xclangCross-Compiling with Clang

Six targets in every archive: Linux, Windows and macOS, each on x64 and arm64. Programs that need nothing but the OS.

Cross-Compiling

A --target flag is all it takes. The sysroots, libc++ and lld for all six targets come with the toolchain.

Self-Contained Programs

A program loads only what its OS has: glibc 2.17 or later, the Windows DLLs, or libSystem. Everything else is linked in.

Fast Compiles

clang and lld are built with PGO and ThinLTO on every host, Windows included.

C++20 Modules

import std in CMake 3.28 or later, without experimental switches, and in Bazel.

Every Build System

CMake, Bazel, Meson, Make and cargo, with xclang from pixi, an archive, FetchContent or the Bazel registry.

Reproducible Builds

Every release is pinned by sha256. Bazel builds carry no absolute paths, so one cache serves every checkout.

MSVC-ABI Targets

Windows x64 and arm64 with Microsoft's CRT and STL, from every host, with their sanitizers. The xclang command fetches the SDK from Microsoft.

macOS from Any Host

arm64 and x64 macOS programs from Linux and Windows too, with Apple's SDK fetched from Apple by the xclang command.

The xclang Command

Fetches Apple's and Microsoft's SDKs from the vendor, by a pinned version and digest.

Beyond the Release

The cards above are what a release has today. xclang's vision goes further, the way rustup goes for Rust: every target, fetched when a build needs it. None of the items below is in a release. The roadmap has one row for each, with its status.

Planned

Target archives

Targets beyond the six, each an archive that xclang target add fetches (roadmap).

Planned

musl targets

Fully static Linux programs, for x64 and arm64 (roadmap).

Considered

WebAssembly, Android, more Linux architectures

WASI targets, Android with the NDK of the user, and Linux beyond x64 and arm64 (roadmap).