Overview

See below for how to build TBB and how to port TBB to a new platform, operating system or architecture.

Files

Makefile.tbb

Main Makefile invoked to build the TBB library. Normally invoked via "make tbb" from top-level Makefile. Also invoked via "make" from src/tbb Makefile.

Makefile.tbbmalloc

Main Makefile invoked to build the TBB scalable memory allocator library. Normally invoked via "make tbbmalloc" from top-level Makefile.

Makefile.test

Main Makefile invoked to test the TBB library. Normally invoked via "make test" from top-level Makefile. Also invoked via "make" from src/test Makefile.

common.inc

Main common included Makefile that includes OS-specific and compiler-specific Makefiles.

<os>.inc

OS-specific Makefile for a particular <os>.

<os>_<compiler>.inc

Compiler-specific Makefile for a particular <os> / <compiler> combination.

*.sh

Infrastructure utilities for Linux*, Mac OS* X, and related systems.

*.js, *.bat

Infrastructure utilities for Windows* systems.

To port TBB to a new platform, operating system or architecture, see the porting directions below.

Software prerequisites:

1. C++ compiler for the platform, operating system and architecture of interest. Either the native compiler for your system, or, optionally, the appropriate Intel® C++ compiler, may be used.
2. GNU make.
3. A Bourne or BASH compatible shell. On Windows*, shell commands issued by GNU make should execute in such a shell.
4. The Intel® assembler, ias (if using Intel® Itanium® processors).

TBB libraries can be built by performing the following steps. On systems that support only one ABI (e.g., 32-bit), these steps build the libraries for that ABI. On systems that support both 64-bit and 32-bit libraries, these steps build the 64-bit libraries (Linux*, Mac OS* X, and related systems) or whichever ABI is selected in the development environment (Windows* systems).

1. Change to the top-level directory of the installed software.
2. If using the Intel® C++ compiler, make sure the appropriate compiler is available in your PATH (e.g., by sourcing the appropriate iccvars script for the compiler to be used).
3. Invoke GNU make using no arguments, for example, "gmake".

To build TBB libraries for other than the default ABI (e.g., to build 32-bit libraries on Linux*, Mac OS* X, or related systems that support both 64-bit and 32-bit libraries), perform the following steps.

1. Change to the top-level directory of the installed software.
2. If using the Intel® C++ compiler, make sure the appropriate compiler is available in your PATH (e.g., by sourcing the appropriate iccvars script for the compiler to be used).
3. Invoke GNU make as follows, "gmake arch=ia32".

The default make target will build and unit-test the release and debug versions of the library. Unit-testing is performed by running each of the unit-tests and each of the examples.

By default, the libraries will be built in sub-directories within the build/ directory. The sub-directories are named according to the operating system, architecture, compiler and software environment used (the sub-directory names also distinguish release vs. debug libraries). On Linux*, the software environment comprises the GCC, libc and kernel version used. On Windows*, the software environment comprises the GCC and OS version used. On Windows, the software environment comprises the Microsoft* Visual Studio* version used. See below for how to change the default build directory.

To perform different build and/or test operations, perform the following steps.

1. Change to the top-level directory of the installed software.
2. If using the Intel® C++ compiler, make sure the appropriate compiler is available in your PATH (e.g., by sourcing the appropriate iccvars script for the compiler to be used).
3. Invoke GNU make by using one or more of the following commands.

   make

   Default build and test. Equivalent to 'make release debug examples'.

   make release

   Build and test release libraries only.

   make debug

   Build and test debug libraries only.

   make tbb

   Make TBB release and debug libraries. Also invoked via "make" from src/tbb Makefile.

   make tbbmalloc

   Make TBB scalable memory allocator libraries.

   make test

   Just run unit-tests. Also invoked via "make" from src/test Makefile.

   make examples

   Build libraries and run all examples, like doing "make debug clean release" from examples Makefile.

   make compiler={icl, icc} [(above options or targets)]

   Build and run as above, but use Intel® compilers instead of default, native compilers (e.g., icl instead of cl.exe on Windows* systems, or icc instead of g++ on Linux* or Mac OS* X systems).

   make arch={ia32, em64t, itanium} [(above options or targets)]

   Build and run as above, but build libraries for the selected ABI.

   make tbb_root={(TBB directory)} [(above options or targets)]

   Build and run as above; for use when invoking "make" from a directory other than the top-level directory.

   make tbb_build_dir={(build directory)} [(above options or targets)]

   Build and run as above, but place the built libraries in the specified directory, rather than in the default sub-directory within the build/ directory.

   make tbb_build_prefix={(build sub-directory)} [(above options or targets)]

   Build and run as above, but place the built libraries in the specified sub-directory within the build/ directory, rather than using the default sub-directory name.

   make [(above options)] clean

   Remove any executables or intermediate files produced by the above commands. Includes build directories, object files, libraries and test executables.

This section provides information on how to port TBB to a new platform, operating system or architecture. A subset or a superset of these steps may be required for porting to a given platform.

To port the TBB source code:

1. If porting to a new architecture, create a file that describes the architecture-specific details for that architecture.
   • Create a <os>_<architecture>.h file in the include/tbb/machine directory that describes these details.
     • The <os>_<architecture>.h is named after the operating system and architecture as recognized by include/tbb/tbb_machine.h and the Makefile infrastructure.
     • This file defines the implementations of synchronization operations, and also the scheduler yield function, for the operating system and architecture.
     • Several examples of <os>_<architecture>.h files can be found in the include/tbb/machine directory.
       • A minimal implementation defines the 4-byte and 8-byte compare-and-swap operations, and the scheduler yield function. See include/tbb/machine/mac_ppc.h for an example of a minimal implementation.
       • More complex implementation examples can also be found in the include/tbb/machine directory that implement all the individual variants of synchronization operations that TBB uses. Such implementations are more verbose but may achieve better performance on a given architecture.
       • In a given implementation, any synchronization operation that is not defined is implemented, by default, in terms of 4-byte or 8-byte compare-and-swap. More operations can thus be added incrementally to increase the performance of an implementation.
       • In most cases, synchronization operations are implemented as inline assembly code; examples also exist, (e.g., for Intel® Itanium® processors) that use out-of-line assembly code in *.s or *.asm files (see the assembly code sub-directories in the src/tbb directory).
   • Modify include/tbb/tbb_machine.h, if needed, to invoke the appropriate <os>_<architecture>.h file in the include/tbb/machine directory.
2. Add an implementation of DetectNumberOfWorkers() in src/tbb/tbb_misc.h, if needed, that returns the number of cores found on the system. This is used to determine the default number of threads for the TBB task scheduler.
3. Either properly define FillDynamicLinks for use in src/tbb/cache_aligned_allocator.cpp, or hardcode the allocator to be used.
4. Additional types might be required in the union defined in include/tbb/aligned_space.h to ensure proper alignment on your platform.
5. Changes may be required in include/tbb/tick_count.h for systems that do not provide gettimeofday.

To port the Makefile infrastructure:

1. The top-level Makefile includes common.inc to determine the operating system.
   • To add a new operating system, add the appropriate test to common.inc, and create the needed <os>.inc and <os>_<compiler>.inc files (see below).
2. The <os>.inc file makes OS-specific settings for a particular <os>.
   • For example, linux.inc makes settings specific to Linux* systems.
   • This file performs OS-dependent tests to determine the specific platform and/or architecture, and sets other platform-dependent values.
   • Add a new <os>.inc file for each new operating system added.
3. The <os>_<compiler>.inc file makes compiler-specific settings for a particular <os> / <compiler> combination.
   • For example, linux.gcc.inc makes specific settings for using GCC on Linux* systems, and linux.icc.inc makes specific settings for using the Intel® C++ compiler on Linux* systems.
   • This file sets particular compiler, assembler and linker options required when using a particular <os> / <compiler> combination.
   • Add a new <os>_<compiler>.inc file for each new <os> / <compiler> combination added.