xref: /openbsd/gnu/llvm/libcxx/docs/UsingLibcxx.rst (revision 771fbea0)
1============
2Using libc++
3============
4
5.. contents::
6  :local:
7
8Getting Started
9===============
10
11If you already have libc++ installed you can use it with clang.
12
13.. code-block:: bash
14
15    $ clang++ -stdlib=libc++ test.cpp
16    $ clang++ -std=c++11 -stdlib=libc++ test.cpp
17
18On macOS and FreeBSD libc++ is the default standard library
19and the ``-stdlib=libc++`` is not required.
20
21.. _alternate libcxx:
22
23If you want to select an alternate installation of libc++ you
24can use the following options.
25
26.. code-block:: bash
27
28  $ clang++ -std=c++11 -stdlib=libc++ -nostdinc++ \
29            -I<libcxx-install-prefix>/include/c++/v1 \
30            -L<libcxx-install-prefix>/lib \
31            -Wl,-rpath,<libcxx-install-prefix>/lib \
32            test.cpp
33
34The option ``-Wl,-rpath,<libcxx-install-prefix>/lib`` adds a runtime library
35search path. Meaning that the systems dynamic linker will look for libc++ in
36``<libcxx-install-prefix>/lib`` whenever the program is run. Alternatively the
37environment variable ``LD_LIBRARY_PATH`` (``DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH`` on macOS) can
38be used to change the dynamic linkers search paths after a program is compiled.
39
40An example of using ``LD_LIBRARY_PATH``:
41
42.. code-block:: bash
43
44  $ clang++ -stdlib=libc++ -nostdinc++ \
45            -I<libcxx-install-prefix>/include/c++/v1
46            -L<libcxx-install-prefix>/lib \
47            test.cpp -o
48  $ ./a.out # Searches for libc++ in the systems library paths.
49  $ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=<libcxx-install-prefix>/lib
50  $ ./a.out # Searches for libc++ along LD_LIBRARY_PATH
51
52Using ``<filesystem>``
53======================
54
55Prior to LLVM 9.0, libc++ provides the implementation of the filesystem library
56in a separate static library. Users of ``<filesystem>`` and ``<experimental/filesystem>``
57are required to link ``-lc++fs``. Prior to libc++ 7.0, users of
58``<experimental/filesystem>`` were required to link libc++experimental.
59
60Starting with LLVM 9.0, support for ``<filesystem>`` is provided in the main
61library and nothing special is required to use ``<filesystem>``.
62
63Using libc++experimental and ``<experimental/...>``
64=====================================================
65
66Libc++ provides implementations of experimental technical specifications
67in a separate library, ``libc++experimental.a``. Users of ``<experimental/...>``
68headers may be required to link ``-lc++experimental``.
69
70.. code-block:: bash
71
72  $ clang++ -std=c++14 -stdlib=libc++ test.cpp -lc++experimental
73
74Libc++experimental.a may not always be available, even when libc++ is already
75installed. For information on building libc++experimental from source see
76:ref:`Building Libc++ <build instructions>` and
77:ref:`libc++experimental CMake Options <libc++experimental options>`.
78
79Also see the `Experimental Library Implementation Status <http://libcxx.llvm.org/ts1z_status.html>`__
80page.
81
82.. warning::
83  Experimental libraries are Experimental.
84    * The contents of the ``<experimental/...>`` headers and ``libc++experimental.a``
85      library will not remain compatible between versions.
86    * No guarantees of API or ABI stability are provided.
87    * When we implement the standardized version of an experimental feature,
88      the experimental feature is removed two releases after the non-experimental
89      version has shipped. The full policy is explained :ref:`here <experimental features>`.
90
91Using libc++ on Linux
92=====================
93
94On Linux libc++ can typically be used with only '-stdlib=libc++'. However
95some libc++ installations require the user manually link libc++abi themselves.
96If you are running into linker errors when using libc++ try adding '-lc++abi'
97to the link line.  For example:
98
99.. code-block:: bash
100
101  $ clang++ -stdlib=libc++ test.cpp -lc++ -lc++abi -lm -lc -lgcc_s -lgcc
102
103Alternately, you could just add libc++abi to your libraries list, which in
104most situations will give the same result:
105
106.. code-block:: bash
107
108  $ clang++ -stdlib=libc++ test.cpp -lc++abi
109
110
111Using libc++ with GCC
112---------------------
113
114GCC does not provide a way to switch from libstdc++ to libc++. You must manually
115configure the compile and link commands.
116
117In particular you must tell GCC to remove the libstdc++ include directories
118using ``-nostdinc++`` and to not link libstdc++.so using ``-nodefaultlibs``.
119
120Note that ``-nodefaultlibs`` removes all of the standard system libraries and
121not just libstdc++ so they must be manually linked. For example:
122
123.. code-block:: bash
124
125  $ g++ -nostdinc++ -I<libcxx-install-prefix>/include/c++/v1 \
126         test.cpp -nodefaultlibs -lc++ -lc++abi -lm -lc -lgcc_s -lgcc
127
128
129GDB Pretty printers for libc++
130------------------------------
131
132GDB does not support pretty-printing of libc++ symbols by default. Unfortunately
133libc++ does not provide pretty-printers itself. However there are 3rd
134party implementations available and although they are not officially
135supported by libc++ they may be useful to users.
136
137Known 3rd Party Implementations Include:
138
139* `Koutheir's libc++ pretty-printers <https://github.com/koutheir/libcxx-pretty-printers>`_.
140
141
142Libc++ Configuration Macros
143===========================
144
145Libc++ provides a number of configuration macros which can be used to enable
146or disable extended libc++ behavior, including enabling "debug mode" or
147thread safety annotations.
148
149**_LIBCPP_DEBUG**:
150  See :ref:`using-debug-mode` for more information.
151
152**_LIBCPP_ENABLE_THREAD_SAFETY_ANNOTATIONS**:
153  This macro is used to enable -Wthread-safety annotations on libc++'s
154  ``std::mutex`` and ``std::lock_guard``. By default these annotations are
155  disabled and must be manually enabled by the user.
156
157**_LIBCPP_DISABLE_VISIBILITY_ANNOTATIONS**:
158  This macro is used to disable all visibility annotations inside libc++.
159  Defining this macro and then building libc++ with hidden visibility gives a
160  build of libc++ which does not export any symbols, which can be useful when
161  building statically for inclusion into another library.
162
163**_LIBCPP_DISABLE_EXTERN_TEMPLATE**:
164  This macro is used to disable extern template declarations in the libc++
165  headers. The intended use case is for clients who wish to use the libc++
166  headers without taking a dependency on the libc++ library itself.
167
168**_LIBCPP_ENABLE_TUPLE_IMPLICIT_REDUCED_ARITY_EXTENSION**:
169  This macro is used to re-enable an extension in `std::tuple` which allowed
170  it to be implicitly constructed from fewer initializers than contained
171  elements. Elements without an initializer are default constructed. For example:
172
173  .. code-block:: cpp
174
175    std::tuple<std::string, int, std::error_code> foo() {
176      return {"hello world", 42}; // default constructs error_code
177    }
178
179
180  Since libc++ 4.0 this extension has been disabled by default. This macro
181  may be defined to re-enable it in order to support existing code that depends
182  on the extension. New use of this extension should be discouraged.
183  See `PR 27374 <https://llvm.org/PR27374>`_ for more information.
184
185  Note: The "reduced-arity-initialization" extension is still offered but only
186  for explicit conversions. Example:
187
188  .. code-block:: cpp
189
190    auto foo() {
191      using Tup = std::tuple<std::string, int, std::error_code>;
192      return Tup{"hello world", 42}; // explicit constructor called. OK.
193    }
194
195**_LIBCPP_DISABLE_ADDITIONAL_DIAGNOSTICS**:
196  This macro disables the additional diagnostics generated by libc++ using the
197  `diagnose_if` attribute. These additional diagnostics include checks for:
198
199    * Giving `set`, `map`, `multiset`, `multimap` and their `unordered_`
200      counterparts a comparator which is not const callable.
201    * Giving an unordered associative container a hasher that is not const
202      callable.
203
204**_LIBCPP_NO_VCRUNTIME**:
205  Microsoft's C and C++ headers are fairly entangled, and some of their C++
206  headers are fairly hard to avoid. In particular, `vcruntime_new.h` gets pulled
207  in from a lot of other headers and provides definitions which clash with
208  libc++ headers, such as `nothrow_t` (note that `nothrow_t` is a struct, so
209  there's no way for libc++ to provide a compatible definition, since you can't
210  have multiple definitions).
211
212  By default, libc++ solves this problem by deferring to Microsoft's vcruntime
213  headers where needed. However, it may be undesirable to depend on vcruntime
214  headers, since they may not always be available in cross-compilation setups,
215  or they may clash with other headers. The `_LIBCPP_NO_VCRUNTIME` macro
216  prevents libc++ from depending on vcruntime headers. Consequently, it also
217  prevents libc++ headers from being interoperable with vcruntime headers (from
218  the aforementioned clashes), so users of this macro are promising to not
219  attempt to combine libc++ headers with the problematic vcruntime headers. This
220  macro also currently prevents certain `operator new`/`operator delete`
221  replacement scenarios from working, e.g. replacing `operator new` and
222  expecting a non-replaced `operator new[]` to call the replaced `operator new`.
223
224**_LIBCPP_ENABLE_NODISCARD**:
225  Allow the library to add ``[[nodiscard]]`` attributes to entities not specified
226  as ``[[nodiscard]]`` by the current language dialect. This includes
227  backporting applications of ``[[nodiscard]]`` from newer dialects and
228  additional extended applications at the discretion of the library. All
229  additional applications of ``[[nodiscard]]`` are disabled by default.
230  See :ref:`Extended Applications of [[nodiscard]] <nodiscard extension>` for
231  more information.
232
233**_LIBCPP_DISABLE_NODISCARD_EXT**:
234  This macro prevents the library from applying ``[[nodiscard]]`` to entities
235  purely as an extension. See :ref:`Extended Applications of [[nodiscard]] <nodiscard extension>`
236  for more information.
237
238**_LIBCPP_DISABLE_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS**:
239  This macro disables warnings when using deprecated components. For example,
240  using `std::auto_ptr` when compiling in C++11 mode will normally trigger a
241  warning saying that `std::auto_ptr` is deprecated. If the macro is defined,
242  no warning will be emitted. By default, this macro is not defined.
243
244C++17 Specific Configuration Macros
245-----------------------------------
246**_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX17_REMOVED_FEATURES**:
247  This macro is used to re-enable all the features removed in C++17. The effect
248  is equivalent to manually defining each macro listed below.
249
250**_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX17_REMOVED_UNEXPECTED_FUNCTIONS**:
251  This macro is used to re-enable the `set_unexpected`, `get_unexpected`, and
252  `unexpected` functions, which were removed in C++17.
253
254**_LIBCPP_ENABLE_CXX17_REMOVED_AUTO_PTR**:
255  This macro is used to re-enable `std::auto_ptr` in C++17.
256
257C++2a Specific Configuration Macros:
258------------------------------------
259**_LIBCPP_DISABLE_NODISCARD_AFTER_CXX17**:
260  This macro can be used to disable diagnostics emitted from functions marked
261  ``[[nodiscard]]`` in dialects after C++17.  See :ref:`Extended Applications of [[nodiscard]] <nodiscard extension>`
262  for more information.
263
264
265Libc++ Extensions
266=================
267
268This section documents various extensions provided by libc++, how they're
269provided, and any information regarding how to use them.
270
271.. _nodiscard extension:
272
273Extended applications of ``[[nodiscard]]``
274------------------------------------------
275
276The ``[[nodiscard]]`` attribute is intended to help users find bugs where
277function return values are ignored when they shouldn't be. After C++17 the
278C++ standard has started to declared such library functions as ``[[nodiscard]]``.
279However, this application is limited and applies only to dialects after C++17.
280Users who want help diagnosing misuses of STL functions may desire a more
281liberal application of ``[[nodiscard]]``.
282
283For this reason libc++ provides an extension that does just that! The
284extension must be enabled by defining ``_LIBCPP_ENABLE_NODISCARD``. The extended
285applications of ``[[nodiscard]]`` takes two forms:
286
2871. Backporting ``[[nodiscard]]`` to entities declared as such by the
288   standard in newer dialects, but not in the present one.
289
2902. Extended applications of ``[[nodiscard]]``, at the libraries discretion,
291   applied to entities never declared as such by the standard.
292
293Users may also opt-out of additional applications ``[[nodiscard]]`` using
294additional macros.
295
296Applications of the first form, which backport ``[[nodiscard]]`` from a newer
297dialect may be disabled using macros specific to the dialect it was added. For
298example ``_LIBCPP_DISABLE_NODISCARD_AFTER_CXX17``.
299
300Applications of the second form, which are pure extensions, may be disabled
301by defining ``_LIBCPP_DISABLE_NODISCARD_EXT``.
302
303
304Entities declared with ``_LIBCPP_NODISCARD_EXT``
305~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
306
307This section lists all extended applications of ``[[nodiscard]]`` to entities
308which no dialect declares as such (See the second form described above).
309
310* ``adjacent_find``
311* ``all_of``
312* ``any_of``
313* ``binary_search``
314* ``clamp``
315* ``count_if``
316* ``count``
317* ``equal_range``
318* ``equal``
319* ``find_end``
320* ``find_first_of``
321* ``find_if_not``
322* ``find_if``
323* ``find``
324* ``get_temporary_buffer``
325* ``includes``
326* ``is_heap_until``
327* ``is_heap``
328* ``is_partitioned``
329* ``is_permutation``
330* ``is_sorted_until``
331* ``is_sorted``
332* ``lexicographical_compare``
333* ``lower_bound``
334* ``max_element``
335* ``max``
336* ``min_element``
337* ``min``
338* ``minmax_element``
339* ``minmax``
340* ``mismatch``
341* ``none_of``
342* ``remove_if``
343* ``remove``
344* ``search_n``
345* ``search``
346* ``unique``
347* ``upper_bound``
348* ``lock_guard``'s constructors
349