Installation

Currently only installation from the source code is possible.

Important: The compiler and language are not production ready yet, you might miss some fundamental features. Also it's recommented to use CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX to set installation directory (e.g. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=C:\Develop\bl).

Supported targets:

x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
x86_64-apple-darwin
arm64-apple-darwin (experimental)

Windows

Install git
Install CMake
Install Visual Studio 2022 or MS Build Tools with C/C++ support
Download and compile

git clone https://github.com/travisdoor/bl.git
cd bl
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="install/directory"
cmake --build . --config Release --target install

Compiler will be installed into CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX directory.
Add bin directory to the system PATH.

In Powershell:

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable(
   "Path",
   [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User") + ";install\directory\bin",
   "User"
)

Ubuntu

Install needed tools

apt-get install git cmake build-essential llvm-16-dev

In case your distribution does not provide LLVM-16 you can alternatively use following script

mkdir llvm-16
cd llvm-16
wget https://apt.llvm.org/llvm.sh
chmod +x llvm.sh
sudo ./llvm.sh 16

Download and compile

Note that in case the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX is not specified, /urs/local will be used as default.

git clone https://github.com/travisdoor/bl.git
cd bl
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="install/directory"
make install

Add bin directory to the system PATH. Not needed in case install directory is /usr/local.

export PATH=$PATH:/install/directory/bin

Fedora

Install needed tools

dnf copr enable -y @fedora-llvm-team/llvm-snapshots
dnf install git cmake gcc g++ zlib-devel llvm16-devel

Download and compile

Note that in case the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX is not specified, /urs/local will be used as default.

git clone https://github.com/travisdoor/bl.git
cd bl
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="install/directory"
make install

Add bin directory to the system PATH. Not needed in case install directory is /usr/local.

export PATH=$PATH:/install/directory/bin

macOS

Install command line tools xcode-select --install.
Install other needed tools using brew brew install git cmake llvm@16.
Download and compile

git clone https://github.com/travisdoor/bl.git
cd bl
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="install/directory"
make install

Add bin directory to the system PATH.

export PATH=$PATH:/install/directory/bin

Warning

ARM support is experimental.

Configuration

Default configuration file install/directory/etc/bl.yaml is created automatically. You can use blc --where-is-config to get full path to the default config file. To generate new one use blc --configure (the old one will be kept as a backup).

Example Windows config file:

# Automatically generated configuration file used by 'blc' compiler.
# To generate new one use 'blc --configure' command.

# Compiler version, this should match the executable version 'blc --version'.
version: "0.11.0"

# Main API directory containing all modules and source files. This option is mandatory.
lib_dir: "C:/Develop/bl/lib/bl/api"

# Current default environment configuration.
x86_64-pc-windows-msvc:
    # Platform operating system preload file (relative to 'lib_dir').
    preload_file: "os/_windows.bl"
    # Optional path to the linker executable, 'lld' linker is used by default on some platforms.
    linker_executable: ""
    # Linker flags and options used to produce executable binaries.
    linker_opt_exec: "/NOLOGO /ENTRY:__os_start /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /INCREMENTAL:NO /MACHINE:x64"
    # Linker flags and options used to produce shared libraries.
    linker_opt_shared: "/NOLOGO /INCREMENTAL:NO /MACHINE:x64 /DLL"
    # File system location where linker should lookup for dependencies.
    linker_lib_path: "C:/Program Files (x86)/Windows Kits/10/Lib/10.0.22000.0/ucrt/x64;C:/Program Files (x86)/Windows Kits/10/Lib/10.0.22000.0/um/x64;C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/2022/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.32.31326//lib/x64"

Unit Tests

To run compiler unit tests use:

cd path/to/git/root/directory
blc -run doctor.bl