docs/markdown/Release-notes-for-1.8.0.md - meson - Git at Google

 ---
 title: Release 1.8.0
 short-description: Release notes for 1.8.0
 ...

 # New features

 Meson 1.8.0 was released on 28 April 2025
 ## New argument `android_exe_type` for executables

 Android application executables actually need to be linked
 as a shared object, which is loaded from a pre-warmed JVM.
 Meson projects can now specify a new argument `android_exe_type`
 and set it to `application`, in order produce such a shared library
 only on Android targets.

 This makes it possible to use the same `meson.build` file
 for both Android and non-Android systems.

 ## Changes to the b_sanitize option

 Before 1.8 the `b_sanitize` option was a combo option, which is an enumerated
 set of values. In 1.8 this was changed to a free-form array of options where
 available sanitizers are not hardcoded anymore but instead verified via a
 compiler check.

 This solves a number of longstanding issues such as:

  - Sanitizers may be supported by a compiler, but not on a specific platform
    (OpenBSD).
  - New sanitizers are not recognized by Meson.
  - Using sanitizers in previously-unsupported combinations.

 To not break backwards compatibility, calling `get_option('b_sanitize')`
 continues to return the configured value as a string, with a guarantee that
 `address,undefined` remains ordered.

 ## New C standard `c2y` (and `gnu2y`)

 The `c2y` standard and its companion `gnu2y` are now supported
 when using either Clang 19.0.0 or newer, or GCC 15.0.0 or newer.

 ## i18n module xgettext

 There is a new `xgettext` function in `i18n` module that acts as a
 wrapper around `xgettext`. It allows to extract strings to translate from
 source files.

 This function is convenient, because:
 - It can find the sources files from a build target;
 - It will use an intermediate file when the number of source files is too
   big to be handled directly from the command line;
 - It is able to get strings to translate from the dependencies of the given
   targets.

 ## `version_compare` now accept multiple compare strings

 Is it now possible to compare version against multiple values, to check for
 a range of version for instance.

 ```meson
 '1.5'.version_compare('>=1', '<2')
 ```

 ## Improvements to Objective-C and Objective-C++

 Meson does not assume anymore that gcc/g++ always support
 Objective-C and Objective-C++, and instead checks that they
 can actually do a basic compile.

 Furthermore, Objective-C and Objective-C++ now support the
 same language standards as C and C++ respectively.

 ## Per project subproject options rewrite

 You can now define per-subproject values for all shared configuration
 options. As an example you might want to enable optimizations on only
 one subproject:

     meson configure -Dnumbercruncher:optimization=3

 Subproject specific values can be removed with -U

     meson configure -Unumbercruncher:optimization

 This is a major change in how options are handled, and the
 implementation will evolve over the next few releases of Meson. If
 this change causes an error in your builds, please [report an issue on
 GitHub](https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/new).

 We have tried to keep backwards compatibility as much as possible, but
 this may lead to some build breakage.

 ## `objects` added correctly to Rust executables

 Any objects included in a Rust executable were previously ignored.  They
 are now added correctly.

 ## `rust.test` now supports `link_whole`

 The `test` function in the `rust` module now supports the `link_whole`
 keyword argument in addition to `link_with` and `dependencies`.

 ## Meson can run "rustdoc" on Rust projects

 Meson now defines a `rustdoc` target if the project
 uses the Rust programming language.  The target runs rustdoc on all Rust
 sources, using the `rustdoc` program from the same Rust toolchain as the
 `rustc` compiler.

 ## The Wayland module is stable

 The Wayland module has been tested in several projects and had the
 last breaking change in Meson 0.64.0; it is now marked as stable.

 ## New `swift_std` compiler option

 A new compiler option allows to set the language version that is passed
 to swiftc (`none`, `4`, `4.2`, `5` or `6`).

 ## New option to execute a slice of tests

 When tests take a long time to run a common strategy is to slice up the tests
 into multiple sets, where each set is executed on a separate machine. You can
 now use the `--slice i/n` argument for `meson test` to create `n` slices and
 execute the `ith` slice.

 ## Valgrind now fails tests if errors are found

 Valgrind does not reflect an error in its exit code by default, meaning
 a test may silently pass despite memory errors. Meson now exports
 `VALGRIND_OPTS` such that Valgrind will exit with status 1 to indicate
 an error if `VALGRIND_OPTS` is not set in the environment.
	---
	title: Release 1.8.0
	short-description: Release notes for 1.8.0
	...

	# New features

	Meson 1.8.0 was released on 28 April 2025
	## New argument `android_exe_type` for executables

	Android application executables actually need to be linked
	as a shared object, which is loaded from a pre-warmed JVM.
	Meson projects can now specify a new argument `android_exe_type`
	and set it to `application`, in order produce such a shared library
	only on Android targets.

	This makes it possible to use the same `meson.build` file
	for both Android and non-Android systems.

	## Changes to the b_sanitize option

	Before 1.8 the `b_sanitize` option was a combo option, which is an enumerated
	set of values. In 1.8 this was changed to a free-form array of options where
	available sanitizers are not hardcoded anymore but instead verified via a
	compiler check.

	This solves a number of longstanding issues such as:

	- Sanitizers may be supported by a compiler, but not on a specific platform
	(OpenBSD).
	- New sanitizers are not recognized by Meson.
	- Using sanitizers in previously-unsupported combinations.

	To not break backwards compatibility, calling `get_option('b_sanitize')`
	continues to return the configured value as a string, with a guarantee that
	`address,undefined` remains ordered.

	## New C standard `c2y` (and `gnu2y`)

	The `c2y` standard and its companion `gnu2y` are now supported
	when using either Clang 19.0.0 or newer, or GCC 15.0.0 or newer.

	## i18n module xgettext

	There is a new `xgettext` function in `i18n` module that acts as a
	wrapper around `xgettext`. It allows to extract strings to translate from
	source files.

	This function is convenient, because:
	- It can find the sources files from a build target;
	- It will use an intermediate file when the number of source files is too
	big to be handled directly from the command line;
	- It is able to get strings to translate from the dependencies of the given
	targets.

	## `version_compare` now accept multiple compare strings

	Is it now possible to compare version against multiple values, to check for
	a range of version for instance.

	```meson
	'1.5'.version_compare('>=1', '<2')
	```

	## Improvements to Objective-C and Objective-C++

	Meson does not assume anymore that gcc/g++ always support
	Objective-C and Objective-C++, and instead checks that they
	can actually do a basic compile.

	Furthermore, Objective-C and Objective-C++ now support the
	same language standards as C and C++ respectively.

	## Per project subproject options rewrite

	You can now define per-subproject values for all shared configuration
	options. As an example you might want to enable optimizations on only
	one subproject:

	meson configure -Dnumbercruncher:optimization=3

	Subproject specific values can be removed with -U

	meson configure -Unumbercruncher:optimization

	This is a major change in how options are handled, and the
	implementation will evolve over the next few releases of Meson. If
	this change causes an error in your builds, please [report an issue on
	GitHub](https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/new).

	We have tried to keep backwards compatibility as much as possible, but
	this may lead to some build breakage.

	## `objects` added correctly to Rust executables

	Any objects included in a Rust executable were previously ignored. They
	are now added correctly.

	## `rust.test` now supports `link_whole`

	The `test` function in the `rust` module now supports the `link_whole`
	keyword argument in addition to `link_with` and `dependencies`.

	## Meson can run "rustdoc" on Rust projects

	Meson now defines a `rustdoc` target if the project
	uses the Rust programming language. The target runs rustdoc on all Rust
	sources, using the `rustdoc` program from the same Rust toolchain as the
	`rustc` compiler.

	## The Wayland module is stable

	The Wayland module has been tested in several projects and had the
	last breaking change in Meson 0.64.0; it is now marked as stable.

	## New `swift_std` compiler option

	A new compiler option allows to set the language version that is passed
	to swiftc (`none`, `4`, `4.2`, `5` or `6`).

	## New option to execute a slice of tests

	When tests take a long time to run a common strategy is to slice up the tests
	into multiple sets, where each set is executed on a separate machine. You can
	now use the `--slice i/n` argument for `meson test` to create `n` slices and
	execute the `ith` slice.

	## Valgrind now fails tests if errors are found

	Valgrind does not reflect an error in its exit code by default, meaning
	a test may silently pass despite memory errors. Meson now exports
	`VALGRIND_OPTS` such that Valgrind will exit with status 1 to indicate
	an error if `VALGRIND_OPTS` is not set in the environment.