Re: [CMake] [cmake-developers] libc++ usage in CMake with Clang?

[Stephen McDowell]

Hello,

I wanted to revisit this topic.  Craig gave a great answer for using
add_{compile,link}_options which mostly answers the question -- this is the
most modern way at this time.

However, I believe that CMake would really benefit from standardizing
this.  For example, CMAKE_CXX_STL_TYPE.  I would argue that this should
also be a public "compile feature" in some form, so that it propagates to
consuming targets.

Some projects I work with do what Craig suggested and when Clang is
detected, default to using libc++ and also usually libc++-abi.  While kind
of nice, it's mostly annoying to me.  You're forcing an incompatible ABI on
me for Linux, when there's no reason to.  If I want to install to /usr/local
and use this with other dependencies say from my package manager installs,
I cannot because libc++ and libstdc++ are not compatible.  Instead of
asking projects to do some kind of option(MYLIB_USE_LIBCXX ...) and do
their own detection logic, setting the default to ON when Clang is the
compiler or whatever, if CMake supports this natively it would be a great
feature.

For example, I can compile with clang and use libstdc++ on Linux no
problem.  Similarly, when compiling with gcc, I *can* also use libc++
(assuming it's installed of course).  A rough prototype of the values
accepted (modelled after the android module):

- gnustl_shared (GNU libstdc++ shared)
- gnustl_static (GNU libstdc++ static)
- c++_shared (LLVM libc++ shared)
- c++_shared (LLVM libc++ static)
- c++_abi_shared (LLVM libc++-abi sharedi)
- c++_abi_static (LLVM libc++-abi static)

Where I do not have answers is how to make libc++ and libc++-abi more
ubiquitous.  As far as I know (which is not very far), libc++-abi cannot be
used unless you are also using libc++.  So I guess c++_abi_shared implies
c++_abi?

What about default values?

Linux: gnustl_shared seems like a reasonable choice, regardless of compiler
(e.g., don't always default to libc++ with clang [???]).
MacOS: ???
Windows: ???

I don't feel there is an immediate need for this, but long term I think
having CMAKE_CXX_STL_TYPE as well as a compile feature cxx_stl_type would
be really useful.  I started looking at possible implementation (hence the
long pause here), but ultimately gave up because I always try and implement
things for CMake that are beyond my capabilities of doing correctly.

Just soliciting feedback as to what people think about having this kind of
cmake-level STL type support, especially with respect to choosing defaults,
and in extra-specific case of Windows, ummm, what to do in general.

-Stephen

P.S. I think if CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING is set then if the user sets either
CMAKE_CXX_STL_TYPE or cxx_stl_type this should be an error (informing them
to possibly instead set CMAKE_ANDROID_STL_TYPE if applicable)?  I don't
know what to do about cross compiling in general, but an agreement should
be reached on what to do when these proposed new variable / features are
used in conjunction with cross compiling.


On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 2:05 AM, Craig Scott 
wrote:

>
>
> On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 1:39 PM, Ian Henriksen  gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 6:40 PM Craig Scott 
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 7:18 AM, Robert Dailey >> > wrote:
>>>
 On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 3:47 PM Craig Scott 
 wrote:
 > Excuse the brevity, but it sounds like you might be looking for the
 CXX_EXTENSIONS target property (sorry if I've misunderstood your problem,
 let me know why it isn't appropriate if so). See the following article for
 a more complete overview of this and related properties:
 >
 > https://crascit.com/2015/03/28/enabling-cxx11-in-cmake/

 Unfortunately that's not the same. Extensions manage C++ language
 features and STL capabilities, but -stdlib is for selecting an STL
 implementation, AFAIK. Such as GNU STL and LLVM STL (which is libc++
 to clang).

>>>
>>> Sorry, yes I misunderstood your problem. After a little digging, it
>>> seems like you probably shouldn't be using the -stdlib option on Linux
>>>  anyway. FWIW, for
>>> Android, the roadmap
>>> 
>>> is converging on a single STL implementation too.
>>>
>>
>> All that first link says is that -stdlib is a flag that is specific to
>> clang and that it shouldn't be used with gcc. You can use clang on Linux
>> with either libstdc++ or libc++. I often use libc++ on Linux by setting
>> CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS on the command line, though I'll admit that for me it's
>> usually just to check if problems that come up are OS dependent, compiler
>> dependent, or standard library dependent. You have to be careful since
>> libstdc++ and libc++ have incompatible ABIs, but it's a useful feature.
>> That said, I have no idea if specifying the standard library implementation
>> merits handling at the CMake level since only clang supports switching

Re: [CMake] [cmake-developers] libc++ usage in CMake with Clang?

[Craig Scott]

On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 1:39 PM, Ian Henriksen <
insertinterestingnameh...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 6:40 PM Craig Scott 
> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 7:18 AM, Robert Dailey 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 3:47 PM Craig Scott 
>>> wrote:
>>> > Excuse the brevity, but it sounds like you might be looking for the
>>> CXX_EXTENSIONS target property (sorry if I've misunderstood your problem,
>>> let me know why it isn't appropriate if so). See the following article for
>>> a more complete overview of this and related properties:
>>> >
>>> > https://crascit.com/2015/03/28/enabling-cxx11-in-cmake/
>>>
>>> Unfortunately that's not the same. Extensions manage C++ language
>>> features and STL capabilities, but -stdlib is for selecting an STL
>>> implementation, AFAIK. Such as GNU STL and LLVM STL (which is libc++
>>> to clang).
>>>
>>
>> Sorry, yes I misunderstood your problem. After a little digging, it seems
>> like you probably shouldn't be using the -stdlib option on Linux
>>  anyway. FWIW, for
>> Android, the roadmap
>> 
>> is converging on a single STL implementation too.
>>
>
> All that first link says is that -stdlib is a flag that is specific to
> clang and that it shouldn't be used with gcc. You can use clang on Linux
> with either libstdc++ or libc++. I often use libc++ on Linux by setting
> CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS on the command line, though I'll admit that for me it's
> usually just to check if problems that come up are OS dependent, compiler
> dependent, or standard library dependent. You have to be careful since
> libstdc++ and libc++ have incompatible ABIs, but it's a useful feature.
> That said, I have no idea if specifying the standard library implementation
> merits handling at the CMake level since only clang supports switching
> anyway.
>


Good clarification, thanks. I was only thinking GCC on Linux and wasn't
considering clang (which was a bit dumb on my part - blame the lack of
coffee early in the morning ;) ).

Getting back to Robert's original query, the only part of the CMake code
base that I can see attempting to account for a -stdlib option is for
detection of gcc include paths, and this is only for Eclipse and CodeBlocks
generators (according to the comments in
Modules/CMakeExtraGeneratorDetermineCompilerMacrosAndIncludeDirs.cmake). It
doesn't seem to be related to providing any support for manipulating it in
a project. The only other place -stdlib seems to be mentioned is in the
setup of the macOS release build of CMake itself, which isn't relevant to
the discussion here.

If CMake were to offer direct support for -stdlib, it sounds like it would
be a clang-specific feature, so a clang-specific target property and/or
variable may be a way forward, analogous to the way it is done for Android.
Alternatively, maybe it could be done with generator expressions, but it
would be a bit verbose and harder to ensure the same -stdlib was used
consistently throughout if many targets were involved. But maybe just a
fairly simple check is good enough here, something like this (using
directory properties instead of variables):

if (CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "Clang" AND NOT ANDROID)
add_compile_options(-stdlib=libc++)
# Presumably need the above for linking too, maybe other options
missing as well
add_link_options(-stdlib=libc++)   # New command on CMake master, not
in 3.12 release
endif()

The linking comments above are in response to discussions in a recent issue
 also related to the
-stdlib option. One down side of the above is no transitive dependency
details, something that a target property could achieve. I'll pause here
and see what others think.




>
> Just my two cents though.
>
> Best,
>
> Ian
>
>
>> Regarding your earlier comment:
>>
>> I'll explain a bit why I'm asking. I noticed that for code bases that
>>> work on Android plus other UNIX platforms, they unconditionally
>>> specify `-stdlib=libc++`, however this doesn't work on Ubuntu by
>>> default, which uses gnu stl + gcc/clang. So  you get compiler errors.
>>> There's no way for me to "search" a platform to see if it is eligible
>>> for the libc++ flag, I simply have to either disable it completely or
>>> conditionally include it based on target platform and/or toolchain.
>>> None of these really address the root cause.
>>
>> If you are trying to control which STL to use for Android builds, CMake 
>> variables like CMAKE_ANDROID_STL_TYPE are probably the more appropriate way 
>> to do that rather than hard-coding compiler flags. This would also mean that 
>> non-Android builds won't be affected since they would simply ignore that 
>> variable (and target properties it may affect) and should then pick up the 
>> right STL implementation automatically.The Android-specific variable would 
>> ideally be set in a 

Re: [CMake] [cmake-developers] libc++ usage in CMake with Clang?

[Ian Henriksen]

On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 6:40 PM Craig Scott  wrote:

>
> On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 7:18 AM, Robert Dailey 
> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 3:47 PM Craig Scott 
>> wrote:
>> > Excuse the brevity, but it sounds like you might be looking for the
>> CXX_EXTENSIONS target property (sorry if I've misunderstood your problem,
>> let me know why it isn't appropriate if so). See the following article for
>> a more complete overview of this and related properties:
>> >
>> > https://crascit.com/2015/03/28/enabling-cxx11-in-cmake/
>>
>> Unfortunately that's not the same. Extensions manage C++ language
>> features and STL capabilities, but -stdlib is for selecting an STL
>> implementation, AFAIK. Such as GNU STL and LLVM STL (which is libc++
>> to clang).
>>
>
> Sorry, yes I misunderstood your problem. After a little digging, it seems
> like you probably shouldn't be using the -stdlib option on Linux
>  anyway. FWIW, for Android,
> the roadmap
> 
> is converging on a single STL implementation too.
>

All that first link says is that -stdlib is a flag that is specific to
clang and that it shouldn't be used with gcc. You can use clang on Linux
with either libstdc++ or libc++. I often use libc++ on Linux by setting
CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS on the command line, though I'll admit that for me it's
usually just to check if problems that come up are OS dependent, compiler
dependent, or standard library dependent. You have to be careful since
libstdc++ and libc++ have incompatible ABIs, but it's a useful feature.
That said, I have no idea if specifying the standard library implementation
merits handling at the CMake level since only clang supports switching
anyway.

Just my two cents though.

Best,

Ian


> Regarding your earlier comment:
>
> I'll explain a bit why I'm asking. I noticed that for code bases that
>> work on Android plus other UNIX platforms, they unconditionally
>> specify `-stdlib=libc++`, however this doesn't work on Ubuntu by
>> default, which uses gnu stl + gcc/clang. So  you get compiler errors.
>> There's no way for me to "search" a platform to see if it is eligible
>> for the libc++ flag, I simply have to either disable it completely or
>> conditionally include it based on target platform and/or toolchain.
>> None of these really address the root cause.
>
> If you are trying to control which STL to use for Android builds, CMake 
> variables like CMAKE_ANDROID_STL_TYPE are probably the more appropriate way 
> to do that rather than hard-coding compiler flags. This would also mean that 
> non-Android builds won't be affected since they would simply ignore that 
> variable (and target properties it may affect) and should then pick up the 
> right STL implementation automatically.The Android-specific variable would 
> ideally be set in a toolchain file rather than in the project itself.
>
>
> --
>
> Craig Scott
> Melbourne, Australia
> https://crascit.com
>
> New book released: Professional CMake: A Practical Guide
> 
> --
>
> Powered by www.kitware.com
>
> Please keep messages on-topic and check the CMake FAQ at:
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Re: [CMake] [cmake-developers] libc++ usage in CMake with Clang?

[Craig Scott]

On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 7:18 AM, Robert Dailey 
wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 3:47 PM Craig Scott 
> wrote:
> > Excuse the brevity, but it sounds like you might be looking for the
> CXX_EXTENSIONS target property (sorry if I've misunderstood your problem,
> let me know why it isn't appropriate if so). See the following article for
> a more complete overview of this and related properties:
> >
> > https://crascit.com/2015/03/28/enabling-cxx11-in-cmake/
>
> Unfortunately that's not the same. Extensions manage C++ language
> features and STL capabilities, but -stdlib is for selecting an STL
> implementation, AFAIK. Such as GNU STL and LLVM STL (which is libc++
> to clang).
>

Sorry, yes I misunderstood your problem. After a little digging, it seems
like you probably shouldn't be using the -stdlib option on Linux
 anyway. FWIW, for Android,
the roadmap
 is
converging on a single STL implementation too.

Regarding your earlier comment:

I'll explain a bit why I'm asking. I noticed that for code bases that
> work on Android plus other UNIX platforms, they unconditionally
> specify `-stdlib=libc++`, however this doesn't work on Ubuntu by
> default, which uses gnu stl + gcc/clang. So  you get compiler errors.
> There's no way for me to "search" a platform to see if it is eligible
> for the libc++ flag, I simply have to either disable it completely or
> conditionally include it based on target platform and/or toolchain.
> None of these really address the root cause.

If you are trying to control which STL to use for Android builds,
CMake variables like CMAKE_ANDROID_STL_TYPE are probably the more
appropriate way to do that rather than hard-coding compiler flags.
This would also mean that non-Android builds won't be affected since
they would simply ignore that variable (and target properties it may
affect) and should then pick up the right STL implementation
automatically.The Android-specific variable would ideally be set in a
toolchain file rather than in the project itself.


-- 

Craig Scott
Melbourne, Australia
https://crascit.com

New book released: Professional CMake: A Practical Guide

-- 

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Re: [CMake] [cmake-developers] libc++ usage in CMake with Clang?

[Robert Dailey]

On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 3:47 PM Craig Scott  wrote:
> Excuse the brevity, but it sounds like you might be looking for the 
> CXX_EXTENSIONS target property (sorry if I've misunderstood your problem, let 
> me know why it isn't appropriate if so). See the following article for a more 
> complete overview of this and related properties:
>
> https://crascit.com/2015/03/28/enabling-cxx11-in-cmake/

Unfortunately that's not the same. Extensions manage C++ language
features and STL capabilities, but -stdlib is for selecting an STL
implementation, AFAIK. Such as GNU STL and LLVM STL (which is libc++
to clang).
-- 

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Re: [CMake] [cmake-developers] libc++ usage in CMake with Clang?

[Craig Scott]

On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 11:41 PM, Robert Dailey 
wrote:

> I'll explain a bit why I'm asking. I noticed that for code bases that
> work on Android plus other UNIX platforms, they unconditionally
> specify `-stdlib=libc++`, however this doesn't work on Ubuntu by
> default, which uses gnu stl + gcc/clang. So  you get compiler errors.
> There's no way for me to "search" a platform to see if it is eligible
> for the libc++ flag, I simply have to either disable it completely or
> conditionally include it based on target platform and/or toolchain.
> None of these really address the root cause.
>
> I'm not even really sure what a find module for this would do... but
> typically find modules don't provide compiler flags, so I'm not sure
> if that's the right tool for the job. Would love to hear from the
> developers on this, so I've cross posted to the dev mailing list in
> this reply.
>


Excuse the brevity, but it sounds like you might be looking for the
CXX_EXTENSIONS target property (sorry if I've misunderstood your problem,
let me know why it isn't appropriate if so). See the following article for
a more complete overview of this and related properties:

https://crascit.com/2015/03/28/enabling-cxx11-in-cmake/





> On Mon, Aug 20, 2018 at 10:05 PM Thompson, KT  wrote:
> >
> > I'm also interested in the answer to Robert's question.  I've been using
> >
> >   set( CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -stdlib=libc++")
> >
> > but it seems like there should be a more elegant approach.
> >
> > -tk
> >
> > -Original Message-
> > From: CMake  On Behalf Of Robert Dailey
> > Sent: Monday, August 20, 2018 11:48 AM
> > To: CMake 
> > Subject: [CMake] libc++ usage in CMake with Clang?
> >
> > Is the only way to use libc++ to muck with compile flags? Or is there a
> proper find module for this or something? Is there a more CMake-esque way
> of specifying the STL library to use with the toolchain?
> > --
> >
> > Powered by www.kitware.com
> >
> > Please keep messages on-topic and check the CMake FAQ at:
> http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_FAQ
> >
> > Kitware offers various services to support the CMake community. For more
> information on each offering, please visit:
> >
> > CMake Support: http://cmake.org/cmake/help/support.html
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-- 
Craig Scott
Melbourne, Australia
https://crascit.com

New book released: Professional CMake: A Practical Guide

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