D Programming Language 2.0

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Last update Sat Feb 14 12:00:22 2009

# dmd - Windows D Compiler

- dmd for Linux
- dmd for OSX
- Requirements and Downloads
- Files
- Installation
- Example
- Compiler Arguments and Switches
- Linking
- Environment Variables
- sc.ini Initialization File
- Common Installation Problems
- Differences between Windows and Linux versions
- D Interface Files
- Building Libraries

## Requirements and Downloads

1. Download D Compiler
2. 32 bit Windows (Win32) operating system, such as Windows XP
3. Download dmc.zip (C and C++ compiler) for Win32 (not required, but it complements dmd for Windows)

## Files

`\dmd\src\phobos\`
  D runtime library source
`\dmd\src\dmd\`
  D compiler front end source under dual (GPL and Artistic) license
`\dmd\html\d\`
  Documentation
`\dmd\samples\d\`
  Sample D programs
`\dmd\windows\bin\dmd.exe`
  D compiler executable
`\dmd\windows\bin\shell.exe`
  Simple command line shell
`\dmd\windows\bin\sc.ini`
  Global compiler settings
`\dmd\windows\lib\phobos.lib`
  D runtime library

## Installation

Open a console window (for Windows XP this is done by clicking on [Start][Command Prompt]). All the tools are command line tools, which means they are run from a console window. Switch to the root directory. Unzip the files in the root directory. `dmd.zip` will create a `\dmd` directory with all the files in it. `dmc.zip` will create a `\dm` directory with all the files in it.

A typical session might look like:

    C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name>cd \
    C:\>unzip dmd.zip
    C:\>unzip dmc.zip

## Example

Run:

    \dmd\bin\shell all.sh

in the `\dmd\samples\d` directory for several small examples.

## Compiler Arguments and Switches

dmd files... -switches...
files...

  File Extensions
  Extension | File Type
  --- | ---
  none | D source files
  .d | D source files
  .dd | Ddoc source files
  .di | D interface files
  .obj | Object files to link in
  .lib | Object code libraries to search
  .exe | Output executable file
  .def | module definition file
  .res | resource file

@cmdfile
  reads compiler arguments and switches from text file cmdfile
-c
  compile only, do not link
-cov
  instrument for code coverage analysis
-D
  generate documentation from source
-Dd docdir
  write documentation file to docdir directory
-Df filename
  write documentation file to filename
-d
  allow deprecated features
-debug
  compile in debug code
-debug=level
  compile in debug level <= level
-debug=ident
  compile in debug identifier ident
-debuglib=libname
  link in libname as the default library when compiling for symbolic debugging instead of phobos.lib
-defaultlib=libname
  link in libname as the default library when not compiling for symbolic debugging instead of phobos.lib
-g
  add CodeView 4 symbolic debug info with D extensions for debuggers such as Ddbg
-gc
  add CodeView 4 symbolic debug info in C format for debuggers such as `\dmd\bin\windbg`
-H
  generate D interface file
-Hd dir
  write D interface file to dir directory
-Hf filename
  write D interface file to filename
--help
  print brief help to console
-inline
  inline expand functions at the discretion of the compiler. This can improve performance, at the expense of making it more difficult to use a debugger on it.
-I path
  where to look for imports. path is a ; separated list of paths. Multiple -I's can be used, and the paths are searched in the same order.
-ignore
  ignore unsupported pragmas
-J path
  where to look for files for ImportExpressions. This switch is required in order to use ImportExpressions. path is a ; separated list of paths. Multiple -J's can be used, and the paths are searched in the same order.
-L linkerflag
  pass linkerflag to the linker , for example, `-L/ma/li`
-lib
  generate library file as output instead of object file(s). All compiled source files, as well as object files and library files specified on the command line, are inserted into the output library. Compiled source modules may be partitioned into several object modules to improve granularity. The name of the library is taken from the name of the first source module to be compiled. This can be overridden with the -of switch.
-man
  open default browser on this page
-nofloat
  Prevents emission of __fltused reference in object files, even if floating point code is present. Useful for library code.
-O
  Optimize generated code. For fastest executables, compile with the -O -release -inline switches together.
-o-
  Suppress generation of object file. Useful in conjuction with -D or -H flags.
-od objdir
  write object files relative to directory objdir instead of to the current directory
-of filename
  Set output file name to filename in the output directory. The output file can be an object file, executable file, or library file depending on the other switches.
-op
  normally the path for .d source files is stripped off when generating an object file name. -op will leave it on.
-profile
  profile the runtime performance of the generated code
-quiet
  suppress non-essential compiler messages
-release
  compile release version, which means not generating code for contracts and asserts
-run srcfile args... compile
  link, and run the program srcfile with the rest of the command line, args..., as the arguments to the program. No .obj or executable file is left behind.
-safe
  Statically checks the modules being compiled to ensure they conform to the safe memory model.
-unittest
  compile in unittest code, turns on asserts, and sets the `unittest` version identifier
-v
  verbose
-version=level
  compile in version level >= level
-version=ident
  compile in version identifier ident
-w
  enable warnings

Empty switches, i.e. "", are ignored.

## Linking

Linking is done directly by the dmd compiler after a successful compile. To prevent dmd from running the linker, use the -c switch.

The programs must be linked with the D runtime library phobos.lib, followed by the C runtime library snn.lib. This is done automatically as long as the directories for the libraries are on the LIB environment variable path. A typical way to set LIB would be:

    set LIB=\dmd\lib;\dm\lib

If the dmd command is used to both compile and link to an executable, it will make certain optimizations that are valid only for Windows executable files. Do not use the resulting .obj files in a DLL. To compile modules into .obj files that can be used in an exe or DLL, compile with -c.

## Environment Variables

The D compiler dmd uses the following environment variables:

DFLAGS
  The value of DFLAGS is treated as if it were appended to the command line to dmd.exe.
LIB
  The linker uses LIB to search for library files. For D, it will normally be set to:

      set LIB=\dmd\lib;\dm\lib

LINKCMD
  dmd normally runs the linker by looking for link.exe along the PATH. To use a specific linker instead, set the LINKCMD environment variable to it. For example:

      set LINKCMD=\dm\bin\link

PATH
  If the linker is not found in the same directory as dmd.exe is in, the PATH is searched for it. Note: other linkers named link.exe will likely not work. Make sure the Digital Mars link.exe is found first in the PATH before other link.exe's, or use LINKCMD to specifically identify which linker to use.

## sc.ini Initialization File

dmd will look for the initialization file sc.ini in the following sequence of directories:

1. current working directory
2. directory specified by the HOME environment variable
3. directory dmd.exe resides in

If found, environment variable settings in the file will override any existing settings. This is handy to make dmd independent of programs with conflicting use of environment variables.

### Initialization File Format

Comments are lines that begin with `;` and are ignored.

Environment variables follow the `[Environment]` section heading, in NAME=value pairs. The NAMEs are treated as upper case. Comments are lines that start with ;. For example:

    ; sc.ini file for dmd
    ; Names enclosed by %% are searched for in the existing environment
    ; and inserted. The special name %@P% is replaced with the path
    ; to this file.
    [Environment]
    LIB="%@P%\..\lib";\dm\lib

    DFLAGS="-I%@P%\..\src\phobos" "-I%@P%\..\src\druntime\import"
    LINKCMD="%@P%\..\..\dm\bin"
    DDOCFILE=mysettings.ddoc

### Location Independence of sc.ini

The %@P% is replaced with the path to `sc.ini`. Thus, if the fully qualified file name `sc.ini` is `c:\dmd\bin\sc.ini`, then %@P% will be replaced with `c:\dmd\bin`, and the above `sc.ini` will be interpreted as:

    [Environment]
    LIB="c:\dmd\bin\..\lib";\dm\lib

    DFLAGS="-Ic:\dmd\bin\..\src\phobos" "-Ic:\dmd\bin\..\src\druntime\import"
    LINKCMD="c:\dmd\bin\..\..\dm\bin"
    DDOCFILE=mysettings.ddoc

This enables your dmd setup to be moved around without having to re-edit `sc.ini`.

## Common Installation Problems

- Using Cygwin's unzip utility has been known to cause strange problems.
- Running the compiler under Cygwin's command shell has been also known to cause problems. Try getting it to work under the regular Windows shell cmd.exe before trying Cygwin's.
- Installing dmd and dmc into directory paths with spaces in them causes problems.

## Differences between Windows and Linux versions

- String literals are read-only under Linux. Attempting to write to them will cause a segment violation.

## D Interface Files

When an import declaration is processed in a D source file, the compiler searches for the D source file corresponding to the import, and processes that source file to extract the information needed from it. Alternatively, the compiler can instead look for a corresponding D interface file. A D interface file contains only what an import of the module needs, rather than the whole implementation of that module.

The advantages of using a D interface file for imports rather than a D source file are:

- D interface files are often significantly smaller and much faster to process than the corresponding D source file.
- They can be used to hide the source code, for example, one can ship an object code library along with D interface files rather than the complete source code.

D interface files can be created by the compiler from a D source file by using the -H switch to the compiler. D interface files have the .di file extension. When the compiler resolves an import declaration, it first looks for a .di D interface file, then it looks for a D source file.

D interface files bear some analogous similarities to C++ header files. But they are not required in the way that C++ header files are, and they are not part of the D language. They are a feature of the compiler, and serve only as an optimization of the build process.

## Building Libraries

There are three ways to build a library. For example, given `foo.d` and `bar.d` which are to be compiled, and existing object file `bar.obj` and existing library `def.lib` which are all to be combined into a library `foo.lib`:

1. Compile modules separately and then run librarian on them:

       dmd -c foo.d
       dmd -c bar.d
       lib -c -p32 foo.lib foo.obj bar.obj abc.obj def.lib
       del foo.obj bar.obj

   This option is typical when using a makefile to avoid compiling modules that have already been compiled.
2. Compile modules together and then run librarian on them:

       dmd -c foo.d bar.d
       lib -c -p32 foo.lib foo.obj bar.obj abc.obj def.lib
       del foo.obj bar.obj

3. Use dmd to compile and build library in one operation:

       dmd -lib foo.d bar.d abc.obj def.lib

   No object files are written to disk, it's all done in memory. Using -lib also has the advantage that modules may be compiled into multiple object files rather than exactly one per module. This improves granularity of the library without having to break up the modules.

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