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.
Currently you can do on Linux a bootstrap of the Mono version of the compiler. Full testing is not enabled, nor is a .NET Core build of the compiler.
First install Mono.
Then:
./build.sh
results will be in Debug\net40\bin\.... This doesn't do any testing (beyond the bootstrap). You can
run the compiler fsc.exe and F# Interactive fsi.exe by hand to test it.
These steps are tested under the Linux/Mono configuration(s) in .travis.yml (Ubuntu).
On Windows you can build the F# compiler for .NET Framework as follows:
build.cmd
This is the same as
build.cmd net40
There are various qualifiers:
build.cmd release -- build release (the default)
build.cmd debug -- build debug instead of release
build.cmd net40 -- build .NET Framework compiler (the default)
build.cmd coreclr -- build .NET Core compiler
build.cmd vs -- build the Visual F# IDE Tools (see below)
build.cmd pcls -- build the PCL FSharp.Core libraries
build.cmd all -- build all
build.cmd proto -- force the rebuild of the Proto bootstrap compiler in addition to other things
build.cmd test -- build default targets, run suitable tests
build.cmd net40 test -- build net40, run suitable tests
build.cmd coreclr test -- build coreclr, run suitable tests
build.cmd vs test -- build Visual F# IDE Tools, run all tests (see below)
build.cmd all test -- build all, run all tests
build.cmd test-smoke -- build, run smoke tests
build.cmd test-net40-fsharp -- build, run tests\fsharp suite for .NET Framework
build.cmd test-net40-fsharpqa -- build, run tests\fsharpqa suite for .NET Framework
After you build the first time you can open and use this solution:
.\FSharp.sln
or just build it directly:
msbuild FSharp.sln
Building FSharp.sln builds nearly everything. However building portable profiles of
FSharp.Core.dll is not included. If you are just developing the core compiler and library
then building the solution will be enough.
- The
update.cmdscript 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 thelkgdirectory. - The overall bootstrapping process executes as follows
- We first need an existing F# compiler. We use the one in the
lkgdirectory. Let's assume this compiler has anFSharp.Core.dllwith version X. - We use this compiler to compile the source in this distribution, to produce a "proto" compiler, dropped to the
protodirectory. When run, this compiler still relies onFSharp.Core.dllwith version X. - We use the proto compiler to compile the source for
FSharp.Core.dllin 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.
If you are behind a proxy server, NuGet client tool must be configured to use it:
.nuget\nuget.exe config -set http_proxy=proxy.domain.com:8080 -ConfigFile .nuget\NuGet.Config
.nuget\nuget.exe config -set http_proxy.user=user_name -ConfigFile .nuget\NuGet.Config
.nuget\nuget.exe config -set http_proxy.password=user_password -ConfigFile .nuget\NuGet.Config
Where you should set proper proxy address, user name and password.
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.
build.cmd vs -- build the Visual F# IDE Tools (see below)
build.cmd vs test -- build Visual F# IDE Tools, run all tests (see below)
Use VisualFSharp.sln if you're building the Visual F# IDE Tools.
At time of writing, the Visual F# IDE Tools can only be installed into Visual Studio "Next" 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" 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" 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, uninstall then reinstall:
VSIXInstaller.exe /a /u:"VisualFSharp"
VSIXInstaller.exe /a debug\net40\bin\VisualFSharpOpenSource.vsix
For Release, uninstall then reinstall:
VSIXInstaller.exe /a /u:"VisualFSharp"
VSIXInstaller.exe /a release\net40\bin\VisualFSharpOpenSource.vsix
Restart Visual Studio, it should now be running your freshly-built Visual F# IDE Tools with updated F# Interactive.
To test your changes locally without overwriting your default installed F# tools, set the VisualFSharp\Vsix\VisualFSharpOpenSource
project as the startup project. When you hit F5 a new instance of Visual Studio will be started in the FSharpDev hive with your
changes, but the root (default) hive will remain untouched.
For the brave, you can rapidly deploy incrementally updated versions of Visual F# IDE Tool components such as FSHarp.Editor.dll by copying them directly into the extension directory in your user AppData folder:
xcopy /y debug\net40\bin\FSharp.* "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_7c5620b7FSharpDev\Extensions\Microsoft.VisualFSharpTools\Visual F# Tools\15.4.1.9055"
This gives a much tighter inner development loop than uninstalling/reinstalling the VSIX, as you do not have to restart VIsual Studio. Caveat emptor.
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 primary technical guide to the core compiler code is The F# Compiler Technical Guide. Please read and contribute to that guide.