environment variables for
211 changing the default compiler. Note that Meson does not allow changing
212 the compilers in a configured builddir so you will need to create a new
213 build dir for a different compiler.
215 This is an example of specifying the clang compilers and cleaning the
216 build directory before reconfiguring with an extra C option:
218 .. code-block:: console
220 CC=clang CXX=clang++ meson build-clang
222 ninja -C build-clang clean
223 meson configure build -Dc_args="-Wno-typedef-redefinition"
226 The default compilers depends on your operating system. Meson supports
227 most of the popular compilers, a complete list is available
228 `here <https://mesonbuild.com/Reference-tables.html#compiler-ids>`__.
233 Meson includes upstream logic to wrap llvm-config using its standard
234 dependency interface.
236 As of meson 0.51.0 meson can use cmake to find llvm (the cmake finder
237 was added in meson 0.49.0, but LLVM cannot be found until 0.51) Due to
238 the way LLVM implements its cmake finder it will only find static
239 libraries, it will never find libllvm.so. There is also a
240 ``-Dcmake_module_path`` option in this meson version, which points to
241 the root of an alternative installation (the prefix). For example:
243 .. code-block:: console
245 meson builddir -Dcmake_module_path=/home/user/mycmake/prefix
247 As of meson 0.49.0 meson also has the concept of a `"native
248 file" <https://mesonbuild.com/Native-environments.html>`__, these files
249 provide information about the native build environment (as opposed to a
250 cross build environment). They are ini formatted and can override where
258 llvm-config = '/usr/local/bin/llvm/llvm-config'
260 Then configure meson:
262 .. code-block:: console
264 meson builddir/ --native-file custom-llvm.ini
266 Meson < 0.49 doesn't support native files, so to specify a custom
267 ``llvm-config`` you need to modify your ``$PATH`` (or ``%PATH%`` on
268 windows), which will be searched for ``llvm-config``,
269 ``llvm-config$version``, and ``llvm-config-$version``:
271 .. code-block:: console
273 PATH=/path/to/folder/with/llvm-config:$PATH meson build
275 For selecting llvm-config for cross compiling a `"cross
276 file" <https://mesonbuild.com/Cross-compilation.html#defining-the-environment>`__
277 should be used. It uses the same format as the native file above:
285 llvm-config = '/usr/lib/llvm-config-32'
286 cmake = '/usr/bin/cmake-for-my-arch'
288 Obviously, only cmake or llvm-config is required.
290 Then configure meson:
292 .. code-block:: console
294 meson builddir/ --cross-file cross-llvm.ini
296 See the `Cross Compilation <#cross-compilation>`__ section for more
299 On windows (and in other cases), using llvm-config or cmake may be
300 either undesirable or impossible. Meson's solution for this is a
301 `wrap <https://mesonbuild.com/Wrap-dependency-system-manual.html>`__, in
302 this case a "binary wrap". Follow the steps below:
304 - Install the binaries and headers into the
305 ``$mesa_src/subprojects/llvm``
306 - Add a meson build.build file to that directory (more on that later)
308 The wrap file must define the following:
310 - ``dep_llvm``: a ``declare_dependency()`` object with
311 include_directories, dependencies, and version set)
315 - ``irbuilder_h``: a ``files()`` object pointing to llvm/IR/IRBuilder.h
316 (this is requred for SWR)
317 - ``has_rtti``: a ``bool`` that declares whether LLVM was built with
318 RTTI. Defaults to true
320 such a meson.build file might look like:
324 project('llvm', ['cpp'])
326 cpp = meson.get_compiler('cpp')
329 _search = join_paths(meson.current_source_dir(), 'lib')
330 foreach d : ['libLLVMCodeGen', 'libLLVMScalarOpts', 'libLLVMAnalysis',
331 'libLLVMTransformUtils', 'libLLVMCore', 'libLLVMX86CodeGen',
332 'libLLVMSelectionDAG', 'libLLVMipo', 'libLLVMAsmPrinter',
333 'libLLVMInstCombine', 'libLLVMInstrumentation', 'libLLVMMC',
334 'libLLVMGlobalISel', 'libLLVMObjectYAML', 'libLLVMDebugInfoPDB',
335 'libLLVMVectorize', 'libLLVMPasses', 'libLLVMSupport',
336 'libLLVMLTO', 'libLLVMObject', 'libLLVMDebugInfoCodeView',
337 'libLLVMDebugInfoDWARF', 'libLLVMOrcJIT', 'libLLVMProfileData',
338 'libLLVMObjCARCOpts', 'libLLVMBitReader', 'libLLVMCoroutines',
339 'libLLVMBitWriter', 'libLLVMRuntimeDyld', 'libLLVMMIRParser',
340 'libLLVMX86Desc', 'libLLVMAsmParser', 'libLLVMTableGen',
341 'libLLVMFuzzMutate', 'libLLVMLinker', 'libLLVMMCParser',
342 'libLLVMExecutionEngine', 'libLLVMCoverage', 'libLLVMInterpreter',
343 'libLLVMTarget', 'libLLVMX86AsmParser', 'libLLVMSymbolize',
344 'libLLVMDebugInfoMSF', 'libLLVMMCJIT', 'libLLVMXRay',
345 'libLLVMX86AsmPrinter', 'libLLVMX86Disassembler',
346 'libLLVMMCDisassembler', 'libLLVMOption', 'libLLVMIRReader',
347 'libLLVMLibDriver', 'libLLVMDlltoolDriver', 'libLLVMDemangle',
348 'libLLVMBinaryFormat', 'libLLVMLineEditor',
349 'libLLVMWindowsManifest', 'libLLVMX86Info', 'libLLVMX86Utils']
350 _deps += cpp.find_library(d, dirs : _search)
353 dep_llvm = declare_dependency(
354 include_directories : include_directories('include'),
355 dependencies : _deps,
360 irbuilder_h = files('include/llvm/IR/IRBuilder.h')
362 It is very important that version is defined and is accurate, if it is
363 not, workarounds for the wrong version of LLVM might be used resulting
369 The ``pkg-config`` utility is a hard requirement for configuring and
370 building Mesa on Unix-like systems. It is used to search for external
371 libraries on the system. This environment variable is used to control
372 the search path for ``pkg-config``. For instance, setting
373 ``PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/X11R6/lib/pkgconfig`` will search for package
374 metadata in ``/usr/X11R6`` before the standard directories.
379 One of the oddities of meson is that some options are different when
380 passed to the ``meson`` than to ``meson configure``. These options are
381 passed as --option=foo to ``meson``, but -Doption=foo to
382 ``meson configure``. Mesa defined options are always passed as
385 For those coming from autotools be aware of the following:
387 ``--buildtype/-Dbuildtype``
388 This option will set the compiler debug/optimisation levels to aid
389 debugging the Mesa libraries.
391 Note that in meson this defaults to ``debugoptimized``, and not
392 setting it to ``release`` will yield non-optimal performance and
393 binary size. Not using ``debug`` may interfere with debugging as some
394 code and validation will be optimized away.
396 For those wishing to pass their own optimization flags, use the
397 ``plain`` buildtype, which causes meson to inject no additional
398 compiler arguments, only those in the C/CXXFLAGS and those that mesa
402 This option controls assertions in meson projects. When set to
403 ``false`` (the default) assertions are enabled, when set to true they
404 are disabled. This is unrelated to the ``buildtype``; setting the
405 latter to ``release`` will not turn off assertions.
407 4. Cross-compilation and 32-bit builds
408 --------------------------------------
411 cross-compilation <https://mesonbuild.com/Cross-compilation.html>`__ by
412 specifying a number of binary paths and settings in a file and passing
413 this file to ``meson`` or ``meson configure`` with the ``--cross-file``
416 This file can live at any location, but you can use the bare filename
417 (without the folder path) if you put it in $XDG_DATA_HOME/meson/cross or
418 ~/.local/share/meson/cross
420 Below are a few example of cross files, but keep in mind that you will
421 likely have to alter them for your system.
423 Those running on ArchLinux can use the AUR-maintained packages for some
424 of those, as they'll have the right values for your system:
426 - `meson-cross-x86-linux-gnu <https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/meson-cross-x86-linux-gnu>`__
427 - `meson-cross-aarch64-linux-gnu <https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/meson-cross-aarch64-linux-gnu>`__
429 32-bit build on x86 linux:
436 ar = '/usr/bin/gcc-ar'
437 strip = '/usr/bin/strip'
438 pkgconfig = '/usr/bin/pkg-config-32'
439 llvm-config = '/usr/bin/llvm-config32'
443 c_link_args = ['-m32']
445 cpp_link_args = ['-m32']
453 64-bit build on ARM linux:
458 c = '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc'
459 cpp = '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-g++'
460 ar = '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc-ar'
461 strip = '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-strip'
462 pkgconfig = '/usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-pkg-config'
463 exe_wrapper = '/usr/bin/qemu-aarch64-static'
467 cpu_family = 'aarch64'
471 64-bit build on x86 windows:
476 c = '/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc'
477 cpp = '/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++'
478 ar = '/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-ar'
479 strip = '/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-strip'
480 pkgconfig = '/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-pkg-config'
485 cpu_family = 'x86_64'