Using different compilers

Metashell uses Clang by default, but supports other C/C++ compilers as well. The easiest way to use a different compiler is to provide its binary after the -- argument. For example:

$ metashell -- /usr/bin/gcc

Note that this method gives access only to external compilers. Internally used compilers (eg. Boost.Wave) require using the --engine argument. See Explicitly specifying the compiler to use for further details.

Also note that the set of supported Metashell features varies across compilers. Please check the Compiler Support Matrix for further reference.

Explicitly specifying the compiler to use

Metashell has a concept of the compiler engine, which is a plugin responsible for executing commands and queries using a given compiler.

You can select the engine to use when launching Metashell, using the --engine <name of the engine> command-line option. By default, Metashell uses Clang. To use GCC instead, you need to run Metashell with the following arguments:

$ metashell --engine gcc

Compiler arguments

In most cases, extra arguments are needed for the compiler to work properly: specify the standard to use, set the include path up, etc. As these arguments are different for each compiler, they are handled by the engine responsible for the compiler. Please check the reference of your engine on to see how to set them.

Switching compilers without leaving the shell

To compare the behaviour of different compilers (or the same compiler with different flags) you can use configs in Metashell. A config is a set of arguments for Metashell. When you start Metashell, the arguments you provide build up a config, which is called default. You can display that config by running the #msh config show default command from the shell. This will show you the JSON representation of the config, which is an object with the following fields:

  • name: this specifies the name of the config, which you'll use to refer to it from Metashell.
  • engine: the engine to use by the config.
  • engine_args: the extra arguments to pass to the engine. This is what you provide after -- from the command line.
  • use_precompiled_headers: should the engine (if supported) use precompiled headers to make the shell respond quicker.
  • preprocessor_mode: should the shell start in preprocessor mode. Setting to true has the same effect as starting Metashell with --preprocessor.
  • cwd: this overrides the working directory the compiler is run from. The default is the directory, where Metashell was launched.

You can create a JSON file with one or more such configs in it. Here is an example for such a config file:

[
  {
    "name":"clang",
    "engine":"internal",
    "engine_args":[],
    "use_precompiled_headers":true,
    "preprocessor_mode":false
  },
  {
    "name":"gcc",
    "engine":"gcc",
    "engine_args":["/usr/bin/g++", "-std=c++11"],
    "use_precompiled_headers":true,
    "preprocessor_mode":false
  },
  {
    "name":"wave",
    "engine":"wave",
    "engine_args":[],
    "use_precompiled_headers":true,
    "preprocessor_mode":true
  }
]

This defines three configs: one for Clang, one for GCC and one for Boost.Wave. If you store it in configs.json, you can load them in Metashell by using the --load_configs configs.json argument. Note that you can use the --load_configs argument multiple times and load more than one such JSON file if needed. Also note that the name of each config has to be unique in the shell (across the loaded JSON files).

In the shell you can list the loaded configs:

> #msh config
/*
 *  * default
 *    clang
 *    gcc
 *    wave
 */

As you can see apart from the configs loaded from configs.json, Metashell creates the default config based on the command-line arguments and that config is active by default. You can display the details of each config by using the #msh config show <name of the config> command.

You can also use the shell (and the default config) as normal, for example define a new macro and try it:

> #define CAT_IMPL(a, b) a ## b
> #define CAT(a, b) CAT_IMPL(a, b)
> #msh pp CAT(in, t)
int

To try the macro with GCC as well, you can switch to the gcc engine. You can do this by using the #msh config load <name of the config> command. This keeps your environment (in case the other engine would fail to parse your environment, then Metashell does not let you switch to that config). So you can try your already defined macro with GCC as well:

> #msh config load gcc
/*
 * Switched to config gcc
 */
> #msh pp CAT(in, t)
int