Zig Build

The zig build command allows users to compile based on a build.zig file. zig init-exe and zig init-lib can be used to give you a baseline project.

Let's use zig init-exe inside a new folder. This is what you will find.

.
├── build.zig
└── src
    └── main.zig

build.zig contains our build script. The build runner will use this pub fn build function as its entry point - this is what is executed when you run zig build.

const std = @import("std");

// Although this function looks imperative, note that its job is to
// declaratively construct a build graph that will be executed by an external
// runner.
pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
    // Standard target options allows the person running `zig build` to choose
    // what target to build for. Here we do not override the defaults, which
    // means any target is allowed, and the default is native. Other options
    // for restricting supported target set are available.
    const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});

    // Standard optimization options allow the person running `zig build` to select
    // between Debug, ReleaseSafe, ReleaseFast, and ReleaseSmall. Here we do not
    // set a preferred release mode, allowing the user to decide how to optimize.
    const optimize = b.standardOptimizeOption(.{});

    const exe = b.addExecutable(.{
        .name = "tmp",
        // In this case the main source file is merely a path, however, in more
        // complicated build scripts, this could be a generated file.
        .root_source_file = .{ .path = "src/main.zig" },
        .target = target,
        .optimize = optimize,
    });

    // This declares intent for the executable to be installed into the
    // standard location when the user invokes the "install" step (the default
    // step when running `zig build`).
    b.installArtifact(exe);

    // This *creates* a Run step in the build graph, to be executed when another
    // step is evaluated that depends on it. The next line below will establish
    // such a dependency.
    const run_cmd = b.addRunArtifact(exe);

    // By making the run step depend on the install step, it will be run from the
    // installation directory rather than directly from within the cache directory.
    // This is not necessary, however, if the application depends on other installed
    // files, this ensures they will be present and in the expected location.
    run_cmd.step.dependOn(b.getInstallStep());

    // This allows the user to pass arguments to the application in the build
    // command itself, like this: `zig build run -- arg1 arg2 etc`
    if (b.args) |args| {
        run_cmd.addArgs(args);
    }

    // This creates a build step. It will be visible in the `zig build --help` menu,
    // and can be selected like this: `zig build run`
    // This will evaluate the `run` step rather than the default, which is "install".
    const run_step = b.step("run", "Run the app");
    run_step.dependOn(&run_cmd.step);

    // Creates a step for unit testing. This only builds the test executable
    // but does not run it.
    const unit_tests = b.addTest(.{
        .root_source_file = .{ .path = "src/main.zig" },
        .target = target,
        .optimize = optimize,
    });

    const run_unit_tests = b.addRunArtifact(unit_tests);

    // Similar to creating the run step earlier, this exposes a `test` step to
    // the `zig build --help` menu, providing a way for the user to request
    // running the unit tests.
    const test_step = b.step("test", "Run unit tests");
    test_step.dependOn(&run_unit_tests.step);
}

main.zig contains our executable's entry point.

const std = @import("std");

pub fn main() !void {
    // Prints to stderr (it's a shortcut based on `std.io.getStdErr()`)
    std.debug.print("All your {s} are belong to us.\n", .{"codebase"});

    // stdout is for the actual output of your application, for example if you
    // are implementing gzip, then only the compressed bytes should be sent to
    // stdout, not any debugging messages.
    const stdout_file = std.io.getStdOut().writer();
    var bw = std.io.bufferedWriter(stdout_file);
    const stdout = bw.writer();

    try stdout.print("Run `zig build test` to run the tests.\n", .{});

    try bw.flush(); // don't forget to flush!
}

test "simple test" {
    var list = std.ArrayList(i32).init(std.testing.allocator);
    defer list.deinit(); // try commenting this out and see if zig detects the memory leak!
    try list.append(42);
    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(i32, 42), list.pop());
}

Upon using the zig build command, the executable will appear in the install path. Here we have not specified an install path, so the executable will be saved in ./zig-out/bin. A custom install path can be specified using the override_dest_dir field in the Step.Compile struct.