This repo is where you can contribute to the F# compiler, core library and the Visual F# Tools. To learn what F# is and why it's interesting, go to fsharp.org. To get a free F# environment, go to fsharp.org.
Compiler Technical Documentation
The primary technical documents for the F# compiler code are
-
The F# Compiler Technical Guide maintained by contributors to this repository. Please read and contribute to that guide.
License
Contributions made to this repo are subject to terms and conditions of the Apache License, Version 2.0. A copy of the license can be found in the License.txt file at the root of this distribution. By using this source code in any fashion, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0. You must not remove this notice, or any other, from this software.
Questions? If you have questions about the source code, please ask in the issues.
You can build the compiler+tools and run the subset the tests used for continuous integration as follows:
build.cmd
There are various qualifiers:
build.cmd release -- build release (the default)
build.cmd debug -- build debug instead of release
build.cmd proto -- force the rebuild of the Proto bootstrap compiler in addition to other things
build.cmd protofx -- build using a .NET Framework proto (no .NET Core is used)
build.cmd net40 -- build/tests for .NET Framework version of the compiler (not the Visual F# IDE Tools or .NET Core)
build.cmd coreclr -- build/tests only the coreclr version compiler (not the Visual F# IDE Tools or .NET Framework)
build.cmd vs -- build/tests the Visual F# IDE Tools
build.cmd pcls -- build/tests the PCL FSharp.Core libraries
build.cmd build -- build, do not test
build.cmd ci -- build, run the same tests as CI
build.cmd all -- build, run all tests
build.cmd notests -- turn off testing (used in conjunction with other options)
build.cmd test-smoke -- build, run smoke tests
build.cmd test-coreunit -- build, run FSharp.Core tests
build.cmd test-coreclr -- build, run .NET Core tests
build.cmd test-pcls -- build, run PCL tests
build.cmd test-fsharp -- build, run tests\fsharp suite
build.cmd test-fsharpqa -- build, run tests\fsharpqa suite
build.cmd test-vs -- build, run Visual F# IDE Tools unit tests
Notes To build and test Visual F# IDE Tools, you must use Visual Studio "vNext" (aka "Dev15"). This is the one after Visual Studio 2015 (aka "Dev 14"). You must also install Visual Studio SDK (also called Visual Studio Extensibility SDK on the Visual Studio installer) before building Visual F# IDE Tools. Please ensure that the Visual Studio SDK version is matched with your current Visual Studio to ensure successful builds. For example: Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 requires Visual Studio 2015 SDK Update 1. Any installation of Visual Studio 2015 and later provides Visual Studio SDK as part of the installation of Visual Studio 2015 as feature installation.
Combinations are also allowed:
build.cmd debug,compiler,notests -- build the debug compiler and run smoke tests
After you build the first time you can open and use this solution:
.\VisualFSharp.sln
or just build it directly:
msbuild VisualFSharp.sln
Building VisualFSharp.sln
builds nearly everything. However building portable profiles of
FSharp.Core.dll is not included. If you are just developing the core compiler, library
and Visual F# Tools then building the solution will be enough.
The compiler is compiled as a set of .NET 4.0 components using a bootstrap process. This uses a Last Known Good (LKG) compiler checked into this repository to build.
msbuild src\fsharp-proto-build.proj
This uses the proto compiler to build FSharp.Core.dll
, FSharp.Compiler.dll
, fsc.exe
, and fsi.exe
.
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj
msbuild src/fsharp-compiler-build.proj
You can now use the updated F# compiler in debug\net40\bin\fsc.exe
and F# Interactive in debug\net40\bin\fsi.exe
to develop and test basic language and tool features.
Note: The updated library is not used until you run update.cmd
, see below. The updated compiler is not run 'pre-compiled' until you run update.cmd -ngen
, see below.
See TESTGUIDE.md for full details on how to run tests.
Prior to a full Debug test run, you need to complete all of the steps in build.cmd
build.cmd debug,build
Likewise prior to a Release test run:
build.cmd release,build
For Debug this corresponds to these steps, which you can run individually for more incremental builds:
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj
msbuild src/fsharp-compiler-build.proj
msbuild src/fsharp-compiler-unittests-build.proj
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable47
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable7
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable78
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable259
msbuild src/fsharp-library-unittests-build.proj
msbuild src/fsharp-library-unittests-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable47
msbuild src/fsharp-library-unittests-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable7
msbuild src/fsharp-library-unittests-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable78
msbuild src/fsharp-library-unittests-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable259
msbuild vsintegration/fsharp-vsintegration-src-build.proj
msbuild vsintegration/fsharp-vsintegration-project-templates-build.proj
msbuild vsintegration/fsharp-vsintegration-item-templates-build.proj
msbuild vsintegration/fsharp-vsintegration-deployment-build.proj
msbuild vsintegration/fsharp-vsintegration-unittests-build.proj
msbuild tests/fsharp/FSharp.Tests.fsproj
src\update.cmd debug -ngen
tests\BuildTestTools.cmd debug
For Release this corresponds to these steps, which you can run individually for more incremental builds:
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-compiler-build.proj /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-compiler-unittests-build.proj /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable47 /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable7 /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable78 /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-library-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable259 /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-library-unittests-build.proj /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-library-unittests-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable47 /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-library-unittests-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable7 /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-library-unittests-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable78 /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild src/fsharp-library-unittests-build.proj /p:TargetFramework=portable259 /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild vsintegration/fsharp-vsintegration-src-build.proj /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild vsintegration/fsharp-vsintegration-project-templates-build.proj /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild vsintegration/fsharp-vsintegration-item-templates-build.proj /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild vsintegration/fsharp-vsintegration-deployment-build.proj /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild vsintegration/fsharp-vsintegration-unittests-build.proj /p:Configuration=Release
msbuild tests/fsharp/FSharp.Tests.fsproj /p:Configuration=Release
src\update.cmd release -ngen
tests\BuildTestTools.cmd release
At time of writing, the Visual F# IDE Tools can only be installed into Visual Studio "Next" (aka "Dev15") releases. The new builds of the Visual F# IDE Tools can no longer be installed into Visual Studio 2015.
You can install VIsual Studio "Next (aka "Dev15") from https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/downloads/visual-studio-next-downloads-vs.aspx.
Note: This step will install a VSIX extension into Visual Studio "Next" (aka "Dev15") that changes the Visual F# IDE Tools components installed in that VS installation. You can revert this step by disabling or uninstalling the addin.
For Debug:
- Ensure that the VSIX package is uninstalled. In VS, select Tools/Extensions and Updates and if the package
Visual F# Tools
is installed, select Uninstall - Run
debug\net40\bin\VisualFSharpVsix.vsix
For Release:
- Ensure that the VSIX package is uninstalled. In VS, select Tools/Extensions and Updates and if the package
Visual F# Tools
is installed, select Uninstall - Run
release\net40\bin\VisualFSharpVsix.vsix
Restart Visual Studio, it should now be running your freshly-built Visual F# IDE Tools with updated F# Interactive.
Note: Step #3 below will clobber the machine-wide installed F# SDK on your machine. This replaces the fsi.exe
/fsiAnyCpu.exe
used by Visual F# Interactive and the fsc.exe
used by Microsoft.FSharp.targets
. Repairing Visual Studio 15 is currently the only way to revert this step.
For Debug:
- Run
vsintegration\update-vsintegration.cmd debug
(clobbers the installed F# SDK)
For Release:
- Run
vsintegration\update-vsintegration.cmd release
(clobbers the installed F# SDK)
- The
update.cmd
script adds required strong name validation skips, and NGens the compiler and libraries. This requires admin privileges. - The compiler binaries produced are "private" and strong-named signed with a test key.
- Some additional tools are required to build the compiler, notably
fslex.exe
,fsyacc.exe
,FSharp.PowerPack.Build.Tasks.dll
,FsSrGen.exe
,FSharp.SRGen.Build.Tasks.dll
, and the other tools found in thelkg
directory. - The overall bootstrapping process executes as follows
- We first need an existing F# compiler. We use the one in the
lkg
directory. Let's assume this compiler has anFSharp.Core.dll
with version X. - We use this compiler to compile the source in this distribution, to produce a "proto" compiler, dropped to the
proto
directory. When run, this compiler still relies onFSharp.Core.dll
with version X. - We use the proto compiler to compile the source for
FSharp.Core.dll
in this distribution. - We use the proto compiler to compile the source for
FSharp.Compiler.dll
,fsc.exe
,fsi.exe
, and other binaries found in this distribution.
The primary technical guide to the core compiler code is The F# Compiler Technical Guide. Please read and contribute to that guide.