223 lines
7.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
223 lines
7.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _kbuild_llvm:
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==============================
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Building Linux with Clang/LLVM
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==============================
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This document covers how to build the Linux kernel with Clang and LLVM
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utilities.
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About
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-----
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The Linux kernel has always traditionally been compiled with GNU toolchains
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such as GCC and binutils. Ongoing work has allowed for `Clang
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<https://clang.llvm.org/>`_ and `LLVM <https://llvm.org/>`_ utilities to be
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used as viable substitutes. Distributions such as `Android
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<https://www.android.com/>`_, `ChromeOS
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<https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os>`_, `OpenMandriva
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<https://www.openmandriva.org/>`_, and `Chimera Linux
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<https://chimera-linux.org/>`_ use Clang built kernels. Google's and Meta's
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datacenter fleets also run kernels built with Clang.
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`LLVM is a collection of toolchain components implemented in terms of C++
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objects <https://www.aosabook.org/en/llvm.html>`_. Clang is a front-end to LLVM
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that supports C and the GNU C extensions required by the kernel, and is
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pronounced "klang," not "see-lang."
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Building with LLVM
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------------------
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Invoke ``make`` via::
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make LLVM=1
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to compile for the host target. For cross compiling::
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make LLVM=1 ARCH=arm64
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The LLVM= argument
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------------------
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LLVM has substitutes for GNU binutils utilities. They can be enabled
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individually. The full list of supported make variables::
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make CC=clang LD=ld.lld AR=llvm-ar NM=llvm-nm STRIP=llvm-strip \
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OBJCOPY=llvm-objcopy OBJDUMP=llvm-objdump READELF=llvm-readelf \
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HOSTCC=clang HOSTCXX=clang++ HOSTAR=llvm-ar HOSTLD=ld.lld
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``LLVM=1`` expands to the above.
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If your LLVM tools are not available in your PATH, you can supply their
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location using the LLVM variable with a trailing slash::
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make LLVM=/path/to/llvm/
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which will use ``/path/to/llvm/clang``, ``/path/to/llvm/ld.lld``, etc. The
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following may also be used::
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PATH=/path/to/llvm:$PATH make LLVM=1
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If your LLVM tools have a version suffix and you want to test with that
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explicit version rather than the unsuffixed executables like ``LLVM=1``, you
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can pass the suffix using the ``LLVM`` variable::
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make LLVM=-14
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which will use ``clang-14``, ``ld.lld-14``, etc.
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To support combinations of out of tree paths with version suffixes, we
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recommend::
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PATH=/path/to/llvm/:$PATH make LLVM=-14
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``LLVM=0`` is not the same as omitting ``LLVM`` altogether, it will behave like
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``LLVM=1``. If you only wish to use certain LLVM utilities, use their
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respective make variables.
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The same value used for ``LLVM=`` should be set for each invocation of ``make``
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if configuring and building via distinct commands. ``LLVM=`` should also be set
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as an environment variable when running scripts that will eventually run
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``make``.
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Cross Compiling
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---------------
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A single Clang compiler binary (and corresponding LLVM utilities) will
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typically contain all supported back ends, which can help simplify cross
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compiling especially when ``LLVM=1`` is used. If you use only LLVM tools,
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``CROSS_COMPILE`` or target-triple-prefixes become unnecessary. Example::
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make LLVM=1 ARCH=arm64
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As an example of mixing LLVM and GNU utilities, for a target like ``ARCH=s390``
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which does not yet have ``ld.lld`` or ``llvm-objcopy`` support, you could
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invoke ``make`` via::
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make LLVM=1 ARCH=s390 LD=s390x-linux-gnu-ld.bfd \
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OBJCOPY=s390x-linux-gnu-objcopy
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This example will invoke ``s390x-linux-gnu-ld.bfd`` as the linker and
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``s390x-linux-gnu-objcopy``, so ensure those are reachable in your ``$PATH``.
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``CROSS_COMPILE`` is not used to prefix the Clang compiler binary (or
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corresponding LLVM utilities) as is the case for GNU utilities when ``LLVM=1``
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is not set.
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The LLVM_IAS= argument
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----------------------
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Clang can assemble assembler code. You can pass ``LLVM_IAS=0`` to disable this
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behavior and have Clang invoke the corresponding non-integrated assembler
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instead. Example::
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make LLVM=1 LLVM_IAS=0
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``CROSS_COMPILE`` is necessary when cross compiling and ``LLVM_IAS=0``
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is used in order to set ``--prefix=`` for the compiler to find the
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corresponding non-integrated assembler (typically, you don't want to use the
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system assembler when targeting another architecture). Example::
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make LLVM=1 ARCH=arm LLVM_IAS=0 CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi-
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Ccache
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------
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``ccache`` can be used with ``clang`` to improve subsequent builds, (though
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KBUILD_BUILD_TIMESTAMP_ should be set to a deterministic value between builds
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in order to avoid 100% cache misses, see Reproducible_builds_ for more info):
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KBUILD_BUILD_TIMESTAMP='' make LLVM=1 CC="ccache clang"
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.. _KBUILD_BUILD_TIMESTAMP: kbuild.html#kbuild-build-timestamp
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.. _Reproducible_builds: reproducible-builds.html#timestamps
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Supported Architectures
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-----------------------
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LLVM does not target all of the architectures that Linux supports and
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just because a target is supported in LLVM does not mean that the kernel
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will build or work without any issues. Below is a general summary of
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architectures that currently work with ``CC=clang`` or ``LLVM=1``. Level
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of support corresponds to "S" values in the MAINTAINERS files. If an
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architecture is not present, it either means that LLVM does not target
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it or there are known issues. Using the latest stable version of LLVM or
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even the development tree will generally yield the best results.
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An architecture's ``defconfig`` is generally expected to work well,
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certain configurations may have problems that have not been uncovered
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yet. Bug reports are always welcome at the issue tracker below!
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.. list-table::
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:widths: 10 10 10
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:header-rows: 1
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* - Architecture
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- Level of support
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- ``make`` command
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* - arm
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- Supported
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- ``LLVM=1``
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* - arm64
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- Supported
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- ``LLVM=1``
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* - hexagon
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- Maintained
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- ``LLVM=1``
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* - loongarch
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- Maintained
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- ``LLVM=1``
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* - mips
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- Maintained
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- ``LLVM=1``
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* - powerpc
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- Maintained
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- ``LLVM=1``
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* - riscv
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- Supported
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- ``LLVM=1``
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* - s390
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- Maintained
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- ``LLVM=1`` (LLVM >= 18.1.0), ``CC=clang`` (LLVM < 18.1.0)
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* - um (User Mode)
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- Maintained
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- ``LLVM=1``
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* - x86
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- Supported
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- ``LLVM=1``
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Getting Help
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------------
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- `Website <https://clangbuiltlinux.github.io/>`_
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- `Mailing List <https://lore.kernel.org/llvm/>`_: <llvm@lists.linux.dev>
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- `Old Mailing List Archives <https://groups.google.com/g/clang-built-linux>`_
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- `Issue Tracker <https://github.com/ClangBuiltLinux/linux/issues>`_
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- IRC: #clangbuiltlinux on irc.libera.chat
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- `Telegram <https://t.me/ClangBuiltLinux>`_: @ClangBuiltLinux
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- `Wiki <https://github.com/ClangBuiltLinux/linux/wiki>`_
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- `Beginner Bugs <https://github.com/ClangBuiltLinux/linux/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22>`_
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.. _getting_llvm:
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Getting LLVM
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-------------
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We provide prebuilt stable versions of LLVM on `kernel.org
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<https://kernel.org/pub/tools/llvm/>`_. These have been optimized with profile
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data for building Linux kernels, which should improve kernel build times
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relative to other distributions of LLVM.
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Below are links that may be useful for building LLVM from source or procuring
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it through a distribution's package manager.
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- https://releases.llvm.org/download.html
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- https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project
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- https://llvm.org/docs/GettingStarted.html
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- https://llvm.org/docs/CMake.html
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- https://apt.llvm.org/
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- https://www.archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/llvm/
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- https://github.com/ClangBuiltLinux/tc-build
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- https://github.com/ClangBuiltLinux/linux/wiki/Building-Clang-from-source
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- https://android.googlesource.com/platform/prebuilts/clang/host/linux-x86/
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