configopts.html   [plain text]


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE html
          PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
          "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
   <meta name="AUTHOR" content="pme@gcc.gnu.org (Phil Edwards)" />
   <meta name="KEYWORDS" content="libstdc++, libstdc++-v3, GCC, g++" />
   <meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="Configuration options for libstdc++-v3." />
   <meta name="GENERATOR" content="vi and eight fingers" />
   <title>libstdc++-v3 configure options</title>
<link rel="StyleSheet" href="lib3styles.css" type="text/css" />
<link rel="Copyright" href="17_intro/license.html" type="text/html" />
</head>
<body>

<h1 class="centered"><a name="top">Interesting <code>configure</code>
options</a></h1>

<p class="fineprint"><em>
   The latest version of this document is always available at
   <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/configopts.html">
   http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/configopts.html</a>.
</em></p>

<p><em>
   To the <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++/">libstdc++-v3 homepage</a>.
</em></p>

<!-- ####################################################### -->
<hr />
<p>Here are some of the non-obvious options to libstdc++'s configure.
   Keep in mind that
   <!-- This SECnn should be the "Choosing Package Options" section. -->
   <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.57/html_node/autoconf_131.html#SEC131">they
   all have opposite forms as well</a>
   (enable/disable and with/without).  The defaults are for <strong>current
   development sources</strong>, which may be different than those for
   released versions.
</p>
<p>The canonical way to find out the configure options that are
   available for a given set of libstdc++ sources is to go to the
   source directory and then type:<code>  ./configure --help</code>
</p>

<dl>
 <dt><code>--enable-multilib  </code>[default]</dt>
 <dd><p>This is part of the generic multilib support for building cross
        compilers.  As such, targets like &quot;powerpc-elf&quot; will have
        libstdc++ built many different ways:  &quot;-msoft-float&quot;
        and not, etc.  A different libstdc++ will be built for each of
        the different multilib versions.  This option is on by default.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-sjlj-exceptions  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>Forces old, set-jump/long-jump exception handling model.  If
        at all possible, the new, frame unwinding exception handling routines
        should be used instead, as they significantly reduce both
        runtime memory usage and executable size. This option can
        change the library ABI.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-version-specific-runtime-libs  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>Specify that run-time libraries should be installed in the
        compiler-specific subdirectory (i.e.,
        <code>${libdir}/gcc-lib/${target_alias}/${gcc_version}</code>)
        instead of <code>${libdir}</code>.  This option is useful if you
        intend to use several versions of gcc in parallel.  In addition,
        libstdc++'s include files will be installed in
        <code>${libdir}/gcc-lib/${target_alias}/${gcc_version}/include/g++</code>,
        unless you also specify
       <code>--with-gxx-include-dir=<em>dirname</em></code> during configuration.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--with-gxx-include-dir=&lt;include-files dir&gt;</code></dt>
 <dd><p>Adds support for named libstdc++ include directory.  For instance,
        the following puts all the libstdc++ headers into a directory
        called &quot;2.97-20001008&quot; instead of the usual
        &quot;c++/(version)&quot;.
     </p>
        <pre>
   --with-gxx-include-dir=/foo/H-x86-gcc-3-c-gxx-inc/include/2.97-20001008</pre> </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-cstdio  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>This is an abbreviated form of <code>'--enable-cstdio=stdio'</code>
        (described next). This option can change the library ABI.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-cstdio=OPTION  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>Select a target-specific I/O package. At the moment, the only
        choice is to use 'stdio', a generic &quot;C&quot; abstraction.
        The default is 'stdio'.  A longer explanation is <a
        href="explanations.html#cstdio">here</a>.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-clocale  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>This is an abbreviated form of <code>'--enable-clocale=generic'</code>
        (described next). This option can change the library ABI.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-clocale=OPTION  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>Select a target-specific underlying locale package.  The
        choices are 'ieee_1003.1-2001' to specify an X/Open, Standard Unix
        (IEEE Std. 1003.1-2001) model based on langinfo/iconv/catgets,
        'gnu' to specify a model based on functionality from the GNU C
        library (langinfo/iconv/gettext) (from <a
        href="http://sources.redhat.com/glibc/">glibc</a>, the GNU C
        library), or 'generic' to use a generic &quot;C&quot;
        abstraction which consists of &quot;C&quot; locale info.
     </p>

     <p>As part of the configuration process, the "C" library is
      probed both for sufficient vintage, and installed locale
      data. If either of these elements are not present, the C++
      locale model default to 'generic.' On glibc-based systems of
      version 2.2.5 and above with installed locale files, 'gnu' is
      automatically selected.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-libstdcxx-allocator  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>This is an abbreviated form of
        <code>'--enable-libstdcxx-allocator=auto'</code> (described
        next). This option can change the library ABI.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-libstdcxx-allocator=OPTION  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>Select a target-specific underlying std::allocator.  The
        choices are 'new' to specify a wrapper for new, 'malloc' to
        specify a wrapper for malloc, 'mt' for a fixed power of two allocator
        (<a href="ext/mt_allocator.html">documented</a> under extensions) or
        'bitmap' for a bitmap allocator. This option can change the
        library ABI.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-cheaders=OPTION  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>This allows the user to define what kind of C headers are
        used.  Options are c and c_std.  These correspond to the source
	directory's include/c and include/c_std.  The default is c_std.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-threads  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>This is an abbreviated form of <code>'--enable-threads=yes'</code>
        (described next). This option can change the library ABI.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-threads=OPTION  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>Select a threading library.  A full description is given in the
        general <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/install/configure.html">compiler
        configuration instructions</a>.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-libstdcxx-debug  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>Build separate debug libraries in addition to what is normally built.
        By default, the debug libraries are compiled with 
        <code> CXXFLAGS='-g3 -O0'</code>
        , are installed in <code>${libdir}/debug</code>, and have the
        same names and versioning information as the non-debug
        libraries. This option is off by default.
     </p>
     <p>Note this make command, executed in
        the build directory, will do much the same thing, without the
        configuration difference and without building everything twice: 
        <code>make CXXFLAGS='-g3 -O0' all</code>
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-libstdcxx-debug-flags=FLAGS</code></dt>

 <dd><p>This option is only valid when <code> --enable-debug </code>
        is also specified, and applies to the debug builds only. With
        this option, you can pass a specific string of flags to the
        compiler to use when building the debug versions of libstdc++.
        FLAGS is a quoted string of options, like
     </p>
        <pre>
  --enable-libstdcxx-debug-flags='-g3 -O1 -gdwarf-2'</pre>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-cxx-flags=FLAGS</code></dt>
 <dd><p>With this option, you can pass a string of -f (functionality)
        flags to the compiler to use when building libstdc++. This
        option can change the library ABI. FLAGS is a quoted string of
        options, like
     </p>
        <pre>
  --enable-cxx-flags='-fvtable-gc -fomit-frame-pointer -ansi'</pre>
     <p>
        Note that the flags don't necessarily have to all be -f flags,
        as shown, but usually those are the ones that will make sense
        for experimentation and configure-time overriding.
     </p>
     <p>The advantage of --enable-cxx-flags over setting CXXFLAGS in
        the 'make' environment is that, if files are automatically
        rebuilt, the same flags will be used when compiling those files
        as well, so that everything matches.
     </p>
     <p>Fun flags to try might include combinations of
     </p>
        <pre>
  -fstrict-aliasing
  -fno-exceptions
  -ffunction-sections
  -fvtable-gc</pre>
     <p>and opposite forms (-fno-) of the same.  Tell us (the libstdc++
        mailing list) if you discover more!
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-c99  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>The &quot;long long&quot; type was introduced in C99, along
        with many other functions for wide characters, and math
        classification macros, etc.  If enabled, all C99 functions not
        specified by the C++ standard will be put into <code>namespace
        __gnu_cxx</code>, and then all these names will
        be injected into namespace std, so that C99 functions can be
        used &quot;as if&quot; they were in the C++ standard (as they
        will eventually be in some future revision of the standard,
        without a doubt).  By default, C99 support is on, assuming the
        configure probes find all the necessary functions and bits
        necessary. This option can change the library ABI.
    </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-c-mbchar  </code>[default]</dt>
 <dd><p>Certain template specializations are required for wide
        character conversion support.  This is tricky and currently
        changing rapidly, and can cause problems on new platforms.
        Disabling wide character specializations is useful for initial
        porting steps, but builds only a subset of what is required by
        ISO.  By default, this option is on.  This option can change
        the library ABI.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-long-long  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>The &quot;long long&quot; type was introduced in C99.  It is
        provided as a GNU extension to C++98 in g++.  This flag builds
        support for &quot;long long&quot; into the library (specialized
        templates and the like for iostreams).  This option is on by default:
        if enabled, users will have to either use the new-style &quot;C&quot;
        headers by default (i.e., &lt;cmath&gt; not &lt;math.h&gt;)
        or add appropriate compile-time flags to all compile lines to
        allow &quot;C&quot; visibility of this feature (on GNU/Linux,
        the flag is -D_ISOC99_SOURCE, which is added automatically via
        CPLUSPLUS_CPP_SPEC's addition of _GNU_SOURCE).
        This option can change the library ABI. 
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-fully-dynamic-string  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>This option enables a special version of basic_string avoiding
        the optimization that allocates empty objects in static memory.
	Mostly useful together with shared memory allocators, see PR
	libstdc++/16612 for details.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-concept-checks  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>This turns on additional compile-time checks for instantiated
        library templates, in the form of specialized templates,
        <a href="19_diagnostics/howto.html#3">described here</a>.  They
        can help users discover when they break the rules of the STL, before
        their programs run.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-symvers[=style]  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>In 3.1 and later, tries to turn on symbol versioning in the
        shared library (if a shared library has been requested).  The
        only 'style' currently supported is 'gnu' which requires that
        a recent version of the GNU linker be in use.  With no style
        given, the configure script will try to guess if the 'gnu'
        style can be used, and if so, will turn it on.  Hopefully
        people will volunteer to do other 'style' options.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--enable-libstdcxx-pch  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>In 3.4 and later, tries to turn on the generation of
        stdc++.h.gch, a pre-compiled file including all the standard
        C++ includes. If enabled (as by default), and the compiler
        seems capable of passing the simple sanity checks thrown at
        it, try to build stdc++.h.gch as part of the make process. 
        In addition, this generated file is used later on (by appending <code>
        --include bits/stdc++.h </code> to CXXFLAGS) when running the
        testsuite.
     </p>
 </dd>

 <dt><code>--disable-hosted-libstdcxx  </code></dt>
 <dd><p>By default, a complete <em>hosted</em> C++ library is built.  The
        C++ Standard also describes a <em>freestanding</em> environment,
        in which only a minimal set of headers are provided.  This option
        builds such an environment.
     </p>
 </dd>
</dl>
<p>Return <a href="#top">to the top of the page</a> or
   <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++/">to the libstdc++ homepage</a>.
</p>


<!-- ####################################################### -->

<hr />
<p class="fineprint"><em>
See <a href="17_intro/license.html">license.html</a> for copying conditions.
Comments and suggestions are welcome, and may be sent to
<a href="mailto:libstdc++@gcc.gnu.org">the libstdc++ mailing list</a>.
</em></p>


</body>
</html>