path: root/doc/reference/modules/cpp-module.qdoc

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/*!
    \contentspage index.html
    \page cpp-module.html
    \ingroup list-of-modules

    \title Module cpp
    \since 1.0
    \brief Provides C/C++ support.

    The \c cpp module contains the properties and rules for toolchains of the C/C++ family.
    On Apple platforms this includes support for Objective-C/C++.

    \section1 General Properties

    \table
    \header
        \li Property
        \li Type
        \li Since
        \li Default
        \li Description
    \row
        \li allowUnresolvedSymbols
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.2
        \li \c{false}
        \li Switch this on if you want the linking step to succeed even if the resulting binary
            contains unresolved symbols. Normally this makes little sense, but in special cases it
            is possible that the respective symbols will be available at load time even if they are
            not present during linking.
    \row
        \li architecture
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{qbs.architecture}
        \li Target architecture. See \c{qbs.architecture}.
    \row
        \li debugInformation
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{qbs.debugInformation}
        \li Generate debug information. See \c{qbs.debugInformation}.
    \row
        \li separateDebugInformation
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.4
        \li \c{false} for gcc/clang, \c{true} for MSVC
        \li Whether to store debug information in an external file or bundle instead of within the
            binary.
    \row
        \li defines
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of preprocessor macros that gets passed to the compiler.
            To set macro values use the following syntax:
            \c{cpp.defines: ["USE_COLORS=1", 'COLOR_STR="blanched almond"']}
    \row
        \li platformDefines
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of preprocessor macros that are used for all projects that are built for the
            current target platform. User project files usually do not set this property.
    \row
        \li compilerDefines
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of preprocessor macros that are used for all projects that are using the current
            toolchain. User project files usually do not set this property.
    \row
        \li includePaths
        \li \c{pathList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of include paths. Relative paths are considered to be relative to the .qbs product
            file they are used in.
    \row
        \li systemIncludePaths
        \li \c{pathList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of include paths that are passed as system include paths to the compiler.
            For header files in those paths warnings will be ignored.
            Relative paths are considered to be relative to the .qbs product file they are used in.
    \row
        \li libraryPaths
        \li \c{pathList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of library search paths. Relative paths are considered to be relative to the .qbs
            product file they are used in.
    \row
        \li dynamicLibraries
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of dynamic libraries to be linked. If the library is part of your project, consider
            using a Depends item instead.
    \row
        \li staticLibraries
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of static libraries to be linked. If the library is part of your project, consider
            using a Depends item instead.
    \row
        \li prefixHeaders
        \li \c{pathList}
        \li 1.0.1
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of files to automatically include at the beginning of each source file in the
            product.
    \row
        \li optimization
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{qbs.optimization}
        \li Optimization level. See \c{qbs.optimization}.
    \row
        \li treatWarningsAsErrors
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{false}
        \li Warnings will be handled as errors and cause the build to fail.
    \row
        \li useCPrecompiledHeader, useCxxPrecompiledHeader, useObjcPrecompiledHeader,
            useObjcxxPrecompiledHeader
        \li \c bool
        \li 1.5
        \li \c false
        \li Specifies whether to use a precompiled header for the respective language, if one
            is present (see \l{Relevant File Tags}{below} for the associated file tags).
    \row
        \li warningLevel
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{"all"}
        \li Specifies the warning level for the compiler - \c{"none"} or \c{"all"}.
    \row
        \li commonCompilerFlags
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0.1
        \li undefined
        \li Flags that are added to all compilation commands independently of the language.
    \row
        \li compilerVersionMajor
        \li \c{int}
        \li 1.4
        \li undefined
        \li The major version of the compiler.
    \row
        \li compilerVersionMinor
        \li \c{int}
        \li 1.4
        \li undefined
        \li The minor version of the compiler.
    \row
        \li compilerVersionPatch
        \li \c{int}
        \li 1.4
        \li undefined
        \li The patch level component of the compiler version.
    \row
        \li assemblerFlags
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.5
        \li undefined
        \li Additional flags for the assembler.
    \row
        \li cppFlags
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li undefined
        \li Additional flags for the C preprocessor.
    \row
        \li cFlags
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li undefined
        \li Additional flags for the C compiler.
    \row
        \li cxxFlags
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li undefined
        \li Additional flags for the C++ compiler.
    \row
        \li cLanguageVersion
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.4
        \li undefined
        \li The version of the C standard with which the code must comply. If this property is set,
            corresponding compiler and/or linker flags will be added, depending on the toolchain.
            If the value is left undefined, the compiler default will be used.
            Possible values include: \c{"c89"}, \c{"c99"}, \c{"c11"}
    \row
        \li cxxLanguageVersion
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.4
        \li undefined
        \li The version of the C++ standard with which the code must comply. If this property is
            set, corresponding compiler and/or linker flags will be added, depending on the
            toolchain. If the value is left undefined, the compiler default will be used.
            Possible values include: \c{"c++98"}, \c{"c++11"}, \c{"c++14"}
    \row
        \li cxxStandardLibrary
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.4
        \li undefined
        \li The C++ standard library to link to. If this property is set, corresponding compiler
            and/or linker flags will be added, assuming the value is valid for the current
            toolchain. If the value is left undefined, the compiler default will be used.
            Possible values include: \c{"libstdc++"}, \c{"libc++"}
    \row
        \li objcFlags
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li undefined
        \li Additional flags for the Objective-C compiler.
    \row
        \li objcxxFlags
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li undefined
        \li Additional flags for the Objective-C++ compiler.
    \row
        \li linkerFlags
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li undefined
        \li Additional flags for the linker.
    \row
        \li assemblerName
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.5
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Name of the assembler binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li assemblerPath
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.5
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Full path of the assembler binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li compilerName
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Name of the main compiler binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li compilerPath
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Full path of the main compiler binary. This is set in the build profile.
            If the toolchain provides different compilers for different languages, then
            \c{compilerPathByLanguage} is used.
    \row
        \li compilerPathByLanguage
        \li \c{string} to \c{string} map
        \li 1.3
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Maps file tags to full paths of compiler binaries. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li compilerWrapper
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.1
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li Wrapper binary and its arguments for wrapping compiler calls.
            This is useful for compiler wrappers like ccache and alike.
    \row
        \li linkerName
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.1.1
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Name of the linker binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li linkerPath
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.1.1
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Full path of the linker binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li entryPoint
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.3
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li Name of the entry point of an executable or dynamic library. If this property is
            undefined, the toolchain's default is used.
    \row
        \li runtimeLibrary
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.3.3
        \li \c{"dynamic"} for MSVC, \c{undefined} for others
        \li Type of the used runtime library. Accepted values are \c{"static"} and \c{"dynamic"}.
            If this property is set to \c{undefined}, then the default runtime library of the
            toolchain is used.
            \note For MSVC the default value is \c{"dynamic"}.
            \note At the moment this property is only functional for MSVC.
    \row
        \li enableExceptions
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.5
        \li \c{true}
        \li Whether to enable exceptions in C++ code.
    \row
        \li exceptionHandlingModel
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.5
        \li \c{"default"}
        \li The exception handling model to use. For MSVC, this can be \c{"default"}, \c{"seh"} or
            \c{"externc"}. For all other compilers, \c{"default"} indicates the default or only
            exception handling model.
    \row
        \li enableRtti
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.5
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li Whether to enable runtime type information in C++ code.
    \row
        \li enableReproducibleBuilds
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.5
        \li \c{false}
        \li Try to generate reproducible object files. Some compilers (notably gcc) use random
            numbers for generating symbol names that have to be different in every compilation
            unit. This is avoided by setting this property to \c{true}.
    \endtable

    \section1 Properties Specific to Apple Platforms

    \table
    \header
        \li Property
        \li Type
        \li Since
        \li Default
        \li Description
    \row
        \li dsymutilFlags
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.4.1
        \li undefined
        \li Additional flags for the dsymutil tool.
    \row
        \li dsymutilPath
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.4
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Full path of the dsymutil binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li frameworkPaths
        \li \c{pathList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of framework search paths. Relative paths are considered to be relative to the
            .qbs product file they are used in.
    \row
        \li systemFrameworkPaths
        \li \c{pathList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of framework search paths. Relative paths are considered to be relative to the
            .qbs product file they are used in. Header files in frameworks in those paths will not
            cause warnings.
    \row
        \li frameworks
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of frameworks to be linked.
            If the framework is part of your project, consider using a Depends item instead.
    \row
        \li weakFrameworks
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of frameworks to be weakly linked.
            If the framework is part of your project, consider using a Depends item instead.
    \row
        \li installNamePrefix
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li The prefix for the internal install name (LC_ID_DYLIB) of a dynamic library on Darwin
            (macOS and iOS). Typically this should be set to \c{"@rpath"} on modern platforms that
            support it, which includes macOS 10.5 and above, and all versions of iOS.
            \b Deprecated: use \c{cpp.sonamePrefix} instead.
    \row
        \li automaticReferenceCounting
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.4
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li Whether to enable Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) for Objective-C and Objective-C++
            source code. If \c{undefined}, uses the compiler default (probably \c{false}).
    \row
        \li requireAppExtensionSafeApi
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.4
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li Whether to enforce the use of only app-extension-safe APIs on Apple platforms. This is
            necessary for building Application Extensions in OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 and above. If
            \c{undefined}, uses the compiler and linker defaults (probably \c{false}).
    \row
        \li minimumIosVersion
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li undefined, but may be set by generated profiles
        \li A version number in the format [major].[minor] indicating the earliest version of iOS
            that the product should run on. Passes -miphoneos-version-min=<version> to the compiler.
            If undefined, compiler defaults will be used.
    \row
        \li minimumOsxVersion
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0.1
        \li undefined, but may be set by generated profiles
        \li Deprecated in \QBS 1.5.2. Use \c minimumMacosVersion instead.
    \row
        \li minimumMacosVersion
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.5.2
        \li undefined, but may be set by generated profiles
        \li A version number in the format [major].[minor] indicating the earliest version of macOS
            that the product should run on. Passes -mmacosx-version-min=<version> to the compiler.
            If undefined, compiler defaults will be used.
    \row
        \li minimumWatchosVersion
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.5
        \li undefined, but may be set by generated profiles
        \li A version number in the format [major].[minor] indicating the earliest version of
            Apple watchOS that the product should run on.
            If undefined, compiler defaults will be used.
    \row
        \li minimumTvosVersion
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.5
        \li undefined, but may be set by generated profiles
        \li A version number in the format [major].[minor] indicating the earliest version of
            Apple tvOS that the product should run on.
            If undefined, compiler defaults will be used.
    \endtable

    \section1 Properties Specific to Unix Platforms

    \table
    \header
        \li Property
        \li Type
        \li Since
        \li Default
        \li Description
    \row
        \li archiverName
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{"ar"}
        \li Name of the archiver binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li archiverPath
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Full path of the archiver binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li exportedSymbolsCheckMode
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.4.1
        \li "ignore-undefined"
        \li Controls how \QBS determines whether an updated dynamic library causes relinking of
            dependents. The default value is \c "ignore-undefined", which means that undefined
            symbols being added or removed do not cause any relinking. If that should happen, for
            example because dependent products are linked with an option such as
            \c "--no-undefined", then this property can be set to \c "strict".
    \row
        \li nmName
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.2
        \li \c{"nm"}
        \li Name of the nm binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li nmPath
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.2
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Full path of the nm binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li objcopyName
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.4
        \li \c{"objcopy"}
        \li Name of the objcopy binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li objcopyPath
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.4
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Full path of the objcopy binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li stripName
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.4
        \li \c{"strip"}
        \li Name of the strip binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li stripPath
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.4
        \li determined by qbs-setup-toolchains
        \li Full path of the strip binary. This is set in the build profile.
    \row
        \li positionIndependentCode
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li Generate position independent code.
            If this property is \c{undefined}, then position independent code is generated for
            libraries, but not for applications.
    \row
        \li rpaths
        \li \c{stringList}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li List of rpaths that are passed to the linker.
    \row
        \li sonamePrefix
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.5
        \li \c{undefined}
        \li If defined, the value of this variable is used as a path to be prepended to
            the built shared library's \c SONAME identifier. The \c SONAME
            (\c LC_ID_DYLIB on Apple platforms, \c DT_SONAME on other Unix-like platforms) is the
            identifier that the dynamic linker will later use to reference the library.
            In general, this reference may be a library name or full library path.

            On Apple platforms, the path may contain the following placeholders:

            \list
                \li \b @rpath -
                    Expands to paths defined by LC_RPATH Mach-O commands in
                    the current process executable or the referring libraries.
                \li \b @executable_path -
                    Expands to the current process executable location.
                \li \b @loader_path -
                    Expands to the referring executable or library location.
            \endlist

            In most cases, using \c @rpath is sufficient and recommended.
            However, the prefix may be also specified using different placeholders, or
            an absolute path.

            For more information, see the
            \l{https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/dyld.1.html}{dyld documentation}
            on dynamic library install names.
    \row
        \li useRPaths
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.3
        \li \c{true}
        \li Set this property to \c{false} to prevent the linker from writing rpaths to the binary.
    \row
        \li visibility
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li \c{"default"}
        \li Visibility level for exported symbols.
            Possible values include: \c{"default"}, \c{"hidden"}, \c{"hiddenInlines"},
            and \c{"minimal"}, which combines \c{"hidden"} and \c{"hiddenInlines"}.
    \endtable

    \section1 Properties Specific to Windows

    \table
    \header
        \li Property
        \li Type
        \li Since
        \li Default
        \li Description
    \row
        \li generateManifestFile
        \li \c{bool}
        \li 1.5.0
        \li \c{true}
        \li Specifies whether to auto-generate a manifest file and include it in the binary.
            Disable this property if you provide your own rc file.
    \row
        \li windowsApiCharacterSet
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0.1
        \li \c{"unicode"}
        \li Specifies the character set used in the Win32 API. "unicode" will define the
            preprocessor symbols UNICODE and _UNICODE, "mbcs" will define _MBCS, and
            setting the value to undefined will use the default character set.
    \row
        \li minimumWindowsVersion
        \li \c{string}
        \li 1.0
        \li undefined, but may be set by generated profiles
        \li A version number in the format [major].[minor] indicating the earliest version of
            Windows that the product should run on. Defines WINVER, _WIN32_WINNT, and
            _WIN32_WINDOWS, and applies a version number to the linker flags /SUBSYSTEM and
            /OSVERSION for MSVC or --major-subsystem-version, --minor-subsystem-version,
            --major-os-version and --minor-os-version for MinGW.
            If undefined, compiler defaults will be used.
    \endtable

    \section1 Relevant File Tags

    \table
    \header
        \li Tag
        \li Auto-tagged File Names
        \li Since
        \li Description
    \row
        \li \c{"application"}
        \li n/a
        \li 1.0.1
        \li The rule that creates executable files (typically via a linker) attaches this tag
            to its output artifact.
    \row
        \li \c{"asm"}
        \li \c{*.s} (for GCC-like toolchains), \c{*.asm} (for MSVC)
        \li 1.1.0
        \li Source files with this tag serve as inputs to a rule invoking the toolchain's
            assembler. One object file is generated for each such file.
    \row
        \li \c{"asm_cpp"}
        \li \c{*.S}, \c{*.sx}
        \li 1.1.0
        \li Like \c{"asm"}, but for source files that need preprocessing. This tag only has an
            effect with GCC-like toolchains.
    \row
        \li \c{"c"}
        \li \c{*.c}
        \li 1.0.1
        \li Source files with this tag serve as inputs to a rule invoking the toolchain's
            C compiler. One object file is generated for each such file.
    \row
        \li \c{"cpp"}
        \li \c{*.C}, \c{*.cpp}, \c{*.cxx}, \c{*.c++}, \c{*.cc}
        \li 1.0.1
        \li Source files with this tag serve as inputs to a rule invoking the toolchain's
            C++ compiler. One object file is generated for each such file.
    \row
        \li \\c{"c_pch_src"}, \c{"cpp_pch_src"}, \c{"objc_pch_src"}, \c{"objcpp_pch_src"}
        \li -
        \li 1.5
        \li Files with this tag will be turned into precompiled headers for C, C++, Objective-C
            and Objective-C++, respectively. There can be only one such file per product and
            language.
    \row
        \li \c{"dynamiclibrary"}
        \li n/a
        \li 1.0.1
        \li The rule that creates dynamic libraries (typically via a linker) attaches this tag
            to its output artifact.
    \row
        \li \c{"hpp"}
        \li \c{*.h}, \c{*.H}, \c{*.hpp}, \c{*.hxx}, \c{*.h++}
        \li 1.0.1
        \li This tag is used for header files (C, C++, Objective-C and Objective-C++). No rule
            in this module generates output artifacts from such files directly, but the compiler
            rule will have a dependency on all rules that create such files.
    \row
        \li \c{"linkerscript"}
        \li -
        \li 1.5.0
        \li This tag is used for \c ld linker scripts. You can provide such a file if you need
            to replace the default linker script.
            This file tag only has an effect with GCC-like toolchains. The linker needs to be
            \c{ld}-compatible.
    \row
        \li \c{"obj"}
        \li n/a
        \li 1.0.1
        \li The rule that creates object files (typically via a compiler) attaches this tag
            to its output artifacts. Such files are usually intermediate artifacts of the build
            process and rarely need to be referenced in project files.
    \row
        \li \c{"objc"}
        \li \c{*.m}
        \li 1.1.0
        \li Source files with this tag serve as inputs to a rule invoking the toolchain's
            Objective-C compiler. One object file is generated for each such file.
    \row
        \li \c{"objcpp"}
        \li \c{*.mm}
        \li 1.1.0
        \li Source files with this tag serve as inputs to a rule invoking the toolchain's
            Objective-C++ compiler. One object file is generated for each such file.
    \row
        \li \c{"rc"}
        \li \c{*.rc}
        \li 1.1.0
        \li Files with this tag serve as inputs to the Windows resource compiler. One object file
            is generated for each such file. The tag has no effect on target platforms other than
            Windows.
    \row
        \li \c{"staticlibrary"}
        \li n/a
        \li 1.0.1
        \li The rule that creates static libraries (typically via a linker) attaches this tag
            to its output artifact.
    \row
        \li \c{"versionscript"}
        \li -
        \li 1.5.0
        \li This tag is used for \c ld linker scripts. You can provide such a file if you need
            fine-grained control over the symbols present in a shared library.
            This file tag only has an effect with GCC-like toolchains. The linker needs to be
            \c{ld}-compatible.
    \endtable

*/