StaticCompiler

This is an experimental package to compile Julia code to standalone libraries. A system image is not needed.

Installation and Usage

Installation is the same as any other registered Julia package

using Pkg
Pkg.add("StaticCompiler")

There are two main ways to use this package. The first is via the compile function, which can be used when you want to compile a Julia function for later use from within Julia:

julia> using StaticCompiler

julia> fib(n) = n <= 1 ? n : fib(n - 1) + fib(n - 2)
fib (generic function with 1 method)

julia> fib_compiled, path = compile(fib, Tuple{Int}, "fib")
(f = fib(::Int64) :: Int64, path = "fib")

julia> fib_compiled(10)
55

Now we can quit this session and load a new one where fib is not defined:

julia> using StaticCompiler

julia> fib
ERROR: UndefVarError: fib not defined

julia> fib_compiled = load_function("fib")
fib(::Int64) :: Int64

julia> fib_compiled(10)
55

See the file tests/runtests.jl for some examples of functions that work with compile (and some that don't, marked with @test_skip).

The second way to use this package is via the compile_executable and compile_shlib functions, for use when you want to compile a Julia function to a native executable or shared library for use from outside of Julia:

julia> using StaticCompiler, StaticTools

julia> hello() = println(c"Hello, world!")
hello (generic function with 1 method)

julia> compile_executable(hello, (), "./")
"/Users/user/hello"

shell> ls -alh hello
-rwxrwxr-x. 1 user user 8.4K Oct 20 20:36 hello

shell> ./hello
Hello, world!

This latter approach comes with substantially more limitations, as you cannot rely on libjulia (see, e.g., StaticTools.jl for some ways to work around these limitations).

Approach

This package uses the GPUCompiler package to generate code.

Limitations

• GC-tracked allocations and global variables do work with compile, but the way they are implemented is brittle and can be dangerous. Allocate with care.
• GC-tracked allocations and global variables do not work with compile_executable (yet).
• Type unstable code is not yet supported.
• Doesn't currently work on Windows.
• If you find any other limitations, let us know. There's probably lots.