| --- |
| short-description: Built-in options to configure project properties |
| ... |
| |
| # Built-in options |
| |
| Meson provides two kinds of options: [build options provided by the |
| build files](Build-options.md) and built-in options that are either |
| universal options, base options, compiler options. |
| |
| ## Universal options |
| |
| A list of these options can be found by running `meson --help`. All |
| these can be set by passing to `meson` (aka `meson setup`) in any of |
| these ways: `--option=value`, `--option value`, `-Doption=value`, or |
| by setting them inside `default_options` of `project()` in your `meson.build`. |
| |
| For legacy reasons `--warnlevel` is the cli argument for the `warning_level` option. |
| |
| They can also be edited after setup using `meson configure`. |
| |
| Installation options are all relative to the prefix, except: |
| |
| * When the prefix is `/usr`: `sysconfdir` defaults to `/etc`, `localstatedir` defaults to `/var`, and `sharedstatedir` defaults to `/var/lib` |
| * When the prefix is `/usr/local`: `localstatedir` defaults to `/var/local`, and `sharedstatedir` defaults to `/var/local/lib` |
| |
| ### Directories |
| |
| | Option | Default value | Description | |
| | ------ | ------------- | ----------- | |
| | prefix | see below | Installation prefix | |
| | bindir | bin | Executable directory | |
| | datadir | share | Data file directory | |
| | includedir | include | Header file directory | |
| | infodir | share/info | Info page directory | |
| | libdir | see below | Library directory | |
| | libexecdir | libexec | Library executable directory | |
| | localedir | share/locale | Locale data directory | |
| | localstatedir | var | Localstate data directory | |
| | mandir | share/man | Manual page directory | |
| | sbindir | sbin | System executable directory | |
| | sharedstatedir | com | Architecture-independent data directory | |
| | sysconfdir | etc | Sysconf data directory | |
| |
| |
| `prefix` defaults to `C:/` on Windows, and `/usr/local/` otherwise. You should always |
| override this value. |
| |
| `libdir` is automatically detected based on your platform, it should be |
| correct when doing "native" (build machine == host machine) compilation. For |
| cross compiles meson will try to guess the correct libdir, but it may not be |
| accurate, especially on Linux where different distributions have different |
| defaults. Using a [cross file](Cross-compilation.md#defining-the-environment), |
| particularly the paths section may be necessary. |
| |
| ### Core options |
| |
| Options that are labled "per machine" in the table are set per machine. |
| Prefixing the option with `build.` just affects the build machine configuration, |
| while unprefixed just affects the host machine configuration, respectively. |
| Using the option as-is with no prefix affects all machines. For example: |
| |
| - `build.pkg_config_path` controls the paths pkg-config will search for just |
| `native: true` dependencies (build machine). |
| |
| - `pkg_config_path` controls the paths pkg-config will search for just |
| `native: false` dependencies (host machine). |
| |
| | Option | Default value | Description | Is per machine | |
| | ------ | ------------- | ----------- | -------------- | |
| | auto_features {enabled, disabled, auto} | auto | Override value of all 'auto' features | no | |
| | backend {ninja, vs,<br>vs2010, vs2015, vs2017, xcode} | ninja | Backend to use | no | |
| | buildtype {plain, debug,<br>debugoptimized, release, minsize, custom} | debug | Build type to use | no | |
| | debug | true | Debug | no | |
| | default_library {shared, static, both} | shared | Default library type | no | |
| | errorlogs | true | Whether to print the logs from failing tests. | no | |
| | install_umask {preserve, 0000-0777} | 022 | Default umask to apply on permissions of installed files | no | |
| | layout {mirror,flat} | mirror | Build directory layout | no | |
| | optimization {0, g, 1, 2, 3, s} | 0 | Optimization level | no | |
| | pkg_config_path {OS separated path} | '' | Additional paths for pkg-config to search before builtin paths | yes | |
| | cmake_prefix_path | [] | Additional prefixes for cmake to search before builtin paths | yes | |
| | stdsplit | true | Split stdout and stderr in test logs | no | |
| | strip | false | Strip targets on install | no | |
| | unity {on, off, subprojects} | off | Unity build | no | |
| | warning_level {0, 1, 2, 3} | 1 | Set the warning level. From 0 = none to 3 = highest | no | |
| | werror | false | Treat warnings as errors | no | |
| | wrap_mode {default, nofallback,<br>nodownload, forcefallback} | default | Wrap mode to use | no | |
| |
| ## Base options |
| |
| These are set in the same way as universal options, but cannot be shown in the |
| output of `meson --help` because they depend on both the current platform and |
| the compiler that will be selected. The only way to see them is to setup |
| a builddir and then run `meson configure` on it with no options. |
| |
| The following options are available. Note that they may not be available on all |
| platforms or with all compilers: |
| |
| | Option | Default value | Possible values | Description | |
| | ----------- | ------------- | --------------- | ----------- | |
| | b_asneeded | true | true, false | Use -Wl,--as-needed when linking | |
| | b_bitcode | false | true, false | Embed Apple bitcode, see below | |
| | b_colorout | always | auto, always, never | Use colored output | |
| | b_coverage | false | true, false | Enable coverage tracking | |
| | b_lundef | true | true, false | Don't allow undefined symbols when linking | |
| | b_lto | false | true, false | Use link time optimization | |
| | b_ndebug | false | true, false, if-release | Disable asserts | |
| | b_pch | true | true, false | Use precompiled headers | |
| | b_pgo | off | off, generate, use | Use profile guided optimization | |
| | b_sanitize | none | see below | Code sanitizer to use | |
| | b_staticpic | true | true, false | Build static libraries as position independent | |
| | b_pie | false | true, false | Build position-independent executables (since 0.49.0)| |
| | b_vscrt | from_buildtype| none, md, mdd, mt, mtd, from_buildtype | VS runtime library to use (since 0.48.0) | |
| |
| The value of `b_sanitize` can be one of: `none`, `address`, `thread`, |
| `undefined`, `memory`, `address,undefined`. |
| |
| ### Notes about Apple Bitcode support |
| |
| `b_bitcode` will pass `-fembed-bitcode` while compiling and will pass |
| `-Wl,-bitcode_bundle` while linking. These options are incompatible with |
| `b_asneeded`, so that option will be silently disabled. |
| |
| [Shared modules](#Reference-manual.md#shared_module) will not have bitcode |
| embedded because `-Wl,-bitcode_bundle` is incompatible with both `-bundle` and |
| `-Wl,-undefined,dynamic_lookup` which are necessary for shared modules to work. |
| |
| ## Compiler options |
| |
| Same caveats as base options above. |
| |
| The following options are available. Note that both the options themselves and |
| the possible values they can take will depend on the target platform or |
| compiler being used: |
| |
| | Option | Default value | Possible values | Description | |
| | ------ | ------------- | --------------- | ----------- | |
| | c_args | | free-form comma-separated list | C compile arguments to use | |
| | c_link_args | | free-form comma-separated list | C link arguments to use | |
| | c_std | none | none, c89, c99, c11, c17, c18, gnu89, gnu99, gnu11, gnu17, gnu18 | C language standard to use | |
| | c_winlibs | see below | free-form comma-separated list | Standard Windows libs to link against | |
| | cpp_args | | free-form comma-separated list | C++ compile arguments to use | |
| | cpp_link_args| | free-form comma-separated list | C++ link arguments to use | |
| | cpp_std | none | none, c++98, c++03, c++11, c++14, c++17, <br/>c++1z, gnu++03, gnu++11, gnu++14, gnu++17, gnu++1z, <br/> vc++14, vc++17, vc++latest | C++ language standard to use | |
| | cpp_debugstl | false | true, false | C++ STL debug mode | |
| | cpp_eh | default | none, default, a, s, sc | C++ exception handling type | |
| | cpp_winlibs | see below | free-form comma-separated list | Standard Windows libs to link against | |
| |
| The default values of `c_winlibs` and `cpp_winlibs` are in compiler-specific |
| argument forms, but the libraries are: kernel32, user32, gdi32, winspool, |
| shell32, ole32, oleaut32, uuid, comdlg32, advapi32. |
| |
| c_args, cpp_args, c_link_args, and cpp_link_args only affect native builds, |
| when cross compiling they will not be applied to binaries or libraries |
| targeting the host system, only those being run on the build system. |
| |
| When using MSVC, `cpp_eh=none` will result in no exception flags being passed, |
| while the `cpp_eh=[value]` will result in `/EH[value]`. |
| Since *0.51.0* `cpp_eh=default` will result in `/EHsc` on MSVC. When using |
| gcc-style compilers, nothing is passed (allowing exceptions to work), while |
| `cpp_eh=none` passes `-fno-exceptions`. |
