This document has detailed instructions on how to build gRPC C++ from source. Note that it only covers the build of gRPC itself and is mostly meant for gRPC C++ contributors and/or power users.
Other should follow the user instructions. See the [How to use](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/tree/master/src/cpp#to-start-using-grpc-c) instructions for guidance on how to add gRPC as a dependency to a C++ application (there are several ways and system wide installation is often not the best choice).
# Pre-requisites
## Linux
@ -14,7 +17,6 @@ If you plan to build from source and run tests, install the following as well:
By default gRPC uses [protocol buffers](https://github.com/google/protobuf),
you will need the `protoc` compiler to generate stub server and client code.
If you compile gRPC from source, as described below, the Makefile will
automatically try compiling the `protoc` in third_party if you cloned the
repository recursively and it detects that you do not already have 'protoc' compiler
installed.
If 'protoc' compiler has not been installed, following commands can be used for installation.
```sh
$ cd grpc/third_party/protobuf
$ sudo make install # 'make' should have been run by core grpc
```
# Clone the repository (including submodules)
Before building, you need to clone the gRPC github repository and download submodules containing source code
@ -100,37 +84,51 @@ repository at the latest stable version.
> @rem To update submodules at later time, run "git submodule update --init"
```
NOTE: The `bazel` build tool uses a different model for dependencies. You only need to worry about downloading submodules if you're building
with something else than `bazel` (e.g. `cmake`).
# Build from source
In the C++ world, there's no "standard" build system that would work for in all supported use cases and on all supported platforms.
Therefore, gRPC supports several major build systems, which should satisfy most users.
Note that this section only covers the build of gRPC itself, not the installation. See the [How to use](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/tree/master/src/cpp#to-start-using-grpc-c) instructions
for guidance on how to add gRPC as a dependency to a C++ application (there are several ways and system wide installation is often not the best choice).
## Building with bazel (recommended)
## make (on UNIX systems)
Bazel is the primary build system for gRPC C++ and if you're comfortable with using bazel, we can certainly recommend it.
Using bazel will give you the best developer experience as well as faster and cleaner builds.
You'll need `bazel` version `1.0.0` or higher to build gRPC.
See [Installing Bazel](https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/install.html) for instructions how to install bazel on your system.
We support building with `bazel` on Linux, MacOS and Windows.
From the grpc repository root
```sh
$ make
```
NOTE: if you get an error on linux such as 'aclocal-1.15: command not found', which can happen if you ran 'make' before installing the pre-reqs, try the following:
See [Installing Bazel](https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/install.html) for instructions how to install bazel on your system.
NOTE: If you are gRPC maintainer and you have access to our test cluster, you should use the our [gRPC's Remote Execution environment](tools/remote_build/README.md)
to get significant improvement to the build and test speed (and a bunch of other very useful features).
From the grpc repository root
## cmake: Linux/Unix, Using Make
Run from grpc directory after cloning the repo with --recursive or updating submodules.
```
$ bazel build :all
$ mkdir -p cmake/build
$ cd cmake/build
$ cmake ../..
$ make
```
## cmake: Windows, Using Visual Studio 2015 or 2017 (can only build with OPENSSL_NO_ASM).
If you want to build shared libraries (`.so` files), run `cmake` with `-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON`.
## Building with cmake: Windows, Using Visual Studio 2015 or 2017 (can only build with OPENSSL_NO_ASM).
When using the "Visual Studio" generator,
cmake will generate a solution (`grpc.sln`) that contains a VS project for
every target defined in `CMakeLists.txt` (+ few extra convenience projects
@ -144,7 +142,8 @@ you will be able to browse and build the code.
## Building with cmake: Windows, Using Ninja (faster build, supports boringssl's assembly optimizations).
Please note that when using Ninja, you will still need Visual C++ (part of Visual Studio)
installed to be able to compile the C/C++ sources.
```
@ -155,3 +154,29 @@ installed to be able to compile the C/C++ sources.
> cmake .. -GNinja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
> cmake --build .
```
## Building with make (on UNIX systems)
NOTE: `make` used to be gRPC's default build system, but we're no longer recommending it. Use should use `bazel` or `cmake` instead.
From the grpc repository root
```sh
$ make
```
NOTE: if you get an error on linux such as 'aclocal-1.15: command not found', which can happen if you ran 'make' before installing the pre-reqs, try the following:
Jan Tattermusch
5 years ago