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---
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short-description: Built-in options to configure project properties
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...
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# Built-in options
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Meson provides two kinds of options: [build options provided by the
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build files](Build-options.md) and built-in options that are either
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universal options, base options, compiler options.
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## Universal options
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All these can be set by passing `-Doption=value` to `meson` (aka `meson
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setup`), or by setting them inside `default_options` of [[project]] in your
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`meson.build`. Some options can also be set by `--option=value`, or `--option
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value` -- a list is shown by running `meson setup --help`.
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For legacy reasons `--warnlevel` is the cli argument for the
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`warning_level` option.
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They can also be edited after setup using `meson configure
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-Doption=value`.
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Installation options are usually relative to the prefix but it should
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not be relied on, since they can be absolute paths in the following cases:
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* When the prefix is `/usr`: `sysconfdir` defaults to `/etc`,
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`localstatedir` defaults to `/var`, and `sharedstatedir` defaults to
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`/var/lib`
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* When the prefix is `/usr/local`: `localstatedir` defaults
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to `/var/local`, and `sharedstatedir` defaults to `/var/local/lib`
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* When an absolute path outside of prefix is provided by the user/distributor.
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### Directories
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| Option | Default value | Description |
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| ------ | ------------- | ----------- |
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| prefix | see below | Installation prefix |
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| bindir | bin | Executable directory |
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| datadir | share | Data file directory |
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| includedir | include | Header file directory |
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| infodir | share/info | Info page directory |
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| libdir | see below | Library directory |
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| licensedir | see below | Licenses directory (since 1.1.0)|
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| libexecdir | libexec | Library executable directory |
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| localedir | share/locale | Locale data directory |
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| localstatedir | var | Localstate data directory |
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| mandir | share/man | Manual page directory |
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| sbindir | sbin | System executable directory |
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| sharedstatedir | com | Architecture-independent data directory |
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| sysconfdir | etc | Sysconf data directory |
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`prefix` defaults to `C:/` on Windows, and `/usr/local` otherwise. You
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should always override this value.
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`libdir` is automatically detected based on your platform, it should
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be correct when doing "native" (build machine == host machine)
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compilation. For cross compiles Meson will try to guess the correct
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libdir, but it may not be accurate, especially on Linux where
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different distributions have different defaults. Using a [cross
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file](Cross-compilation.md#defining-the-environment), particularly the
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paths section may be necessary.
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`licensedir` is empty by default. If set, it defines the default location
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to install a dependency manifest and project licenses. For more details,
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see [[meson.install_dependency_manifest]].
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### Core options
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Options that are labeled "per machine" in the table are set per
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machine. See the [specifying options per
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machine](#specifying-options-per-machine) section for details.
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| Option | Default value | Description | Is per machine | Is per subproject |
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| -------------------------------------- | ------------- | ----------- | -------------- | ----------------- |
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| auto_features {enabled, disabled, auto} | auto | Override value of all 'auto' features | no | no |
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| backend {ninja, vs,<br>vs2010, vs2012, vs2013, vs2015, vs2017, vs2019, vs2022, xcode, none} | ninja | Backend to use | no | no |
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| buildtype {plain, debug,<br>debugoptimized, release, minsize, custom} | debug | Build type to use | no | no |
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| debug | true | Enable debug symbols and other information | no | no |
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| default_library {shared, static, both} | shared | Default library type | no | yes |
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| errorlogs | true | Whether to print the logs from failing tests. | no | no |
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| install_umask {preserve, 0000-0777} | 022 | Default umask to apply on permissions of installed files | no | no |
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| layout {mirror,flat} | mirror | Build directory layout | no | no |
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| optimization {plain, 0, g, 1, 2, 3, s} | 0 | Optimization level | no | no |
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| pkg_config_path {OS separated path} | '' | Additional paths for pkg-config to search before builtin paths | yes | no |
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| prefer_static | false | Whether to try static linking before shared linking | no | no |
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| cmake_prefix_path | [] | Additional prefixes for cmake to search before builtin paths | yes | no |
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| stdsplit | true | Split stdout and stderr in test logs | no | no |
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| strip | false | Strip targets on install | no | no |
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| unity {on, off, subprojects} | off | Unity build | no | no |
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| unity_size {>=2} | 4 | Unity file block size | no | no |
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| warning_level {0, 1, 2, 3, everything} | 1 | Set the warning level. From 0 = none to everything = highest | no | yes |
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| werror | false | Treat warnings as errors | no | yes |
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| wrap_mode {default, nofallback,<br>nodownload, forcefallback, nopromote} | default | Wrap mode to use | no | no |
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| force_fallback_for | [] | Force fallback for those dependencies | no | no |
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#### Details for `backend`
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Several build file formats are supported as command runners to build the
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configured project. Meson prefers ninja by default, but platform-specific
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backends are also available for better IDE integration with native tooling:
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Visual Studio for Windows, and xcode for macOS. It is also possible to
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configure with no backend at all, which is an error if you have targets to
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build, but for projects that need configuration + testing + installation allows
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for a lighter automated build pipeline.
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#### Details for `buildtype`
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<a name="build-type-options"></a> For setting optimization levels and
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toggling debug, you can either set the `buildtype` option, or you can
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set the `optimization` and `debug` options which give finer control
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over the same. Whichever you decide to use, the other will be deduced
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from it. For example, `-Dbuildtype=debugoptimized` is the same as
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`-Ddebug=true -Doptimization=2` and vice-versa. This table documents
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the two-way mapping:
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| buildtype | debug | optimization |
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| --------- | ----- | ------------ |
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| plain | false | plain |
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| debug | true | 0 |
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| debugoptimized | true | 2 |
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| release | false | 3 |
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| minsize | true | s |
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All other combinations of `debug` and `optimization` set `buildtype` to `'custom'`.
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#### Details for `warning_level`
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Exact flags per warning level is compiler specific, but there is an approximative
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table for most common compilers.
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| Warning level | GCC/Clang | MSVC |
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| ------------- | --- | ---- |
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| 0 | | |
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| 1 | -Wall | /W2 |
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| 2 | -Wall -Wextra | /W3 |
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| 3 | -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic | /W4 |
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| everything | -Weverything | /Wall |
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Clang's `-Weverything` is emulated on GCC by passing all known warning flags.
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## Base options
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These are set in the same way as universal options, either by
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`-Doption=value`, or by setting them inside `default_options` of
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[[project]] in your `meson.build`. However, they cannot be shown in
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the output of `meson setup --help` because they depend on both the current
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platform and the compiler that will be selected. The only way to see
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them is to setup a builddir and then run `meson configure` on it with
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no options.
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The following options are available. Note that they may not be
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available on all platforms or with all compilers:
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| Option | Default value | Possible values | Description |
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|---------------------|----------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| b_asneeded | true | true, false | Use -Wl,--as-needed when linking |
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| b_bitcode | false | true, false | Embed Apple bitcode, see below |
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| b_colorout | always | auto, always, never | Use colored output |
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| b_coverage | false | true, false | Enable coverage tracking |
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| b_lundef | true | true, false | Don't allow undefined symbols when linking |
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| b_lto | false | true, false | Use link time optimization |
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| b_lto_threads | 0 | Any integer* | Use multiple threads for lto. *(Added in 0.57.0)* |
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| b_lto_mode | default | default, thin | Select between lto modes, thin and default. *(Added in 0.57.0)* |
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| b_thinlto_cache | false | true, false | Enable LLVM's ThinLTO cache for faster incremental builds. *(Added in 0.64.0)* |
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| b_thinlto_cache_dir | (Internal build dir) | true, false | Specify where to store ThinLTO cache objects. *(Added in 0.64.0)* |
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| b_ndebug | false | true, false, if-release | Disable asserts |
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| b_pch | true | true, false | Use precompiled headers |
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| b_pgo | off | off, generate, use | Use profile guided optimization |
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| b_sanitize | none | see below | Code sanitizer to use |
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| b_staticpic | true | true, false | Build static libraries as position independent |
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| b_pie | false | true, false | Build position-independent executables (since 0.49.0) |
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| b_vscrt | from_buildtype | none, md, mdd, mt, mtd, from_buildtype, static_from_buildtype | VS runtime library to use (since 0.48.0) (static_from_buildtype since 0.56.0) |
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The value of `b_sanitize` can be one of: `none`, `address`, `thread`,
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`undefined`, `memory`, `leak`, `address,undefined`, but note that some
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compilers might not support all of them. For example Visual Studio
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only supports the address sanitizer.
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\* < 0 means disable, == 0 means automatic selection, > 0 sets a specific number to use
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LLVM supports `thin` lto, for more discussion see [LLVM's documentation](https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ThinLTO.html)
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<a name="b_vscrt-from_buildtype"></a>
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The default value of `b_vscrt` is `from_buildtype`. The following table is
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used internally to pick the CRT compiler arguments for `from_buildtype` or
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`static_from_buildtype` *(since 0.56)* based on the value of the `buildtype`
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option:
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| buildtype | from_buildtype | static_from_buildtype |
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| -------- | -------------- | --------------------- |
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| debug | `/MDd` | `/MTd` |
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| debugoptimized | `/MD` | `/MT` |
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| release | `/MD` | `/MT` |
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| minsize | `/MD` | `/MT` |
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| custom | error! | error! |
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### Notes about Apple Bitcode support
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`b_bitcode` will pass `-fembed-bitcode` while compiling and will pass
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`-Wl,-bitcode_bundle` while linking. These options are incompatible
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with `b_asneeded`, so that option will be silently disabled.
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[[shared_module]]s will not have
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bitcode embedded because `-Wl,-bitcode_bundle` is incompatible with
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both `-bundle` and `-Wl,-undefined,dynamic_lookup` which are necessary
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for shared modules to work.
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## Compiler options
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Same caveats as base options above.
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The following options are available. They can be set by passing
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`-Doption=value` to `meson`. Note that both the options themselves and
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the possible values they can take will depend on the target platform
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or compiler being used:
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| Option | Default value | Possible values | Description |
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| ------ | ------------- | --------------- | ----------- |
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| c_args | | free-form comma-separated list | C compile arguments to use |
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| c_link_args | | free-form comma-separated list | C link arguments to use |
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| c_std | none | none, c89, c99, c11, c17, c18, c2x, gnu89, gnu99, gnu11, gnu17, gnu18, gnu2x | C language standard to use |
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| c_winlibs | see below | free-form comma-separated list | Standard Windows libs to link against |
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| c_thread_count | 4 | integer value ≥ 0 | Number of threads to use with emcc when using threads |
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| cpp_args | | free-form comma-separated list | C++ compile arguments to use |
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| cpp_link_args | | free-form comma-separated list | C++ link arguments to use |
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| cpp_std | none | none, c++98, c++03, c++11, c++14, c++17, c++20 <br/>c++2a, c++1z, gnu++03, gnu++11, gnu++14, gnu++17, gnu++1z, <br/> gnu++2a, gnu++20, vc++14, vc++17, vc++latest | C++ language standard to use |
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| cpp_debugstl | false | true, false | C++ STL debug mode |
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| cpp_eh | default | none, default, a, s, sc | C++ exception handling type |
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| cpp_rtti | true | true, false | Whether to enable RTTI (runtime type identification) |
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| cpp_thread_count | 4 | integer value ≥ 0 | Number of threads to use with emcc when using threads |
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| cpp_winlibs | see below | free-form comma-separated list | Standard Windows libs to link against |
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| fortran_std | none | [none, legacy, f95, f2003, f2008, f2018] | Fortran language standard to use |
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| cuda_ccbindir | | filesystem path | CUDA non-default toolchain directory to use (-ccbin) *(Added in 0.57.1)* |
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The default values of `c_winlibs` and `cpp_winlibs` are in
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compiler-specific argument forms, but the libraries are: kernel32,
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user32, gdi32, winspool, shell32, ole32, oleaut32, uuid, comdlg32,
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advapi32.
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All these `<lang>_*` options are specified per machine. See below in
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the [specifying options per machine](#specifying-options-per-machine)
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section on how to do this in cross builds.
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When using MSVC, `cpp_eh=none` will result in no exception flags being
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passed, while the `cpp_eh=[value]` will result in `/EH[value]`. Since
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*0.51.0* `cpp_eh=default` will result in `/EHsc` on MSVC. When using
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gcc-style compilers, nothing is passed (allowing exceptions to work),
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while `cpp_eh=none` passes `-fno-exceptions`.
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Since *0.54.0* The `<lang>_thread_count` option can be used to control
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the value passed to `-s PTHREAD_POOL_SIZE` when using emcc. No other
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c/c++ compiler supports this option.
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Since *0.63.0* all compiler options can be set per subproject, see
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[here](#specifying-options-per-subproject) for details on how the default value
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is inherited from the main project. This is useful, for example, when the main
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project requires C++11, but a subproject requires C++14. The `cpp_std` value
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from the subproject's `default_options` is now respected.
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## Specifying options per machine
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Since *0.51.0*, some options are specified per machine rather than
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globally for all machine configurations. Prefixing the option with
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`build.` only affects the build machine configuration, while leaving it
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unprefixed only affects the host machine configuration.
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For example:
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- `build.pkg_config_path` controls the paths pkg-config will search
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for `native: true` (build machine) dependencies.
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- `pkg_config_path` controls the paths pkg-config will search for
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`native: false` (host machine) dependencies.
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This is useful for cross builds. In native builds, the build and host
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machines are the same, and the unprefixed option alone will suffice.
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Prior to *0.51.0*, these options only affected native builds when
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specified on the command line as there was no `build.` prefix.
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Similarly named fields in the `[properties]` section of the cross file
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would affect cross compilers, but the code paths were fairly different,
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allowing differences in behavior to crop out.
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## Specifying options per subproject
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Since *0.54.0* `default_library` and `werror` built-in options can be
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defined per subproject. This is useful, for example, when building
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shared libraries in the main project and statically linking a subproject,
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or when the main project must build with no warnings but some subprojects
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cannot.
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Most of the time, this would be used either in the parent project by
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setting subproject's default_options (e.g. `subproject('foo',
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default_options: 'default_library=static')`), or by the user through the
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command line: `-Dfoo:default_library=static`.
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The value is overridden in this order:
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- Value from parent project
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- Value from subproject's default_options if set
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- Value from subproject() default_options if set
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- Value from command line if set
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Since *0.56.0* `warning_level` can also be defined per subproject.
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## Module options
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Some Meson modules have built-in options. They can be set by prefixing the
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option with the module's name:
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`-D<module>.<option>=<value>` (e.g. `-Dpython.platlibdir=/foo`).
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### Pkgconfig module
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| Option | Default value | Possible values | Description |
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|-------------|---------------|-----------------|------------------------------------------------------------|
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| relocatable | false | true, false | Generate the pkgconfig files as relocatable (Since 0.63.0) |
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*Since 0.63.0* The `pkgconfig.relocatable` option is used by the
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pkgconfig module–namely [`pkg.generate()`](Pkgconfig-module.md)–and
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affects how the `prefix` (not to be confused with the
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[install prefix](#directories)) in the generated pkgconfig file is set.
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When it is `true`, the `prefix` will be relative to the `install_dir`-this
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allows the pkgconfig file to be moved around and still work, as long
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as the relative path is not broken. In general, this allows for the whole
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installed package to be placed anywhere on the system and still work as a
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dependency. When it is set to `false`, the `prefix` will be the same as
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the install prefix.
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An error will be raised if `pkgconfig.relocatable` is `true` and the
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`install_dir` for a generated pkgconfig file points outside the
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install prefix. For example: if the install prefix is `/usr` and the
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`install_dir` for a pkgconfig file is `/var/lib/pkgconfig`.
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### Python module
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| Option | Default value | Possible values | Description |
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| ------ | ------------- | ----------------- | ----------- |
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| install_env | prefix | {auto,prefix,system,venv} | Which python environment to install to (Since 0.62.0) |
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| platlibdir | | Directory path | Directory for site-specific, platform-specific files (Since 0.60.0) |
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| purelibdir | | Directory path | Directory for site-specific, non-platform-specific files (Since 0.60.0) |
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*Since 0.60.0* The `python.platlibdir` and `python.purelibdir` options are used
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by the python module methods `python.install_sources()` and
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`python.get_install_dir()`; Meson tries to detect the correct installation paths
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and make them relative to the installation `prefix` by default which will often
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result in the interpreter not finding the installed python modules unless
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`prefix` is `/usr` on Linux, or, for instance, `C:\Python39` on Windows. These
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options can be absolute paths outside of `prefix`.
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*Since 0.62.0* The `python.install_env` option is used to detect the correct
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installation path. Setting to `system` will avoid making the paths relative to
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`prefix` and instead use the global site-packages of the selected python
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interpreter directly, even if it is a venv. Setting to `venv` will instead use
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the paths for the virtualenv the python found installation comes from (or fail
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if it is not a virtualenv). Setting to `auto` will check if the found
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installation is a virtualenv, and use `venv` or `system` as appropriate (but
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never `prefix`). This option is mutually exclusive with the `platlibdir`/`purelibdir`.
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For backwards compatibility purposes, the default `install_env` is `prefix`.
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