Patch #314: Portability Unleashed: Standalone Toolchains and Automated LLVM Bundling

One of the biggest hurdles in adopting a new systems language is setting up the environment—especially when it involves complex dependencies like LLVM. Today, we are taking a massive step toward making Wave "zero-config" by introducing a comprehensive LLVM bundling and cross-platform packaging system.

With this update, Wave moves from being a compiler that uses LLVM to a complete, self-contained toolchain that carries its own power.

1. The Standalone Compiler: Extract and Run

We have overhauled our packaging process (x.py package). When you download a Wave release in the future, it will include not just the wavec binary, but a full suite of essential LLVM tools:

• Core Tools: llc (compiler), llvm-as (assembler), llvm-mc (machine code).
• Linkers: ld.lld (Linux/RISC-V), ld64.lld (macOS), and lld-link (Windows).
• Runtime Libraries: All necessary dynamic libraries (e.g., libLLVM.dylib, liblld.so).

This means the compiler is now truly portable. You can extract it to any directory, and it will work immediately without searching for system-wide LLVM installations.

2. Intelligent Rpath Patching: Precision Portability

To make bundled libraries work regardless of where the compiler is located, we’ve implemented automated binary patching:

• On macOS: We use install_name_tool and otool to rewrite library paths to @executable_path/llvm/lib. We also apply ad-hoc codesigning to ensure the patched binaries remain executable on modern macOS security policies.
• On Linux: We use patchelf to set the RPATH to $ORIGIN/llvm/lib.
• On Windows: The system automatically bundles the correct set of MinGW and LLVM DLLs to ensure a seamless experience on x64 systems.

3. A Modernized Compilation Pipeline

wavec has been updated to act as a true driver for its internal components. Instead of relying on a system-wide clang command, the internal pipeline now dispatches tasks directly to the bundled LLVM tools.

• Dynamic Linker Selection: The compiler now intelligently selects the correct linker based on your target OS (e.g., ld64.lld for macOS).
• Flexible Resolution: While it prefers bundled tools, it can still resolve LLVM from environment variables like WAVE_LLVM_BIN or LLVM_SYS_211_PREFIX for power users and developers.
• Expanded Formats: Generating Bitcode, Assembly, or Object files is now handled natively through this new internal execution flow.

4. Smart Build Validation

To prevent "it works on my machine" bugs, our build script (x.py) now performs Architecture Verification. Before starting a build, it uses tools like lipo to verify that your host's LLVM dynamic libraries actually support the requested target architecture (e.g., ensuring an x86_64 host has the libraries to build an ARM64 binary).

5. UI and Scripting Enhancements

• Adaptive Terminal Colors: Our colorex utility is now smarter. It respects the standard NO_COLOR and CLICOLOR=0 environment variables. For Windows users, we’ve added support for legacy ANSI modes like ConEmu and Ansicon.
• Leaner Build Script: x.py is now more robust. It no longer requires the toml Python package (using the built-in tomllib in Python 3.11+) and provides helpful advice if tkinter is missing for the GUI build tool.

Conclusion

By bundling the entire toolchain and automating the complex world of RPATHs and library dependencies, we are making Wave accessible to everyone, on every platform. This update transforms Wave from a project you build into a product you use.

Download the latest version, unzip it, and start coding—the machine is now entirely in your hands!

Link

• Pull request

• GitHub

• Community