native_client_sdk/src/doc/devguide/devcycle/building.rst

.. _devcycle-building:

########
Building
########

.. contents:: Table Of Contents
  :local:
  :backlinks: none
  :depth: 2

Introduction
============

This document describes how to build Native Client modules. It is intended for
developers who have experience writing, compiling, and linking C and C++ code.
If you haven't read the Native Client :doc:`Technical Overview
<../../overview>` and :doc:`Tutorial <../tutorial/index>`, we recommend starting
with those.

.. _target_architectures:

Target architectures
--------------------

Portable Native Client (PNaCl) modules are written in C or C++ and compiled
into an executable file ending in a **.pexe** extension using the PNaCl
toolchain in the Native Client SDK. Chrome can load **pexe** files
embedded in web pages and execute them as part of a web application.

As explained in the Technical Overview, PNaCl modules are
operating-system-independent **and** processor-independent. The same
**pexe**  will run on Windows, Mac, Linux, and ChromeOS and it will run on
any processor, e.g., x86-32, x86-64, and ARM.

Native Client also supports architecture-specific **nexe** files.
These **nexe** files are **also** operating-system-independent,
but they are **not** processor-independent. To support a wide-variety of
devices you must compile separate versions of your Native Client module
for different processors on end-user machines. A
:ref:`manifest file <application_files>` will then specify which version
of the module to load based on the end-user's architecture. The SDK
includes a script---``create_nmf.py`` (in the ``tools/`` directory)---to
generate manifest files. For examples of how to compile modules
for multiple target architectures and how to generate manifest files, see the
Makefiles included with the SDK examples.

This section will mostly cover PNaCl, but also describes how to build
nexe applications.

C libraries
-----------

The PNaCl SDK has a single choice of C library:
`newlib <http://sourceware.org/newlib/>`_.

The Native Client SDK also has a GCC-based toolchain for building
**nexes**. The GCC-based toolchain has support for two C libraries:
`newlib <http://sourceware.org/newlib/>`_ and
`glibc <http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/>`_.
See :doc:`Dynamic Linking & Loading with glibc <dynamic-loading>`
for information about these libraries, including factors to help you
decide which to use.


C++ libraries
-------------

The PNaCl SDK can use either
`libstdc++ <http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++>`_ (the current default)
or LLVM's `libc++ <http://libcxx.llvm.org/>`_ (preliminary support).
The ``-stdlib=[libstdc++|libc++]`` command line argument can be used
to choose which standard library to use.

The GCC-based Native Client SDK only has support for
`libstdc++ <http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++>`_.

C++11 library support is only complete in libc++ but other non-library
language features should work regardless of which standard library is
used. The ``-std=[c++98|c++11]`` command line argument can be used to
indicate which C++ language standard to use.

SDK toolchains
--------------

The Native Client SDK includes multiple toolchains. It has one PNaCl toolchain
and it has multiple GCC-based toolchains that are differentiated by target
architectures and C libraries. The single PNaCl toolchain is located
in a directory named ``toolchain/<OS_platform>_pnacl``, and the GCC-based
toolchains are located in directories named
``toolchain/<OS_platform>_<architecture>_<library>``, where:

* *<platform>* is the platform of your development machine (win, mac, or linux)
* *<architecture>* is your target architecture (x86 or arm)
* *<library>* is the C library you are compiling with (newlib or glibc)

The compilers, linkers, and other tools are located in the ``bin/`` 
subdirectory in each toolchain. For example, the tools in the Windows SDK
for PNaCl has a C++ compiler in ``toolchain/win_pnacl/bin/pnacl-clang++``.
As another example, the GCC-based C++ compiler that targets the x86 and uses the
newlib library, is located at ``toolchain/win_x86_newlib/bin/x86_64-nacl-g++``.

.. Note::
  :class: note

  The SDK toolchains descend from the ``toolchain/`` directory. The SDK also
  has a ``tools/`` directory; this directory contains utilities that are not
  properly part of the toolchains but that you may find helpful in building and
  testing your application (e.g., the ``create_nmf.py`` script, which you can
  use to create a manifest file).

SDK toolchains versus your hosted toolchain
-------------------------------------------

To build NaCl modules, you must use one of the Native Client toolchains
included in the SDK. The SDK toolchains use a variety of techniques to
ensure that your NaCl modules comply with the security constraints of
the Native Client sandbox.

During development, you have another choice: You can build modules using a
*standard* toolchain, such as the hosted toolchain on your development
machine. This can be Visual Studio's standard compiler, XCode, LLVM, or
GNU-based compilers on your development machine. These standard toolchains
will not produce executables that comply with the Native Client sandbox
security constraints. They are also not portable across operating systems
and not portable across different processors. However, using a standard
toolchain allows you to develop modules in your favorite IDE and use
your favorite debugging and profiling tools. The drawback is that modules
compiled in this manner can only run as Pepper (PPAPI) plugins in Chrome.
To publish and distribute Native Client modules as part of a web
application, you must eventually use a toolchain in the Native
Client SDK.

.. Note::
  :class: note

  In the future, additional tools will be available to compile Native Client
  modules written in other programming languages, such as C#. But this
  document covers only compiling C and C++ code, using the toolchains
  provided in the SDK.


The PNaCl toolchain
===================

The PNaCl toolchain contains modified versions of the tools in the
LLVM toolchain, as wells as linkers and other tools from binutils.
To determine which version of LLVM or binutils the tools are based upon,
run the tool with the ``--version`` commandline flag. These tools
are used to compile and link applications into .pexe files. The toolchain
also contains a tool to translate a .pexe file into a
architecture-specific .nexe (e.g., for debugging purposes).

Each tool's name is preceded by the prefix "pnacl-". Some of the useful
tools include:

pnacl-ar
  Creates archives (e.g., static libraries)
pnacl-clang
  C-compiler and compiler driver
pnacl-clang++
  C++-compiler and compiler driver
pnacl-dis
  Disassembler for both **pexe** files and **nexe** files
pnacl-finalize
  Finalizes **pexe** files for deployment
pnacl-ld
  Bitcode linker
pnacl-nm
  Lists symbols in bitcode files, native code, and libraries
pnacl-ranlib
  Generates a symbol table for archives (e.g., static libraries)
pnacl-translate
  Translates a **pexe** to a native architecture, outside of the browser

For the full list of tools, see the
``<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/toolchain/<platform>_pnacl/bin`` directory.

Using the PNaCl tools to compile, link, debug, and deploy
=========================================================

To build an application with the PNaCl SDK toolchain, you must compile
your code, link it, test and debug it, and then deploy it. This section goes
over some examples of how to use the tools.

Compile
-------

To compile a simple application consisting of ``file1.cc`` and ``file2.cc`` into
``hello_world.pexe`` with a single command, use the ``pnacl-clang++`` tool

.. naclcode::
  :prettyprint: 0

  <NACL_SDK_ROOT>/toolchain/win_pnacl/bin/pnacl-clang++ file1.cc file2.cc ^
    -I<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/include -L<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/lib/pnacl/Release ^
    -o hello_world.pexe -g -O2 -lppapi_cpp -lppapi

(The carat ``^`` allows the command to span multiple lines on Windows;
to do the same on Mac and Linux use a backslash instead. Or you can
simply type the command and all its arguments on one
line. ``<NACL_SDK_ROOT>`` represents the path to the top-level
directory of the bundle you are using, e.g.,
``<location-where-you-installed-the-SDK>/pepper_31``.)

However, the typical application consists of many files. In that case,
each file can be compiled separately so that only files that are
affected by a change need to be recompiled. To compile an individual
file from your application, you must use either the ``pnacl-clang`` C
compiler, or the ``pnacl-clang++`` C++ compiler. The compiler produces
separate bitcode files. For example:

.. naclcode::
  :prettyprint: 0

  <NACL_SDK_ROOT>/toolchain/win_pnacl/bin/pnacl-clang++ hello_world.cc ^
    -I<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/include -c -o hello_world.o -g -O0

For a description of each commandline flag, run ``pnacl-clang --help``.
For convenience, here is a description of some of the flags used in
the example.

.. _compile_flags:

``-c``
  indicates that ``pnacl-clang++`` should only compile an individual file,
  rather than continue the build process and link together the
  full application.

``-o<output_file>``
  indicates the **output** filename.

``-g``
  tells the compiler to include debug information in the result.
  This debug information can be used during development, and then **stripped**
  before actually deploying the application to keep the application's
  download size small.

``-On``
  sets the optimization level to n. Use 0 when debugging, and -O2 or -O3
  for profiling and deployment.

  The main difference between -O2 and -O3 is whether the compiler performs
  optimizations that involve a space-speed tradeoff. It could be the case that
  ``-O3`` optimizations are not desirable due to increased **pexe**
  download size; you should make your own performance measurements to determine
  which level of optimization is right for you. When looking at code size,
  note that what you generally care about is not the size of the pexe
  produced by pnacl-clang, but the size of the compressed pexe that you upload
  your application to the server or to the Chrome Web Store.
  Optimizations that increase the size of a pexe may not increase the size of
  the compressed pexe that much.

``-I<directory>``
  adds a directory to the search path for **include** files. The SDK has
  Pepper (PPAPI) headers located at ``<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/include``, so add
  that directory when compiling to be able to include the headers.


Create a static library
-----------------------

The ``pnacl-ar`` and ``pnacl-ranlib`` tools allow you to create a
**static** library from a set of bitcode files, which can later be linked
into the full application.

.. naclcode::
  :prettyprint: 0

  <NACL_SDK_ROOT>/toolchain/win_pnacl/bin/pnacl-ar cr libfoo.a ^
    foo1.o foo2.o foo3.o

  <NACL_SDK_ROOT>/toolchain/win_pnacl/bin/pnacl-ranlib libfoo.a


Link the application
--------------------

The ``pnacl-clang++`` tool is used to compile applications, but it can
also be used link together compiled bitcode and libraries into a
full application.

.. naclcode::
  :prettyprint: 0

  <NACL_SDK_ROOT>/toolchain/win_pnacl/bin/pnacl-clang++ -o hello_world.pexe ^
    hello_world.o -L<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/lib/pnacl/Debug -lfoo -lppapi_cpp -lppapi

This links the hello world bitcode with the ``foo`` library in the example
as well as the *Debug* version of the Pepper libraries which are located
in ``<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/lib/pnacl/Debug``. If you wish to link against the
*Release* version of the Pepper libraries, change the
``-L<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/lib/pnacl/Debug`` to
``-L<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/lib/pnacl/Release``.


Finalizing the **pexe** for deployment
--------------------------------------

Typically you would run the application to test it and debug it if needed
before deploying. See the :doc:`running <running>` documentation for how
to run a PNaCl application, and see the :doc:`debugging <debugging>`
documentation for debugging techniques and workflow. After testing a PNaCl
application, you must **"finalize"** it. The ``pnacl-finalize``
tool handles this.

.. naclcode::
  :prettyprint: 0

  <NACL_SDK_ROOT>/toolchain/win_pnacl/bin/pnacl-finalize ^
    hello_world.pexe -o hello_world.final.pexe

Prior to finalization, the application **pexe** is stored in a binary
format that is subject to change.  After finalization, the application
pexe is **rewritten** into a different binary format that is **stable**
and will be supported by future versions of PNaCl. The finalization step
also helps minimize the size of your application for distribution by
stripping out debug information and other metadata.

Once the application is finalized, be sure to adjust the manifest file to
refer to the final version of the application before deployment.
The ``create_nmf.py`` tool helps generate an ``.nmf`` file, but ``.nmf``
files can also be written by hand.


The GNU-based toolchains
========================

Besides the PNaCl toolchain, the Native Client SDK also includes modified
versions of the tools in the standard GNU toolchain, including the GCC
compilers and the linkers and other tools from binutils. These tools only
support building **nexe** files. Run the tool with the ``--version``
commandline flag to determine the current version of the tools.

Each tool in the toolchain is prefixed with the name of the target
architecture. In the toolchain for the ARM target architecture, each
tool's name is preceded by the prefix "arm-nacl-". In the toolchains for
the x86 target architecture, there are actually two versions of each
tool---one to build Native Client modules for the x86-32
target architecture, and one to build modules for the x86-64 target
architecture. "i686-nacl-" is the prefix for tools used to build
32-bit .nexes, and "x86_64-nacl-" is the prefix for tools used to
build 64-bit .nexes

These prefixes conform to gcc naming standards and make it easy to use tools
like autoconf. As an example, you can use ``i686-nacl-gcc`` to compile 32-bit
.nexes, and ``x86_64-nacl-gcc`` to compile 64-bit .nexes. Note that you can
typically override a tool's default target architecture with command line
flags, e.g., you can specify ``x86_64-nacl-gcc -m32`` to compile a 32-bit
.nexe.

The GNU-based SDK toolchains include the following tools:

* <prefix>addr2line
* <prefix>ar
* <prefix>as
* <prefix>c++
* <prefix>c++filt
* <prefix>cpp
* <prefix>g++
* <prefix>gcc
* <prefix>gcc-4.4.3
* <prefix>gccbug
* <prefix>gcov
* <prefix>gprof
* <prefix>ld
* <prefix>nm
* <prefix>objcopy
* <prefix>objdump
* <prefix>ranlib
* <prefix>readelf
* <prefix>size
* <prefix>strings
* <prefix>strip


Compiling
---------

Compiling files with the GNU-based toolchain is similar to compiling
files with the PNaCl-based toolchain, except that the output is
architecture specific.

For example, assuming you're developing on a Windows machine, targeting the x86
architecture, and using the newlib library, you can compile a 32-bit .nexe for
the hello_world example with the following command:

.. naclcode::
  :prettyprint: 0

  <NACL_SDK_ROOT>/toolchain/win_x86_newlib/bin/i686-nacl-gcc hello_world.c ^
    -I<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/include -L<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/lib/newlib/Release ^
    -o hello_world_x86_32.nexe -m32 -g -O2 -lppapi

To compile a 64-bit .nexe, you can run the same command but use -m64 instead of
-m32. Alternatively, you could also use the version of the compiler that
targets the x86-64 architecture, i.e., ``x86_64-nacl-gcc``.

You should name executable modules with a **.nexe** filename extension,
regardless of what platform you're using.

Creating libraries and Linking
------------------------------

Creating libraries and linking with the GNU-based toolchain is similar
to doing the same with the PNaCl toolchain.  The relevant tools
for creating **static** libraries are ``<prefix>ar`` and ``<prefix>ranlib``.
Linking can be done with ``<prefix>g++``. See the
:doc:`Dynamic Linking & Loading with glibc <dynamic-loading>`
section on how to create **shared** libraries.


Finalizing a **nexe** for deployment
------------------------------------

Unlike the PNaCl toolchain, no separate finalization step is required
for **nexe** files. The nexe files are always in a **stable** format.
However, the nexe file may contain debug information and symbol information
which may make the nexe file larger than needed for distribution.
To minimize the size of the distributed file, you can run the
``<prefix>strip`` tool to strip out debug information.


Using make
==========

This document doesn't cover how to use ``make``, but if you want to use
``make`` to build your Native Client module, you can base your Makefile on the
ones in the SDK examples.

The Makefiles for the SDK examples build most of the examples in multiple
configurations (using PNaCl vs NaCl, using different C libraries,
targeting different architectures, and using different levels of optimization).
To select a specific toolchain, set the **environment variable**
``TOOLCHAIN`` to either ``pnacl``, ``newlib``, ``glibc``, or ``host``.
To select a specific level of optimization set the **environment
variable** ``CONFIG`` to either ``Debug``, or ``Release``. Running
``make`` in each example's directory does **one** of the following,
depending on the setting of the environment variables.

* If ``TOOLCHAIN=pnacl`` creates a subdirectory called ``pnacl``;

  * builds a .pexe (architecture-independent Native Client executable) using
    the newlib library
  * generates a Native Client manifest (.nmf) file for the pnacl version of the
    example

* If ``TOOLCHAIN=newlib`` creates a subdirectory called ``newlib``;

  * builds .nexes for the x86-32, x86-64, and ARM architectures using the
    newlib library
  * generates a Native Client manifest (.nmf) file for the newlib version of
    the example

* If ``TOOLCHAIN=glibc`` creates a subdirectory called ``glibc``;

  * builds .nexes for the x86-32 and x86-64 architectures using the glibc
    library
  * generates a Native Client manifest (.nmf) file for the glibc version of the
    example

* If ``TOOLCHAIN=host`` creates a subdirectory called ``windows``, ``linux``,
  or ``mac`` (depending on your development machine);

  * builds a Pepper plugin (.dll for Windows, .so for Linux/Mac) using the
    hosted toolchain on your development machine
  * generates a Native Client manifest (.nmf) file for the host Pepper plugin
    version of the example


.. Note::
  :class: note

  The glibc library is not yet available for the ARM and PNaCl toolchains.

Here is how to build the examples with PNaCl in Release mode on Windows.
The resulting files for ``examples/api/audio`` will be in
``examples/api/audio/pnacl/Release``, and the directory layout is similar for
other examples.

.. naclcode::
  :prettyprint: 0

  set TOOLCHAIN=pnacl
  set CONFIG=Release
  make

Your Makefile can be simpler since you will not likely want to build so many
different configurations of your module. The example Makefiles define
numerous variables near the top (e.g., ``CFLAGS``) that make it easy
to customize the commands that are executed for your project and the options
for each command.

For details on how to use make, see the `GNU 'make' Manual
<http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html>`_.

Libraries and header files provided with the SDK
================================================

The Native Client SDK includes modified versions of standard toolchain-support
libraries, such as libpthread and libc, plus the relevant header files.
The standard libraries are located in the following directories:

* PNaCl toolchain: ``toolchain/<platform>_pnacl/usr/lib``
* x86 toolchains: ``toolchain/<platform>_x86_<library>/x86_64-nacl/lib32`` and
  ``/lib64`` (for the 32-bit and 64-bit target architectures, respectively)
* ARM toolchain: ``toolchain/<platform>_arm_<library>/arm-nacl/lib``

For example, on Windows, the libraries for the x86-64 architecture in the
newlib toolchain are in ``toolchain/win_x86_newlib/x86_64-nacl/lib64``.

The header files are in:

* PNaCl toolchain: ``toolchain/<platform>_pnacl/usr/include``
* x86 toolchains: ``toolchain/<platform>_x86_<library>/x86_64-nacl/include``
* ARM toolchain: ``toolchain/<platform>_arm_<library>/arm-nacl/include``

Many other libraries have been ported for use with Native Client; for more
information, see the `naclports <http://code.google.com/p/naclports/>`_
project. If you port an open-source library for your own use, we recommend
adding it to naclports.

Besides the standard libraries, the SDK includes Pepper libraries.
The PNaCl Pepper libraries are located in the the
``<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/lib/pnacl/<Release or Debug>`` directory.
The GNU-based toolchain has Pepper libraries in
``<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/lib/newlib_<arch>/<Release or Debug>``
and ``<NACL_SDK_ROOT>/lib/glibc_<arch>/<Release or Debug>``.
The libraries provided by the SDK allow the application to use Pepper,
as well as convenience libraries to simplify porting an application that
uses POSIX functions. Here are descriptions of the Pepper libraries provided
in the SDK.

.. _devcycle-building-nacl-io:

libppapi.a
  Implements the Pepper (PPAPI) C interface. Needed for all applications that
  use Pepper (even C++ applications).

libppapi_cpp.a
  Implements the Pepper (PPAPI) C++ interface. Needed by C++ applications that
  use Pepper.

libppapi_gles2.a
  Implements the Pepper (PPAPI) GLES interface. Needed by applications
  that use the 3D graphics API.

libnacl_io.a
  Provides a POSIX layer for NaCl. In particular, the library provides a
  virtual file system and support for sockets. The virtual file system
  allows a module to "mount" a given directory tree. Once a module has
  mounted a file system, it can use standard C library file operations:
  ``fopen``, ``fread``, ``fwrite``, ``fseek``, and ``fclose``.
  For more detail, see the header ``include/nacl_io/nacl_io.h``.
  For an example of how to use nacl_io, see ``examples/demo/nacl_io``.

libppapi_simple.a
  Provides a familiar C programming environment by letting a module have a
  simple entry point that is registered by ``PPAPI_SIMPLE_REGISTER_MAIN``.
  The entry point is similar to the standard C ``main()`` function, complete
  with ``argc`` and ``argv[]`` parameters. For details see
  ``include/ppapi_simple/ps.h``. For an example of
  how to use ppapi_simple, ``see examples/tutorial/using_ppapi_simple``.


.. Note::
  :class: note

  * Since the Native Client toolchains use their own library and header search
    paths, the tools won't find third-party libraries you use in your
    non-Native-Client development. If you want to use a specific third-party
    library for Native Client development, look for it in `naclports
    <http://code.google.com/p/naclports/>`_, or port the library yourself.
  * The order in which you list libraries in your build commands is important,
    since the linker searches and processes libraries in the order in which they
    are specified. See the \*_LDFLAGS variables in the Makefiles of the SDK
    examples for the order in which specific libraries should be listed.

Troubleshooting
===============

Some common problems, and how to fix them:

"Undefined reference" error
---------------------------

An "undefined reference" error may indicate incorrect link order and/or
missing libraries. For example, if you leave out ``-lppapi`` when
compiling Pepper applications you'll see a series of undefined
reference errors.

One common type of "undefined reference" error is with respect to certain
system calls, e.g., "undefined reference to 'mkdir'". For security reasons,
Native Client does not support a number of system calls. Depending on how
your code uses such system calls, you have a few options:

#. Link with the ``-lnosys`` flag to provide empty/always-fail versions of
   unsupported system calls. This will at least get you past the link stage.
#. Find and remove use of the unsupported system calls.
#. Create your own implementation of the unsupported system calls to do
   something useful for your application.

If your code uses mkdir or other file system calls, you might find the
:ref:`nacl_io <devcycle-building-nacl-io>` library useful.
The nacl_io library essentially does option (3) for you: It lets your
code use POSIX-like file system calls, and implements the calls using
various technologies (e.g., HTML5 file system, read-only filesystems that
use URL loaders, or an in-memory filesystem).

Can't find libraries containing necessary symbols
-------------------------------------------------

Here is one way to find the appropriate library for a given symbol:

.. naclcode::
  :prettyprint: 0

  <NACL_SDK_ROOT>/toolchain/<platform>_pnacl/bin/pnacl-nm -o \
    toolchain/<platform>_pnacl/usr/lib/*.a | grep <MySymbolName>

.. TODO(jvoung): Add some notes about debugging GNU-extensions not
.. supported by PNaCl ABI stabilization passes, like computed gotos?