bitcoin/depends/README.md

Depends build

This is a system of building and caching dependencies necessary for building Bitcoin Core. It supports cross-compilation. For more details see description.md, as well as packages.md for how to add packages.

Usage

Ubuntu & Debian

apt install cmake curl make patch

Skip the following packages if you don't intend to use the GUI and will build with NO_QT=1:

apt install bison g++ ninja-build pkgconf python3 xz-utils

To build dependencies for the current arch+OS:

make

macOS

Install Xcode Command Line Tools and Homebrew Package Manager, see build-osx.md.

brew install cmake make ninja

To build dependencies for the current arch+OS:

gmake

FreeBSD

pkg install bash cmake curl gmake

Skip the following packages if you don't intend to use the GUI and will build with NO_QT=1:

pkg install bison ninja pkgconf python3

To build dependencies for the current arch+OS:

gmake

NetBSD

pkgin install bash cmake curl gmake perl

To build dependencies for the current arch+OS:

gmake

OpenBSD

pkg_add bash cmake curl gmake gtar

Skip the following packages if you don't intend to use the GUI and will build with NO_QT=1:

pkg_add bison ninja

To build dependencies for the current arch+OS:

gmake

Alpine

apk add bash build-base cmake curl make patch

Skip the following packages if you don't intend to use the GUI and will build with NO_QT=1:

apk add bison linux-headers samurai pkgconf python3

To build dependencies for the current arch+OS:

make

Configuring Bitcoin Core

When configuring Bitcoin Core, CMake by default will ignore the depends output. In order for it to pick up libraries, tools, and settings from the depends build, you must specify the toolchain file. In the above example for Ubuntu, a file named depends/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/toolchain.cmake will be created. To use it during configuring Bitcoin Core:

cmake -B build --toolchain depends/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/toolchain.cmake

Dependency Options

The following can be set when running make: make FOO=bar

• SOURCES_PATH: Downloaded sources will be placed here
• BASE_CACHE: Built packages will be placed here
• SDK_PATH: Path where SDKs can be found (used by macOS)
• FALLBACK_DOWNLOAD_PATH: If a source file can't be fetched, try here before giving up
• C_STANDARD: Set the C standard version used. Defaults to c11.
• CXX_STANDARD: Set the C++ standard version used. Defaults to c++20.
• NO_BOOST: Don't download/build/cache Boost
• NO_QT: Don't download/build/cache Qt and its dependencies
• NO_QR: Don't download/build/cache packages needed for enabling qrencode
• NO_ZMQ: Don't download/build/cache packages needed for enabling ZeroMQ
• NO_WALLET: Don't download/build/cache libs needed to enable the wallet (SQLite)
• NO_USDT: Don't download/build/cache packages needed for enabling USDT tracepoints
• NO_IPC: Don't build Cap’n Proto and libmultiprocess packages. Default on Windows.
• DEBUG: Disable some optimizations and enable more runtime checking
• HOST_ID_SALT: Optional salt to use when generating host package ids
• BUILD_ID_SALT: Optional salt to use when generating build package ids
• LOG: Use file-based logging for individual packages. During a package build its log file resides in the depends directory, and the log file is printed out automatically in case of build error. After successful build log files are moved along with package archives
• LTO: Enable options needed for LTO. Does not add -flto related options to *FLAGS.

If some packages are not built, for example make NO_WALLET=1, the appropriate CMake cache variables will be set when generating the Bitcoin Core buildsystem. In this case, -DENABLE_WALLET=OFF.

Compiler Configuration

CC and CXX control target compilers. build_CC and build_CXX control compilers for native build tools (e.g. native_capnp, native_qt), which default to gcc/g++ on Linux and clang/clang++ on macOS/FreeBSD/OpenBSD (see ./depends/builders/*.mk).

On a system where the default build compiler is not available (e.g. Linux without gcc/g++), you could use the following to build all packages using clang:

make -C depends build_CC=clang build_CXX=clang++ CC=clang CXX=clang++

Cross compilation

To build for another arch+OS:

make HOST=host-platform-triplet

For example:

make HOST=x86_64-w64-mingw32 -j4

Common host-platform-triplets for cross compilation are:

• i686-linux-gnu for Linux x86 32-bit
• x86_64-linux-gnu for Linux x86 64-bit
• x86_64-w64-mingw32 for Windows using MSVCRT
• x86_64-w64-mingw32ucrt for Windows using UCRT
• x86_64-apple-darwin for Intel macOS
• arm64-apple-darwin for ARM macOS
• arm-linux-gnueabihf for Linux ARM 32-bit
• aarch64-linux-gnu for Linux ARM 64-bit
• powerpc64-linux-gnu for Linux POWER 64-bit (big endian)
• powerpc64le-linux-gnu for Linux POWER 64-bit (little endian)
• riscv32-linux-gnu for Linux RISC-V 32-bit
• riscv64-linux-gnu for Linux RISC-V 64-bit
• s390x-linux-gnu for Linux S390X

The paths are automatically configured and no other options are needed.

For macOS cross compilation

apt install clang lld llvm zip

Clang 18 or later is required. You must also obtain the macOS SDK before proceeding with a cross-compile. Under the depends directory, create a subdirectory named SDKs. Then, place the extracted SDK under this new directory. For more information, see SDK Extraction.

For Windows cross compilation

Using MSVCRT:

apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64-posix

Using UCRT:

apt install g++-mingw-w64-ucrt64

Some Ubuntu or Debian versions may not offer a working package. In this case, you may install nix-bin and use the Nix shell from the repository root:

apt install nix-bin
NIX_BUILD_SHELL=bash HOST=x86_64-w64-mingw32 nix-shell contrib/devtools/shell-win64-cross.nix  # MSVCRT
NIX_BUILD_SHELL=bash HOST=x86_64-w64-mingw32ucrt nix-shell contrib/devtools/shell-win64-cross.nix  # UCRT

For Linux cross compilation

Please note that package availability might depend on the arch+OS you are building on.

For Linux x86 32-bit cross compilation:

sudo apt-get install g++-i686-linux-gnu binutils-i686-linux-gnu

For Linux x86 64-bit cross compilation:

sudo apt-get install g++-x86-64-linux-gnu binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu

For Linux ARM 32-bit cross compilation:

sudo apt-get install g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf binutils-arm-linux-gnueabihf

For Linux ARM 64-bit cross compilation:

sudo apt-get install g++-aarch64-linux-gnu binutils-aarch64-linux-gnu

For Linux POWER 64-bit cross compilation (there are no packages for 32-bit):

sudo apt-get install g++-powerpc64-linux-gnu binutils-powerpc64-linux-gnu g++-powerpc64le-linux-gnu binutils-powerpc64le-linux-gnu

For Linux RISC-V 64-bit cross compilation (there are no packages for 32-bit):

sudo apt-get install g++-riscv64-linux-gnu binutils-riscv64-linux-gnu

For Linux S390X cross compilation:

sudo apt-get install g++-s390x-linux-gnu binutils-s390x-linux-gnu

Additional targets

download: run 'make download' to fetch all sources without building them
download-osx: run 'make download-osx' to fetch all sources needed for macOS builds
download-win: run 'make download-win' to fetch all sources needed for win builds
download-linux: run 'make download-linux' to fetch all sources needed for linux builds