1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
2 Copyright(c) 2010-2015 Intel Corporation.
4 .. _linux_gsg_compiling_dpdk:
6 Compiling the DPDK Target from Source
7 =====================================
9 Uncompress DPDK and Browse Sources
10 ----------------------------------
12 First, uncompress the archive and move to the uncompressed DPDK source directory:
14 .. code-block:: console
16 tar xJf dpdk-<version>.tar.xz
19 The DPDK is composed of several directories, including:
21 * doc: DPDK Documentation
23 * license: DPDK license information
25 * lib: Source code of DPDK libraries
27 * drivers: Source code of DPDK poll-mode drivers
29 * app: Source code of DPDK applications (automatic tests)
31 * examples: Source code of DPDK application examples
33 * config, buildtools: Framework-related scripts and configuration
35 * usertools: Utility scripts for end-users of DPDK applications
37 * devtools: Scripts for use by DPDK developers
39 * kernel: Kernel modules needed for some operating systems
42 Compiling and Installing DPDK System-wide
43 -----------------------------------------
45 DPDK can be configured, built and installed on your system using the tools
46 ``meson`` and ``ninja``.
52 To configure a DPDK build use:
54 .. code-block:: console
58 where "build" is the desired output build directory, and "<options>" can be
59 empty or one of a number of meson or DPDK-specific build options, described
60 later in this section. The configuration process will finish with a summary
61 of what DPDK libraries and drivers are to be built and installed, and for
62 each item disabled, a reason why that is the case. This information can be
63 used, for example, to identify any missing required packages for a driver.
65 Once configured, to build and then install DPDK system-wide use:
67 .. code-block:: console
74 The last two commands above generally need to be run as root,
75 with the `ninja install` step copying the built objects to their final system-wide locations,
76 and the last step causing the dynamic loader `ld.so` to update its cache to take account of the new objects.
80 On some linux distributions, such as Fedora or Redhat, paths in `/usr/local` are
81 not in the default paths for the loader. Therefore, on these
82 distributions, `/usr/local/lib` and `/usr/local/lib64` should be added
83 to a file in `/etc/ld.so.conf.d/` before running `ldconfig`.
85 .. _adjusting_build_options:
87 Adjusting Build Options
88 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
90 DPDK has a number of options that can be adjusted as part of the build configuration process.
91 These options can be listed by running ``meson configure`` inside a configured build folder.
92 Many of these options come from the "meson" tool itself and can be seen documented on the
93 `Meson Website <https://mesonbuild.com/Builtin-options.html>`_.
95 For example, to change the build-type from the default, "debugoptimized",
96 to a regular "debug" build, you can either:
98 * pass ``-Dbuildtype=debug`` or ``--buildtype=debug`` to meson when configuring the build folder initially
100 * run ``meson configure -Dbuildtype=debug`` inside the build folder after the initial meson run.
102 Other options are specific to the DPDK project but can be adjusted similarly.
103 The "platform" option specifies a set a configuration parameters that will be used.
104 The valid values are:
106 * ``-Dplatform=native`` will tailor the configuration to the build machine.
108 * ``-Dplatform=generic`` will use configuration that works on all machines
109 of the same architecture as the build machine.
111 * ``-Dplatform=<SoC>`` will use configuration optimized for a particular SoC.
112 Consult the "socs" dictionary in ``config/arm/meson.build`` to see which
115 The instruction set will be set automatically by default according to these rules:
117 * ``-Dplatform=native`` sets ``cpu_instruction_set`` to ``native``,
118 which configures ``-march`` (x86_64), ``-mcpu`` (ppc), ``-mtune`` (ppc) to ``native``.
120 * ``-Dplatform=generic`` sets ``cpu_instruction_set`` to ``generic``,
121 which configures ``-march`` (x86_64), ``-mcpu`` (ppc), ``-mtune`` (ppc) to
122 a common minimal baseline needed for DPDK.
124 To override what instruction set will be used, set the ``cpu_instruction_set``
125 parameter to the instruction set of your choice (such as ``corei7``, ``power8``, etc.).
127 ``cpu_instruction_set`` is not used in Arm builds, as setting the instruction set
128 without other parameters leads to inferior builds. The way to tailor Arm builds
129 is to build for a SoC using ``-Dplatform=<SoC>`` mentioned above.
131 The values determined by the ``platform`` parameter may be overwritten.
132 For example, to set the ``max_lcores`` value to 256, you can either:
134 * pass ``-Dmax_lcores=256`` to meson when configuring the build folder initially
136 * run ``meson configure -Dmax_lcores=256`` inside the build folder after the initial meson run.
138 Some of the DPDK sample applications in the `examples` directory can be
139 automatically built as part of a meson build too.
140 To do so, pass a comma-separated list of the examples to build to the
141 `-Dexamples` meson option as below::
143 meson -Dexamples=l2fwd,l3fwd build
145 As with other meson options, this can also be set post-initial-config using `meson configure` in the build directory.
146 There is also a special value "all" to request that all example applications whose
147 dependencies are met on the current system are built.
148 When `-Dexamples=all` is set as a meson option, meson will check each example application to see if it can be built,
149 and add all which can be built to the list of tasks in the ninja build configuration file.
152 Building 32-bit DPDK on 64-bit Systems
153 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
155 To build a 32-bit copy of DPDK on a 64-bit OS,
156 the ``-m32`` flag should be passed to the compiler and linker
157 to force the generation of 32-bit objects and binaries.
158 This can be done either by setting ``CFLAGS`` and ``LDFLAGS`` in the environment,
159 or by passing the value to meson using ``-Dc_args=-m32`` and ``-Dc_link_args=-m32``.
160 For correctly identifying and using any dependency packages,
161 the ``pkg-config`` tool must also be configured
162 to look in the appropriate directory for .pc files for 32-bit libraries.
163 This is done by setting ``PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR`` to the appropriate path.
165 The following meson command can be used on RHEL/Fedora systems to configure a 32-bit build,
166 assuming the relevant 32-bit development packages, such as a 32-bit libc, are installed::
168 PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR=/usr/lib/pkgconfig \
169 meson -Dc_args='-m32' -Dc_link_args='-m32' build
171 For Debian/Ubuntu systems, the equivalent command is::
173 PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/pkgconfig \
174 meson -Dc_args='-m32' -Dc_link_args='-m32' build
176 Once the build directory has been configured,
177 DPDK can be compiled using ``ninja`` as described above.
180 .. _building_app_using_installed_dpdk:
182 Building Applications Using Installed DPDK
183 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
185 When installed system-wide, DPDK provides a pkg-config file ``libdpdk.pc`` for applications to query as part of their build.
186 It's recommended that the pkg-config file be used, rather than hard-coding the parameters (cflags/ldflags)
187 for DPDK into the application build process.
189 An example of how to query and use the pkg-config file can be found in the ``Makefile`` of each of the example applications included with DPDK.
190 A simplified example snippet is shown below, where the target binary name has been stored in the variable ``$(APP)``
191 and the sources for that build are stored in ``$(SRCS-y)``.
193 .. code-block:: makefile
197 CFLAGS += -O3 $(shell $(PKGCONF) --cflags libdpdk)
198 LDFLAGS += $(shell $(PKGCONF) --libs libdpdk)
200 $(APP): $(SRCS-y) Makefile
201 $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(SRCS-y) -o $@ $(LDFLAGS)
205 Unlike with the make build system present in older DPDK releases,
206 the meson system is not
207 designed to be used directly from a build directory. Instead it is
208 recommended that it be installed either system-wide or to a known
209 location in the user's home directory. The install location can be set
210 using the `--prefix` meson option (default: `/usr/local`).
212 an equivalent build recipe for a simple DPDK application using meson as a
213 build system is shown below:
215 .. code-block:: python
217 project('dpdk-app', 'c')
219 dpdk = dependency('libdpdk')
220 sources = files('main.c')
221 executable('dpdk-app', sources, dependencies: dpdk)