libcxx/docs/Modules.rst

.. _ModulesInLibcxx:

=================
Modules in libc++
=================

.. warning:: Modules are an experimental feature. It has additional build
             requirements and not all libc++ configurations are supported yet.

             The work is still in an early development state and not
             considered stable nor complete

This page contains information regarding C++23 module support in libc++.
There are two kinds of modules available in Clang

 * `Clang specific modules <https://clang.llvm.org/docs/Modules.html>`_
 * `C++ modules <https://clang.llvm.org/docs/StandardCPlusPlusModules.html>`_

This page mainly discusses the C++ modules. In C++20 there are also header units,
these are not part of this document.

Overview
========

The module sources are stored in ``.cppm`` files. Modules need to be available
as BMIs, which are ``.pcm`` files for Clang. BMIs are not portable, they depend
on the compiler and the compilation flags used. Therefore there needs to be a
way to distribute the ``.cppm`` files to the user and offer a way for them to
build and use the ``.pcm`` files. It is expected this will be done by build
systems in the future. To aid early adaptor and build system vendors libc++
currently ships a CMake project to aid building modules.

.. note:: This CMake file is intended to be a temporary solution and will
          be removed in the future. The timeline for the removal depends
          on the availability of build systems with proper module support.

What works
~~~~~~~~~~

 * Building BMIs
 * Running tests using the ``std`` and ``std.compat`` module
 * Using the ``std``  and ``std.compat`` module in external projects
 * The following "parts disabled" configuration options are supported

   * ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_LOCALIZATION``
   * ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_WIDE_CHARACTERS``
   * ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_THREADS``
   * ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_FILESYSTEM``
   * ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_RANDOM_DEVICE``
   * ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_UNICODE``
   * ``LIBCXX_ENABLE_EXCEPTIONS`` [#note-no-windows]_

 * A C++20 based extension

.. note::

   .. [#note-no-windows] This configuration will probably not work on Windows
                         due to hard-coded compilation flags.

Some of the current limitations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 * There is no official build system support, libc++ has experimental CMake support
 * Requires CMake 3.26 for C++20 support
 * Requires CMake 3.26 for C++23 support
 * Requires CMake 3.27 for C++26 support
 * Requires Ninja 1.11
 * Requires Clang 17
 * The path to the compiler may not be a symlink, ``clang-scan-deps`` does
   not handle that case properly
 * Libc++ is not tested with modules instead of headers
 * Clang:
    * Including headers after importing the ``std`` module may fail. This is
      hard to solve and there is a work-around by first including all headers
      `bug report <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/61465>`__.

Blockers
~~~~~~~~

  * libc++

    * Currently the tests only test with modules enabled, but do not import
      modules instead of headers. When converting tests to using modules there
      are still failures. These are under investigation.

    * It has not been determined how to fully test libc++ with modules instead
      of headers.

  * Clang

    * Some concepts do not work properly
      `bug report <https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/62943>`__.


Using in external projects
==========================

Users need to be able to build their own BMI files.

.. note:: The requirements for users to build their own BMI files will remain
   true for the foreseeable future. For now this needs to be done manually.
   Once libc++'s implementation is more mature we will reach out to build
   system vendors, with the goal that building the BMI files is done by
   the build system.

Currently there are two ways to build modules

  * Use a local build of modules from the build directory. This requires
    Clang 17 or later and CMake 3.26 or later.

  * Use the installed modules. This requires Clang 18.1.2 or later and
    a recent build of CMake. The CMake changes will be part of CMake 3.30. This
    method requires you or your distribution to enable module installation.

Using the local build
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.. code-block:: bash

  $ git clone https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project.git
  $ cd llvm-project
  $ mkdir build
  $ cmake -G Ninja -S runtimes -B build -DLLVM_ENABLE_RUNTIMES="libcxx;libcxxabi;libunwind"
  $ ninja -C build

The above ``build`` directory will be referred to as ``<build>`` in the
rest of these instructions.

This is a small sample program that uses the module ``std``. It consists of a
``CMakeLists.txt`` and a ``main.cpp`` file.

.. code-block:: cpp

  import std; // When importing std.compat it's not needed to import std.
  import std.compat;

  int main() {
    std::cout << "Hello modular world\n";
    ::printf("Hello compat modular world\n");
  }

.. code-block:: cmake

  cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.26.0 FATAL_ERROR)
  project("example"
    LANGUAGES CXX
  )

  #
  # Set language version used
  #

  set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 23)
  set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED YES)
  set(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)

  #
  # Enable modules in CMake
  #

  # This is required to write your own modules in your project.
  if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS "3.28.0")
    if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS "3.27.0")
      set(CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_CXX_MODULE_CMAKE_API "2182bf5c-ef0d-489a-91da-49dbc3090d2a")
    else()
      set(CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_CXX_MODULE_CMAKE_API "aa1f7df0-828a-4fcd-9afc-2dc80491aca7")
    endif()
    set(CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_CXX_MODULE_DYNDEP 1)
  else()
    cmake_policy(VERSION 3.28)
  endif()

  #
  # Import the modules from libc++
  #

  include(FetchContent)
  FetchContent_Declare(
    std
    URL "file://${LIBCXX_BUILD}/modules/c++/v1/"
    DOWNLOAD_EXTRACT_TIMESTAMP TRUE
    SYSTEM
  )
  FetchContent_MakeAvailable(std)

  #
  # Add the project
  #

  add_executable(main)
  add_dependencies(main std.compat)
  target_link_libraries(main std.compat)
  target_sources(main
    PRIVATE
      main.cpp
  )

Building this project is done with the following steps, assuming the files
``main.cpp`` and ``CMakeLists.txt`` are copied in the current directory.

.. code-block:: bash

  $ mkdir build
  $ cmake -G Ninja -S . -B build -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=<path-to-compiler> -DLIBCXX_BUILD=<build>
  $ ninja -C build
  $ build/main

.. warning:: ``<path-to-compiler>`` should point point to the real binary and
             not to a symlink.

.. warning:: When using these examples in your own projects make sure the
             compilation flags are the same for the ``std`` module and your
             project. Some flags will affect the generated code, when these
             are different the module cannot be used. For example using
             ``-pthread`` in your project and not in the module will give
             errors like

             ``error: POSIX thread support was disabled in PCH file but is currently enabled``

             ``error: module file _deps/std-build/CMakeFiles/std.dir/std.pcm cannot be loaded due to a configuration mismatch with the current compilation [-Wmodule-file-config-mismatch]``


Using the installed modules
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CMake has added experimental support for importing the Standard modules. This
is available in the current nightly builds and will be part of the 3.30
release. Currently CMake only supports importing the Standard modules in C++23
and later. Enabling this for C++20 is on the TODO list of the CMake
developers.

The example uses the same ``main.cpp`` as above. It uses the following
``CMakeLists.txt``:

.. code-block:: cmake

  # This requires a recent nightly build.
  # This will be part of CMake 3.30.0.
  cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.29.0 FATAL_ERROR)

  # Enables the Standard module support. This needs to be done
  # before selecting the languages.
  set(CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_CXX_IMPORT_STD "0e5b6991-d74f-4b3d-a41c-cf096e0b2508")
  set(CMAKE_CXX_MODULE_STD ON)

  project("example"
    LANGUAGES CXX
  )

  #
  # Set language version used
  #

  set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 23)
  set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED YES)
  # Currently CMake requires extensions enabled when using import std.
  # https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/issues/25916
  # https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/issues/25539
  set(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS ON)

  add_executable(main)
  target_sources(main
    PRIVATE
      main.cpp
  )

Building this project is done with the following steps, assuming the files
``main.cpp`` and ``CMakeLists.txt`` are copied in the current directory.

.. code-block:: bash

  $ mkdir build
  $ cmake -G Ninja -S . -B build -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=<path-to-compiler> -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-stdlib=libc++
  $ ninja -C build
  $ build/main

.. warning:: ``<path-to-compiler>`` should point point to the real binary and
             not to a symlink.

If you have questions about modules feel free to ask them in the ``#libcxx``
channel on `LLVM's Discord server <https://discord.gg/jzUbyP26tQ>`__.

If you think you've found a bug please it using the `LLVM bug tracker
<https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues>`_. Please make sure the issue
you found is not one of the known bugs or limitations on this page.