Practical Windows Development with Clang/Clang++ (not Clang-cl)

Here is a detailed article on building a project with Clang windows without using clang-cl, focusing on the key concepts and providing detailed context on the topic.

Building a Project with Clang Windows Without clang-cl

When building a project with Clang windows, one common approach is to use clang-cl, the Clang front-end for Windows. However, there are situations where you might want to try building the project without clang-cl. This article will guide you through the process of building a project with Clang windows without using clang-cl, focusing on the third-party dependencies that come into play during the build process.

Preparing the Environment

Before diving into the build process, ensure that you have the following prerequisites installed:

1. MinGW (Minimalist GNU for Windows): MinGW provides the essential components required to compile C and C++ programs on Windows using GCC. You can download it from the MinGW website.

2. LLVM/Clang: LLVM is a collection of modular and reusable compiler and toolchain technologies. Clang is a front-end for LLVM that provides a C and C++ compiler. You can download LLVM/Clang from the LLVM website.

3. CMake: CMake is an open-source, cross-platform family of tools designed to build, test, and package software. It is widely used as a build system for projects that use Clang. You can download CMake from the CMake website.

Third-party Dependencies

When building a project with Clang windows, you may encounter third-party dependencies. These dependencies can be built using MinGW and LLVM/Clang. Here's a general approach to building third-party dependencies:

1. Download the source code: Download the source code for the third-party dependency you want to build. This is usually available on the project's official website.

2. Create a build directory: Create a new directory for the build files. This will help keep the source code and build files separate.

3. Configure the build: Navigate to the build directory and configure the build using CMake. The command to do this might look something like this:

cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<install_prefix> <source_directory>

In this command, -G "MinGW Makefiles" specifies the type of generator to use, -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release sets the build type to Release, -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ sets the C++ compiler to Clang, -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang sets the C compiler to Clang, and -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<install_prefix> specifies the installation prefix for the built library.

4. Build the project: After configuring the build, you can build the project using the make command.

5. Install the library: Once the build is successful, you can install the library using the make install command.

Building the Project

With the third-party dependencies built, you can now build your project. The build command might look something like this:

cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang <source_directory>
make

In this command, -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release sets the build type to Release, -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ sets the C++ compiler to Clang, and -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang sets the C compiler to Clang.

Summary

In this article, we discussed building a project with Clang windows without using clang-cl, focusing on the third-party dependencies that come into play during the build process. We provided a general approach to building third-party dependencies and building the project itself.

References

1. MinGW
2. LLVM
3. CMake