ladybird/Documentation/BuildInstructions.md

SerenityOS build instructions

Prerequisites

Linux prerequisites

Ensure your CMake version is >= 3.16 with cmake --version. If your system doesn't provide a suitable version of CMake, you can download a binary release from the CMake website.

Ensure your QEMU version is >= 5 with qemu-system-i386 -version. Otherwise, install it. You can also build it using the Toolchain/BuildQemu.sh script.

Ensure your gcc version is >= 10 with gcc --version. Otherwise, install it.

Make sure you have all the dependencies installed (ninja is optional, but is faster in practice):

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt install build-essential cmake curl libmpfr-dev libmpc-dev libgmp-dev e2fsprogs ninja-build qemu-system-i386 qemu-utils ccache rsync

GCC 10

On Ubuntu gcc-10 is available in the repositories of 20.04 (Focal) and later - add the ubuntu-toolchain-r/test PPA if you're running an older version:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test

On Debian you can use the Debian testing branch:

sudo echo "deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing non-free contrib main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt update

Now on Ubuntu or Debian you can install gcc-10 with apt like this:

sudo apt install gcc-10 g++-10
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-10 900 --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-10

If you don't want to stay on the Debian testing branch you can switch back by running:

sudo sed -i '$d' /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt update

QEMU 5

QUEMU version 5 is available in Ubuntu 20.10. For earlier versions, you can build it using the Toolchain/BuildQemu.sh script. You may need the gtk+ 3.0 dev package:

sudo apt install libgtk-3-dev

Fedora

sudo dnf install binutils-devel curl cmake mpfr-devel libmpc-devel gmp-devel e2fsprogs ninja-build patch ccache rsync @"C Development Tools and Libraries" @Virtualization

openSUSE

sudo zypper install curl cmake mpfr-devel mpc-devel ninja gmp-devel e2fsprogs patch qemu-x86 qemu-audio-pa gcc gcc-c++ ccache rsync patterns-devel-C-C++-devel_C_C++

Arch Linux / Manjaro

sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel cmake curl mpfr libmpc gmp e2fsprogs ninja qemu qemu-arch-extra ccache rsync

Void Linux

sudo xbps-install -S base-devel cmake curl mpfr-devel libmpc-devel gmp-devel e2fsprogs ninja qemu ccache rsync

ALT Linux

apt-get install curl cmake libmpc-devel gmp-devel e2fsprogs libmpfr-devel ninja-build patch gcc ccache rsync

NixOS

You can use a nix-shell script like the following to set up the correct environment:

myshell.nix:

with import <nixpkgs> {};

stdenv.mkDerivation {
  name = "cpp-env";
  nativeBuildInputs = [
    gcc10
    curl
    cmake
    mpfr
    ninja
    gmp
    libmpc
    e2fsprogs
    patch
    ccache
    rsync

    # Example Build-time Additional Dependencies
    pkgconfig
  ];
  buildInputs = [
    # Example Run-time Additional Dependencies
    openssl
    x11
    # glibc
  ];
  hardeningDisable = [ "format" "fortify" ];
}

Then use this script: nix-shell myshell.nix.

Once you're in nix-shell, you should be able to follow the build directions.

Alpine Linux

First, make sure you have enabled the community repository in /etc/apk/repositories and run apk update. It has been tested on edge, YMMV on stable.

# the basics, if you have not already done so
apk add bash curl git util-linux sudo

# rough equivalent of build-essential
apk add build-base

# qemu
apk add qemu qemu-system-i386 qemu-img qemu-ui-gtk

# build tools (samurai is a drop-in replacement for ninja)
apk add cmake e2fsprogs grub-bios samurai mpc1-dev mpfr-dev gmp-dev ccache rsync

macOS prerequisites

Make sure you have all the dependencies installed:

# core
brew install coreutils qemu bash gcc@10 ninja cmake ccache rsync

# (option 1) fuse + ext2
brew install e2fsprogs m4 autoconf automake libtool
brew install --cask osxfuse
Toolchain/BuildFuseExt2.sh

# (option 2) genext2fs
brew install genext2fs

Notes:

• fuse-ext2 is not available as brew formula so it must be installed using BuildFuseExt2.sh
• Xcode and xcode-tools must be installed (git is required by some scripts)
• coreutils is needed to build gcc cross compiler
• qemu is needed to run the compiled OS image. You can also build it using the BuildQemu.sh script
• osxfuse, e2fsprogs, m4, autoconf, automake, libtool and BuildFuseExt2.sh are needed if you want to build the root filesystem disk image natively on macOS. This allows mounting an EXT2 fs and also installs commands like mke2fs that are not available on stock macOS.
• Installing osxfuse for the first time requires enabling its system extension in System Preferences and then restarting your machine. The output from installing osxfuse with brew says this, but it's easy to miss.
• bash is needed because the default version installed on macOS doesn't support globstar
• If you install some commercial EXT2 macOS fs handler instead of osxfuse and fuse-ext2, you will need to brew install e2fsprogs to obtain mke2fs anyway.
• As of 2020-08-06, you might need to tell the build system about your newer host compiler. Once you've built the toolchain, navigate to Build/i686/, rm -rf *, then run cmake ../.. -G Ninja -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=gcc-10 -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=g++-10, then continue with ninja install as usual.
• If you are on macOS Big Sur, you will need to manually enable QEMU's acceleration before running Serenity, by creating a new file called entitlements.xml in the Build/ folder, with the content below, and then run the command: codesign -s - --entitlements entitlements.xml --force /usr/local/bin/qemu-system-x86_64; otherwise the run command will fail.

Content for 'entitlements.xml'.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
	"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>com.apple.security.hypervisor</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

OpenBSD prerequisites

$ doas pkg_add bash cmake g++ gcc git gmake gmp ninja ccache rsync

To use ninja image and ninja run, you'll need Qemu and other utilities:

$ doas pkg_add coreutils qemu sudo

FreeBSD prerequisites

$ pkg install bash coreutils git gmake ninja sudo gmp mpc mpfr ccache rsync

Windows prerequisites

For Windows, you will require Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2). Follow the WSL2 instructions here. Do note the Hardware acceleration and Note on filesystems sections, otherwise performance will be terrible. Once you have installed a distro for WSL2, follow the Linux prerequisites above for the distro you installed, then continue as normal.

You may also want to install ninja

Build

Go into the Toolchain/ directory and run the BuildIt.sh script:

$ cd Toolchain
$ ./BuildIt.sh

Building the toolchain will also automatically create a Build/i686/ directory for the build to live in. Once the toolchain has been built, go into the Build/i686/ directory. Specifically, change the current directory to the Build/ parent directory. To go there from Toolchain/, use this command:

$ cd ../Build/i686

Run the following commands from within the Build/i686/ directory. Note that while ninja seems to be faster, you can also just use GNU make, by omitting -G Ninja and calling make instead of ninja:

$ cmake ../.. -G Ninja
$ ninja install

This will compile all of SerenityOS and install the built files into Root/ inside the build tree. ninja will automatically build as many jobs in parallel as it detects processors; make builds only one job in parallel. (Use the -j option with an argument if you want to change this.)

Now to build a disk image, run ninja image, and take it for a spin by using ninja run.

$ ninja image
$ ninja run

Note that the anon user is able to become root without password by default, as a development convenience. To prevent this, remove anon from the wheel group and he will no longer be able to run /bin/su.

On Linux, QEMU is significantly faster if it's able to use KVM. The run script will automatically enable KVM if /dev/kvm exists and is readable+writable by the current user.

Bare curious users may even consider sourcing suitable hardware to install Serenity on a physical PC.

Outside of QEMU, Serenity will run on VirtualBox and VMware. If you're curious, see how to install Serenity on VirtualBox or install Serenity on VMware.

Later on, when you git pull to get the latest changes, there's (usually) no need to rebuild the toolchain. You can simply run ninja install, ninja image, and ninja run again. CMake will only rebuild those parts that have been updated.

CMake build options

There are some optional features that can be enabled during compilation that are intended to help with specific types of development work or introduce experimental features. Currently, the following build options are available:

• ENABLE_ADDRESS_SANITIZER and ENABLE_KERNEL_ADDRESS_SANITIZER: builds in runtime checks for memory corruption bugs (like buffer overflows and memory leaks) in Lagom test cases and the kernel, respectively.
• ENABLE_MEMORY_SANITIZER: enables runtime checks for uninitialized memory accesses in Lagom test cases.
• ENABLE_UNDEFINED_SANITIZER: builds in runtime checks for undefined behavior (like null pointer dereferences and signed integer overflows) in Lagom test cases.
• ENABLE_FUZZER_SANITIZER: builds fuzzers for various parts of the system.
• ENABLE_EXTRA_KERNEL_DEBUG_SYMBOLS: sets -Og and -ggdb3 compile options for building the Kernel. Allows for easier debugging of Kernel code. By default, the Kernel is built with -Os instead.
• ENABLE_ALL_THE_DEBUG_MACROS: used for checking whether debug code compiles on CI. This should not be set normally, as it clutters the console output and makes the system run very slowly. Instead, enable only the needed debug macros, as described below.
• ENABLE_ALL_DEBUG_FACILITIES: used for checking whether debug code compiles on CI. Enables both ENABLE_ALL_THE_DEBUG_MACROS and ENABLE_EXTRA_KERNEL_DEBUG_SYMBOLS.
• ENABLE_COMPILETIME_FORMAT_CHECK: checks for the validity of std::format-style format string during compilation. Enabled by default.
• ENABLE_PCI_IDS_DOWNLOAD: downloads the pci.ids database that contains information about PCI devices at build time, if not already present. Enabled by default.
• BUILD_LAGOM: builds Lagom, which makes various SerenityOS libraries and programs available on the host system.
• PRECOMPILE_COMMON_HEADERS: precompiles some common headers to speedup compilation.
• ENABLE_KERNEL_LTO: builds the kernel with link-time optimization.
• INCLUDE_WASM_SPEC_TESTS: downloads and includes the WebAssembly spec testsuite tests
• BUILD_<component>: builds the specified component, e.g. BUILD_HEARTS (note: must be all caps). Check the components.ini file in your build directory for a list of available components. Make sure to run ninja clean and rm -rf Build/i686/Root after disabling components. These options can be easily configured by using the ConfigureComponents utility. See the Component Configuration section below.
• BUILD_EVERYTHING: builds all optional components, overrides other BUILD_<component> flags when enabled

Many parts of the SerenityOS codebase have debug functionality, mostly consisting of additional messages printed to the debug console. This is done via the <component_name>_DEBUG macros, which can be enabled individually at build time. They are listed in this file.

To toggle a build option, add it to the cmake command invocation with a -D prefix. To enable it, add =ON at the end, or add =OFF to disable it. The complete command should look similarly to this:

$ cmake ../.. -G Ninja -DPROCESS_DEBUG=ON -DENABLE_PCI_IDS_DOWNLOAD=OFF

For the changes to take effect, SerenityOS needs to be recompiled and the disk image needs to be rebuilt.

Component Configuration

For selecting which components of the system to build and install, a helper program, ConfigureComponents is available.

It requires whiptail as a dependency, which is available on most systems in the newt or libnewt package. To build and run it, run the following commands from the Build/i686 directory:

$ cmake ../.. -G Ninja        # Only required if CMake hasn't been run before.
$ ninja configure-components

This will prompt you which build type you want to use and allows you to customize it by manually adding or removing certain components. It will then run a CMake command based on the selection as well as ninja clean and rm -rf Root to remove old build artifacts.

Ports

To add a package from the ports collection to Serenity, for example curl, go into Ports/curl/ and run ./package.sh. The sourcecode for the package will be downloaded and the package will be built. After that, rebuild the disk image. The next time you start Serenity, curl will be available.

Tests

For information on running host and target tests, see Running Tests. The documentation there explains the difference between host tests run with Lagom and target tests run on SerenityOS. It also contains useful information for debugging CI test failures.

Customize disk image

To add, modify or remove files of the disk image's file system, e.g. to change the default keyboard layout, you can create a shell script with the name sync-local.sh in the project root, with content like this:

#!/bin/sh

set -e

cat << 'EOF' > mnt/etc/Keyboard.ini
[Mapping]
Keymap=de
EOF

This will configure your keymap to German (de) instead of US English. See Base/res/keymaps/ for a full list. Note that the keymap program itself will also modify the /etc/Keyboard.ini config file, but this way the change will persist across image rebuilds.