Before configuring and compiling the LLVM suite (or if you want to use just the LLVM -GCC front end) you can optionally extract the front end from the binary distribution. -It is used for running the LLVM test-suite and for compiling C/C++ programs. Note that -you can optionally build llvm-gcc yourself after building the -main LLVM repository.
- -To install the GCC front end, do the following (on Windows, use an archival tool -like 7-zip that understands gzipped tars):
- -Once the binary is uncompressed, if you're using a *nix-based system, add a symlink for -llvm-gcc and llvm-g++ to some directory in your path. If you're using a -Windows-based system, add the bin subdirectory of your front end installation directory -to your PATH environment variable. For example, if you uncompressed the binary to -c:\llvm-gcc, add c:\llvm-gcc\bin to your PATH.
- -If you now want to build LLVM from source, when you configure LLVM, it will -automatically detect llvm-gcc's presence (if it is in your path) enabling its -use in test-suite. Note that you can always build or install llvm-gcc at any -point after building the main LLVM repository: just reconfigure llvm and -test-suite will pick it up. -
- -As a convenience for Windows users, the front end binaries for MinGW/x86 include -versions of the required w32api and mingw-runtime binaries. The last remaining step for -Windows users is to simply uncompress the binary binutils package from -MinGW into your front end installation directory. While the -front end installation steps are not quite the same as a typical manual MinGW installation, -they should be similar enough to those who have previously installed MinGW on Windows systems.
- -To install binutils on Windows:
- -The binary versions of the LLVM GCC front end may not suit all of your needs. For -example, the binary distribution may include an old version of a system header -file, not "fix" a header file that needs to be fixed for GCC, or it may be linked with -libraries not available on your system. In cases like these, you may want to try -building the GCC front end from source. Thankfully, -this is much easier now than it was in the past.
- -We also do not currently support updating of the GCC front end by manually overlaying -newer versions of the w32api and mingw-runtime binary packages that may become available -from MinGW. At this time, it's best to think of the MinGW LLVM GCC front end binary as -a self-contained convenience package that requires Windows users to simply download and -uncompress the GNU Binutils binary package from the MinGW project.
- -Regardless of your platform, if you discover that installing the LLVM GCC front end -binaries is not as easy as previously described, or you would like to suggest improvements, -please let us know how you would like to see things improved by dropping us a note on our -mailing list.
- -The following options can be used to set or enable LLVM specific options: