How to Use SCons with Clang on Windows without Visual Studio Flags

Описание: Discover how to configure `SCons` to use `Clang` on Windows properly, avoiding the pitfalls of Visual Studio flags in your build process.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/76483883/ asked by the user 'MBR-6161' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/5155973/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/76485351/ provided by the user 'Piotr Siupa' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/3052438/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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How to Use SCons with Clang on Windows without Visual Studio Flags

If you’re using SCons to manage your C+ + project on Windows, you might run into a common issue: SCons tries to apply Visual Studio flags when you’re actually using Clang. This can lead to frustrating errors during the build process, like improper compilation commands and missing files. In this guide, we’ll walk you through a solution to ensure SCons works seamlessly with Clang and avoids the compatibility issues that arise from unintended Visual Studio settings.

Understanding the Problem

The Default Behavior of SCons

By default, SCons prefers the Visual Studio toolchain on Windows systems. This habit can cause problems if you’re trying to compile your code using Clang. Simply setting the CC and CXX variables in your SCons environment does not alter the default behavior of the toolchain. These variables only change the executables invoked but keep other configurations tied to Visual Studio, leading to the confusing error messages you may have encountered.

Here’s an example of what you might see when you attempt to build your application:

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The Solution: Defining Your Toolchain

Instead of just changing CC and CXX, you need to specify a custom TOOLS list in your SCons environment. This approach tells SCons exactly which compilers and linkers to use, and it allows you to configure the build process to match Clang’s expectations, avoiding any Visual Studio-specific commands.

Step-by-Step: Configuring SCons for Clang

1. Update Your Build Script

To use Clang correctly with SCons, update your build script as follows:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

2. Breakdown of Changes Made

TOOL Configuration: The TOOLS variable is set to include clang, clang+ + , and gnulink. This is critical as it configures SCons to handle the specifics of the Clang toolchain, including the command-line options that are suitable for Clang instead of Visual Studio.

Include Paths: The CPPPATH remains unchanged since you need to include your header files.

3. Important Notes

After modifying your script, make sure that Clang is installed correctly on your machine. If you try to build without it, the process will fail because SCons will no longer default to Visual Studio.

This change allows you to work consistently across platforms, as the necessary commands for both Windows and Linux will now work as intended.

Conclusion

By following these simple steps, you can configure SCons to work with Clang on Windows efficiently. This change allows you to avoid visual studio flags and ensures a smoother build process. Make sure to double-check your configurations and dependencies to guarantee that everything compiles without issues. Happy coding!