build-zig-cpp

An Example build.zig for a pure C++ project

Simply: git clone <this_repo> && zig build

Result is in zig-out/bin

Details

1. All the magic happens in build.zig
2. I provide a win.cpp and main.cpp to showcase different OS capabilities built into zig
3. Most of this is not well documented yet, as of 0.13/0.14 zig era, places to get information:
   1. https://ziglang.org/learn/build-system/ (less than helpful for C++ specific users like us)
   2. https://ziglang.org/documentation/master/std/#std.Build (std.Build is the namespace where all the functions and types live - the meat of the discussion)

build.zig Explanation

First, refer to build.zig in this repo.

Now, we first #include the zig standard library in this build.zig:

const std = @import("std");

Then we write what is main() for zig build:

pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
}

Then we set up default .{} target and optimization levels for my OS/build command. I.e. The system we're on. You can modify what you are targeting with your zig build command and this is where that magic is respected.

    const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});
    const optimize = b.standardOptimizeOption(.{});

target is documented here, by clicking on ResolvedTarget You can then follow the chain down to how I found the string .windows for this if statement:

if (target.result.os.tag == .windows) {
}

Below is Self-explanatory: We're declaring an executable with a name of "win", using the earlier target and optimization options. Nothing is added to this empty executable yet.

const exe = b.addExecutable(.{ 
    .name = "win",
    .target = target,
    .optimize = optimize
});

Now we add our single source file:

exe.addCSourceFile(.{ .file = b.path("win.cpp") });

Followed by actually linking against libc and libcpp, which is required to have <iostream> <string>, etc:

exe.linkLibC();
exe.linkLibCpp();

Note by default this is a dynamic link. To change to static link, set it up in the target options:

const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{
    .libc_static = true, // Enable libc static linking
});

Finally, we tell it to install/create this executable:

b.installArtifact(exe);