Installation

Use Pre-built Package

Download required compiler version from Github.
Unpack downloaded file.
Optionally add /path/to/blc/bin to your system PATH.
Run blc --help.

Build from Source Code

Biscuit compiler is written in C and all major dependencies are packed in the compiler repository except LLVM. CMake is used as a build system.

Supported targets

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

Windows

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"
cmake --build . --config Release

You can add bin directory to the system PATH.

In Powershell:

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable(
   "Path",
   [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User") + ";path\to\bl\bin",
   "User"
)

Linux

Install LLVM

This step might differ across linux distributions, following snippet might help. You might want to use -DLLVM_DIR pointing to the custom location with LLVM.

# Ubuntu
apt-get install llvm-18-dev

# Fedora
dnf copr enable -y @fedora-llvm-team/llvm-snapshots
dnf install llvm18-devel

# Using LLVM installation script
wget https://apt.llvm.org/llvm.sh
chmod +x llvm.sh
sudo ./llvm.sh 18

Download and compile

git clone https://github.com/travisdoor/bl.git
cd bl
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build . --config=Release

You can add bin directory to the system PATH.

export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/bl/bin

macOS

Install command line tools xcode-select --install.
Install LLVM using brew brew install llvm@18 or you might want to use -DLLVM_DIR pointing to the custom location with LLVM.
Download and compile

git clone https://github.com/travisdoor/bl.git
cd bl
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release"
cmake --build . --config=Release

You can add bin directory to the system PATH.

export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/bl/bin

Additional Setup

Following flags might be passed to CMake during configuration:

-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=<Release|Debug> - To toggle release/debug configuration.
-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<"path"> - To set installation directory.
-DTRACY_ENABLE=<ON|OFF> - To toggle Tracy profiler integration.
-DLLVM_DIR=<"path"> - To set custom path to LLVM dev package. Must point to llvm-directory/lib/cmake/llvm.
-DBL_X64_TESTS_ENABLE=<ON|OFF> - To toggle compilation of tests for experimental x64 backend.
-DBL_DEVELOPER=<ON|OFF> - To toggle some incomplete experimental features (for example x64 backend).
-DBL_ASSERT_ENABLE=<ON|OFF> - To toggle asserts (by default disabled in release mode).
-DBL_SIMD_ENABLE=<ON|OFF> - To toggle SIMD. Windows only
-DBL_RPMALLOC_ENABLE=<ON|OFF> - To toggle rpmalloc.

Configuration

The compiler requires configuration file to be generated before the first use.

Default configuration file /path/to/bl/etc/bl.yaml is created automatically on the first run. 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/bl/directory
blc -run doctor.bl