Compiler for D Programming Language
Files Common to Win32 and Linux
- \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
Win32 D Compiler
Files
- \dmd\bin\dmd.exe
- D compiler executable
- \dmd\bin\shell.exe
- Simple command line shell
- \dmd\bin\sc.ini
- Global compiler settings
- \dmd\lib\phobos.lib
- D runtime library
Requirements
- 32 bit Windows (Win32) operating system, such as Windows XP
- dmd.zip (D compiler) for Win32
- dmc.zip (linker and utilities) for Win32
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.shin the \dmd\samples\d directory for several small examples.
Compiler Arguments and Switches
- dmd files... -switch...
- files...
-
Extension File Type none D source files .d D source files .di D interface files .obj Object files to link in .lib Object code libraries to search .exe Name output executable file .def module definition file .res resource file - -c
- compile only, do not link
- -cov
- instrument for code coverage analysis
- -D
- Generate documentation from source.
- -Dddocdir
- write documentation file to docdir directory
- -Dffilename
- write documentation file to filename
- -d
- allow deprecated features
- -debug
- compile in debug code
- -debug=level
- compile in debug code <= level
- -debug=ident
- compile in debug code identified by ident
- -g
- add symbolic debug info
- -H
- generate D interface file
- -Hddir
- write D interface file to dir directory
- -Hffilename
- write D interface file to filename
- --help
- print help
- -inline
- inline expand functions
- -Ipath
- 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.
- -Llinkerflag
- pass linkerflag to the linker, for example, /ma/li
- -nofloat
- Prevents emission of __fltused reference in object files, even if floating point code is present. Useful for library code. Windows only.
- -O
- Optimize generated code.
- -o-
- Suppress generation of object file. Useful in conjuction with -D or -H flags.
- -odobjdir
- write object files relative to directory objdir instead of to the current directory
- -offilename
- set output file name to filename in the output directory
- -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 .exe file is left behind.
- -unittest
- compile in unittest code, also turns on asserts
- -v
- verbose
- -version=level
- compile in version code >= level
- -version=ident
- compile in version code identified by ident
- -w
- enable warnings
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
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:- current working directory
- directory specified by the HOME environment variable
- directory dmd.exe resides in
Environment variables follow the [Environment] section heading, in name=value pairs. 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" LINKCMD="%@P%\..\..\dm\bin" DDOCFILE=mysettings.ddoc
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.
Linux D Compiler
Files
- /dmd/bin/dmd
- D compiler executable
- /dmd/bin/dumpobj
- Elf file dumper
- /dmd/bin/obj2asm
- Elf file disassembler
- /dmd/bin/dmd.conf
- Global compiler settings (copy to /etc/dmd.conf)
- /dmd/lib/libphobos.a
- D runtime library (copy to /usr/lib/libphobos.a)
Requirements
- 32 bit x86 Linux operating system
- D compiler for Linux
- Gnu C compiler (gcc)
Installation
- Unzip the archive into your home directory. It will create a ~/dmd directory with all the files in it. All the tools are command line tools, which means they are run from a console window.
- Edit the file ~/dmd/bin/dmd.conf to put the path in to where the phobos source files are.
- Copy dmd.conf to /etc:
cp dmd/bin/dmd.conf /etc
- Give execute permission to the following files:
chmod u+x dmd/bin/dmd dmd/bin/obj2asm dmd/bin/dumpobj
- Put dmd/bin on your PATH, or copy the linux executables to /usr/local/bin
- Copy the library to /usr/lib:
cp dmd/lib/libphobos.a /usr/lib
Compiler Arguments and Switches
- dmd files... -switch...
- files...
-
Extension File Type none D source files .d D source files .di D interface files .o Object files to link in .a Library files to link in - -c
- compile only, do not link
- -cov
- instrument for code coverage analysis
- -D
- generate documentation
- -Dddocdir
- write documentation file to docdir directory
- -Dffilename
- write documentation file to filename
- -d
- allow deprecated features
- -debug
- compile in debug code
- -debug=level
- compile in debug code <= level
- -debug=ident
- compile in debug code identified by ident
- -fPIC
- generate position independent code
- -g
- add symbolic debug info
- -gc
- add symbolic debug info in C format (for older gdb's)
- -H
- generate D interface file
- -Hddir
- write D interface file to dir directory
- -Hffilename
- write D interface file to filename
- --help
- print help
- -inline
- inline expand functions
- -Ipath
- 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.
- -Llinkerflag
- pass linkerflag to the linker, for example, -M
- -O
- optimize
- -o-
- suppress generation of object file
- -odobjdir
- write object files relative to directory objdir instead of to the current directory
- -offilename
- set output file name to filename in the output directory
- -op
- normally the path for .d source files is stripped off when generating an object file name. -op will leave it on.
- -quiet
- suppress non-essential compiler messages
- -profile
- profile the runtime performance of the generated code
- -release
- compile release version
- -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 .o or executable file is left behind.
- -unittest
- compile in unittest code
- -v
- verbose
- -version=level
- compile in version code >= level
- -version=ident
- compile in version code identified by ident
- -w
- enable warnings
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 actual linking is done by running gcc. This ensures compatibility with modules compiled with gcc.
Environment Variables
The D compiler dmd uses the following environment variables:- CC
- dmd normally runs the linker by looking for gcc
along the PATH. To use a specific linker instead, set the
CC environment variable to it. For example:
set CC=gcc
- DFLAGS
- The value of DFLAGS is treated as if it were appended to the command line to dmd.
dmd.conf Initialization File
dmd will look for the initialization file dmd.conf in the following sequence of directories:- current working directory
- directory specified by the HOME environment variable
- directory dmd resides in
- /etc/
Environment variables follow the [Environment] section heading, in name=value pairs. Comments are lines that start with ;. For example:
; dmd.conf 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] DFLAGS="-I%@P%/../src/phobos"
Differences from Win32 version
- String literals are read-only. Attempting to write to them will cause a segment violation.
- The configuration file is /etc/dmd.conf
Linux Bugs
- -g is only implemented for line numbers, not local symbols, because I haven't figured out how to do it yet. gdb still works, though, at the global symbol level.
- The code generator output has not been tuned yet, so it can be bloated.
- Shared libraries cannot be generated.
- The exception handling is not compatible with the way g++ does it. I don't know if this is an issue or not.
General
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 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.
Bugs
These are some of the major bugs:- The compiler sometimes gets the line number wrong on an error.
- The phobos D runtime library is inadequate.
- Need to write a tool to convert C .h files into D imports.
- Array op= operations are not implemented.
- In preconditions and out postconditions for member functions are not inherited.
- It cannot be run from the IDDE.