Building on Windows

Building on Windows

This is a simple explanation of how to build RocksDB by either:

• Method 1 - Windows 10, and Visual Studio 2019.
• Method 2 - Windows 11, and Visual Studio 2022.
• Method 3 - vcpkg, Windows 10, and Visual Studio 2017/2019.

Method 1 - Windows 10, and Visual Studio 2019.

This is a simple step-by-step explanation of how I was able to build RocksDB (or RocksJava) and all of the 3rd-party libraries on Microsoft Windows 10. The Windows build system was already in place, however it took some trial-and-error for me to be able to build the 3rd-party libraries and incorporate them into the build.

Pre-requisites

1. Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 (Community) with "Desktop development with C++" installed
2. CMake - I used version 3.20 installed from the 64bit MSI installer
3. Git - I used the Windows Git Bash.
4. wget
5. Java 8 - I used BellSoft Liberica JDK 8 https://bell-sw.com/pages/downloads/

Steps

Create a directory somewhere on your machine that will be used as a container for both the RocksDB source code and that of its 3rd-party dependencies. On my machine I used C:\Users\aretter\code, from hereon in I will just refer to it as %CODE_HOME%; which can be set as an environment variable, i.e. SET CODE_HOME=C:\Users\aretter\code.

All of the following is executed from the "Developer Command Prompt for VS2019":

Build GFlags

cd %CODE_HOME%
wget https://github.com/gflags/gflags/archive/refs/tags/v2.2.2.zip
unzip v2.2.2.zip
cd gflags-2.2.2
mkdir target
cd target
cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -A x64 ..
msbuild gflags.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64
msbuild gflags.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

The resultant static library can be found in %CODE_HOME%\gflags-2.2.2\target\lib\Debug\gflags_static.lib or %CODE_HOME%\gflags-2.2.2\target\lib\Release\gflags_static.lib.

Build Snappy

cd %CODE_HOME%
wget https://github.com/google/snappy/archive/refs/tags/1.1.9.zip
unzip 1.1.9.zip
cd snappy-1.1.9
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -A x64 -DCMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM=x64 -DSNAPPY_BUILD_TESTS=OFF -DSNAPPY_BUILD_BENCHMARKS=OFF ..
msbuild Snappy.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64
msbuild Snappy.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

The resultant static library can be found in %CODE_HOME%\snappy-1.1.9\build\Debug\snappy.lib or %CODE_HOME%\snappy-1.1.9\build\Release\snappy.lib.

Build LZ4

Requires Windows 8.1 SDK from - https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=323507

cd %CODE_HOME%
wget https://github.com/lz4/lz4/archive/refs/tags/v1.9.4.zip
unzip v1.9.4.zip
cd lz4-1.9.4
cd visual\VS2017
devenv lz4.sln /upgrade
msbuild lz4.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64
msbuild lz4.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

The resultant static library can be found in %CODE_HOME%\lz4-1.9.4\visual\VS2017\bin\x64_Debug\liblz4_static.lib or %CODE_HOME%\lz4-1.9.4\visual\VS2017\bin\x64_Release\liblz4_static.lib.

Build ZLib

cd %CODE_HOME%
wget https://zlib.net/fossils/zlib-1.3.1.tar.gz
tar zxvf zlib-1.3.1.tar.gz
cd zlib-1.3.1\contrib\vstudio\vc14
devenv zlibvc.sln /upgrade
msbuild zlibvc.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64
msbuild zlibvc.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64
copy x64\ZlibDllDebug\zlibwapi.lib x64\ZlibStatDebug\
copy x64\ZlibDllRelease\zlibwapi.lib x64\ZlibStatRelease\

The resultant static library can be found in %CODE_HOME%\zlib-1.3.1\contrib\vstudio\vc14\x64\ZlibStatDebug\zlibstat.lib or %CODE_HOME%\zlib-1.3.1\contrib\vstudio\vc14\x64\ZlibStatRelease\zlibstat.lib.

Build ZStd

wget https://github.com/facebook/zstd/archive/v1.5.5.zip
unzip v1.5.5.zip
cd zstd-1.5.5\build\VS2010
devenv zstd.sln /upgrade
msbuild zstd.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64
msbuild zstd.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

The resultant static library can be found in %CODE_HOME%\zstd-1.5.5\build\VS2010\bin\x64_Debug\libzstd_static.lib or %CODE_HOME%\zstd-1.5.5\build\VS2010\bin\x64_Release\libzstd_static.lib.

Build RocksDB

cd %CODE_HOME%
git clone https://github.com/facebook/rocksdb.git
cd rocksdb

Edit the file %CODE_HOME%\rocksdb\thirdparty.inc to have these changes:

set(GFLAGS_HOME $ENV{THIRDPARTY_HOME}/gflags-2.2.2)
set(GFLAGS_INCLUDE ${GFLAGS_HOME}/target/include)
set(GFLAGS_LIB_DEBUG ${GFLAGS_HOME}/target/lib/Debug/gflags_static.lib)
set(GFLAGS_LIB_RELEASE ${GFLAGS_HOME}/target/lib/Release/gflags_static.lib)

set(SNAPPY_HOME $ENV{THIRDPARTY_HOME}/snappy-1.1.9)
set(SNAPPY_INCLUDE ${SNAPPY_HOME} ${SNAPPY_HOME}/build)
set(SNAPPY_LIB_DEBUG ${SNAPPY_HOME}/build/Debug/snappy.lib)
set(SNAPPY_LIB_RELEASE ${SNAPPY_HOME}/build/Release/snappy.lib)

set(LZ4_HOME $ENV{THIRDPARTY_HOME}/lz4-1.9.4)
set(LZ4_INCLUDE ${LZ4_HOME}/lib)
set(LZ4_LIB_DEBUG ${LZ4_HOME}/visual/VS2017/bin/x64_Debug/liblz4_static.lib)
set(LZ4_LIB_RELEASE ${LZ4_HOME}/visual/VS2017/bin/x64_Release/liblz4_static.lib)

set(ZLIB_HOME $ENV{THIRDPARTY_HOME}/zlib-1.3.1)
set(ZLIB_INCLUDE ${ZLIB_HOME})
set(ZLIB_LIB_DEBUG ${ZLIB_HOME}/contrib/vstudio/vc14/x64/ZlibStatDebug/zlibstat.lib)
set(ZLIB_LIB_RELEASE ${ZLIB_HOME}/contrib/vstudio/vc14/x64/ZlibStatRelease/zlibstat.lib)

set(ZSTD_HOME $ENV{THIRDPARTY_HOME}/zstd-1.5.5)
set(ZSTD_INCLUDE ${ZSTD_HOME}/lib ${ZSTD_HOME}/lib/dictBuilder)
set(ZSTD_LIB_DEBUG ${ZSTD_HOME}/build/VS2010/bin/x64_Debug/libzstd_static.lib)
set(ZSTD_LIB_RELEASE ${ZSTD_HOME}/build/VS2010/bin/x64_Release/libzstd_static.lib)

And then finally to compile RocksDB:

• NOTE: The default CMake build will generate MSBuild project files which include the /arch:AVX2 flag. If you have this CPU extension instruction set, then the generated binaries will also only work on other CPU's with AVX2. If you want to create a build which has no specific CPU extensions, then you should also pass the -DPORTABLE=1 flag in the cmake arguments below.

• NOTE: The build options below include -DXPRESS=1 which enables Microsoft XPRESS compression. This requires Windows 10 or newer to work reliably and is not backwards compatible with older versions of Windows. At present we build RocksJava releases without XPRESS.

• NOTE: Optionally RocksDBJava can also be built with the option -DWITH_JNI_EXPORT_ROCKSDB=ON. This causes the RockDB C API to also be exported in the build JNI binaries. Using the option requires the MSVC dumpbin tool to be present on the path or same directory as the msvc compiler.

mkdir build
cd build
set JAVA_HOME="C:\Program Files\BellSoft\LibericaJDK-8-Full"
set THIRDPARTY_HOME=C:/Users/aretter/code
cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -A x64 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=20 -DJNI=1 -DGFLAGS=1 -DSNAPPY=1 -DLZ4=1 -DZLIB=1 -DZSTD=1 -DXPRESS=1 ..
msbuild rocksdb.sln /p:Configuration=Release

Method 2 - Windows 11, and Visual Studio 2022

This is a simple step-by-step explanation of how I was able to build RocksDB (or RocksJava) and all of the 3rd-party libraries on Microsoft Windows 11. The Windows build system was already in place, however it took some trial-and-error for me to be able to build the 3rd-party libraries and incorporate them into the build.

Pre-requisites

1. Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 (Community) with "Desktop development with C++" installed
2. CMake - I used version 3.27.3 installed from the 64bit MSI installer
3. Java 8 - I used BellSoft Liberica JDK 8 https://bell-sw.com/pages/downloads/
4. Power Shell

Steps

Create a directory somewhere on your machine that will be used as a container for both the RocksDB source code and that of its 3rd-party dependencies. On my machine I used C:\Users\aretter\code, from hereon in I will just refer to it as CODE_HOME; which can be set as an environment variable (in Powershell), i.e. $Env:CODE_HOME = "C:\Users\aretter\code".

All of the following is executed from the "Developer PowerShell for VS2022":

Build GFlags

cd $Env:CODE_HOME
wget https://github.com/gflags/gflags/archive/refs/tags/v2.2.2.zip -OutFile gflags.zip
Expand-Archive gflags.zip -DestinationPath .
cd gflags-2.2.2
mkdir target
cd target
cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 ..
msbuild gflags.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64
msbuild gflags.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

The resultant static library can be found in $Env:CODE_HOME\gflags-2.2.2\target\lib\Debug\gflags_static_debug.lib or $Env:CODE_HOME\gflags-2.2.2\target\lib\Release\gflags_static.lib.

Build Snappy

cd $Env:CODE_HOME
wget https://github.com/google/snappy/archive/refs/tags/1.1.9.zip -OutFile snappy.zip
Expand-Archive snappy.zip -DestinationPath .
cd snappy-1.1.9
mkdir target
cd target
cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -DCMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM=x64 -DSNAPPY_BUILD_TESTS=OFF -DSNAPPY_BUILD_BENCHMARKS=OFF ..
msbuild Snappy.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64
msbuild Snappy.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

The resultant static library can be found in $Env:CODE_HOME\snappy-1.1.9\build\Debug\snappy.lib or $Env:CODE_HOME\snappy-1.1.9\build\Release\snappy.lib.

Build LZ4

cd $Env:CODE_HOME
wget https://github.com/lz4/lz4/archive/refs/tags/v1.9.4.zip -OutFile lz4.zip
Expand-Archive lz4.zip -DestinationPath .
cd lz4-1.9.4
mkdir target
cd target
cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -S ../build/cmake 
msbuild LZ4.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64
msbuild LZ4.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

The resultant static library can be found in $Env:CODE_HOME\lz4-1.9.4\target\Debug or $Env:CODE_HOME\lz4-1.9.4\target\Release.

Build ZLib

cd $Env:CODE_HOME
wget https://github.com/madler/zlib/releases/download/v1.3.1/zlib131.zip -OutFile zlib.zip
Expand-Archive zlib.zip -DestinationPath .
cd zlib-1.3.1
mkdir target
cd target
cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -S ..
msbuild zlib.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64
msbuild zlib.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

The resultant static library can be found in $Env:CODE_HOME\zlib-1.3.1\target\Debug\zlibstaticd.lib or $Env:CODE_HOME\zlib-1.3.1\target\Release\zlibstatic.lib.

Build ZStd

cd $Env:CODE_HOME
wget https://github.com/facebook/zstd/archive/refs/tags/v1.5.5.zip -OutFile zstd.zip
Expand-Archive zstd.zip -DestinationPath .
cd zstd-1.5.5
mkdir target
cd target
cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -S ../build/cmake 
msbuild zstd.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64
msbuild zstd.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

The resultant static library can be found in $Env:CODE_HOME\zstd-1.5.5\target\lib\Debug\zstd_static.lib or $Env:CODE_HOME\zstd-1.5.5\target\lib\Release\zstd_static.lib.

Build RocksDB

cd $Env:CODE_HOME
wget https://github.com/facebook/rocksdb/archive/refs/heads/main.zip -OutFile rocksdb.zip
Expand-Archive rocksdb.zip -DestinationPath .
cd rocksdb-main

Edit the file %CODE_HOME%\rocksdb-main\thirdparty.inc to have these changes:

set(GFLAGS_HOME $ENV{THIRDPARTY_HOME}/gflags-2.2.2)
set(GFLAGS_INCLUDE ${GFLAGS_HOME}/target/include)
set(GFLAGS_LIB_DEBUG ${GFLAGS_HOME}/target/lib/Debug/gflags_static.lib)
set(GFLAGS_LIB_RELEASE ${GFLAGS_HOME}/target/lib/Release/gflags_static.lib)

set(SNAPPY_HOME $ENV{THIRDPARTY_HOME}/snappy-1.1.9)
set(SNAPPY_INCLUDE ${SNAPPY_HOME} ${SNAPPY_HOME}/target)
set(SNAPPY_LIB_DEBUG ${SNAPPY_HOME}/target/Debug/snappy.lib)
set(SNAPPY_LIB_RELEASE ${SNAPPY_HOME}/target/Release/snappy.lib)

set(LZ4_HOME $ENV{THIRDPARTY_HOME}/lz4-1.9.4)
set(LZ4_INCLUDE ${LZ4_HOME}/lib)
set(LZ4_LIB_DEBUG ${LZ4_HOME}/target/Debug/lz4.lib)
set(LZ4_LIB_RELEASE ${LZ4_HOME}/target/Release/lz4.lib)

set(ZLIB_HOME $ENV{THIRDPARTY_HOME}/zlib-1.3.1)
set(ZLIB_INCLUDE ${ZLIB_HOME} ${ZLIB_HOME}/target )
set(ZLIB_LIB_DEBUG ${ZLIB_HOME}/target/Debug/zlibstatic.lib)
set(ZLIB_LIB_RELEASE ${ZLIB_HOME}/target/Release/zlibstatic.lib)

set(ZSTD_HOME $ENV{THIRDPARTY_HOME}/zstd-1.5.5)
set(ZSTD_INCLUDE ${ZSTD_HOME}/lib ${ZSTD_HOME}/lib/dictBuilder)
set(ZSTD_LIB_DEBUG ${ZSTD_HOME}/target/lib/Debug/zstd_static.lib)
set(ZSTD_LIB_RELEASE ${ZSTD_HOME}/target/lib/Release/zstd_static.lib)

And then finally to compile RocksDB:

• NOTE: The default CMake build will generate MSBuild project files which include the /arch:AVX2 flag. If you have this CPU extension instruction set, then the generated binaries will also only work on other CPU's with AVX2. If you want to create a build which has no specific CPU extensions, then you should also pass the -DPORTABLE=1 flag in the cmake arguments below.

• NOTE: The build options below include -DXPRESS=1 which enables Microsoft XPRESS compression. This requires Windows 10 or newer to work reliably and is not backwards compatible with older versions of Windows. At present we build RocksJava releases without XPRESS.

• NOTE: Optionally RocksDBJava can also be built with the option -DWITH_JNI_EXPORT_ROCKSDB=ON. This causes the RockDB C API to also be exported in the build JNI binaries. Using the option requires the MSVC dumpbin tool to be present on the path or same directory as the msvc compiler.

mkdir build
cd build
$Env:JAVA_HOME="C:\Program Files\BellSoft\LibericaJDK-8-Full"
$Env:THIRDPARTY_HOME="C:\Users\aretter\code"
$env:Path = $env:JAVA_HOME + ";" + $env:Path #CMake find(JNI) have a bug and doesn't support JAVA_HOME 
cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=20 -DJNI=1 -DGFLAGS=1 -DSNAPPY=1 -DLZ4=1 -DZLIB=1 -DZSTD=1 -DXPRESS=1 ..
msbuild rocksdb.sln /p:Configuration=Release  -maxCpuCount -property:Platform=x64 -target:rocksdb-shared`;rocksdbjni_test_classes`;rocksdbjni`;rocksdbjni_test_classes

Then the resulting libraries can be found in :

• Static library : build/Release/rocksdb.lib
• Dynamic library: rocksdb-shared.dll
• Java jar archive: build/java/rocksdbjni_classes.jar
• Java native library: build/java/Release/rocksdbjni.dll

Method 3 - vcpkg, Windows 10, and Visual Studio 2017/2019

This is a very simple step-by-step explanation of how I was able to build RocksDB on Microsoft Windows 10. It should be very easy for users who uses vcpkg to install RocksDB. However, vcpkg builds RocksDB as a shared library by default. There are two things we need to do since we have installed vcpkg already.

Step 1

• cd %home%\vcpkg\ports\rocksdb, %home% is the path where you installed your vcpkg
• set(VCPKG_LIBRARY_LINKAGE static) to the top of portfile.cmake and then running vcpkg install rocksdb:x64-windows. If you have installed rocksdb as a static library, run vcpkg remove rocksdb:x64-windows before install command. The resultant static library can be found in %home%\vcpkg\packages\rocksdb_x64-windows\lib\rocksdb.lib rather than %home%\vcpkg\packages\rocksdb_x64-windows\lib\rocksdb-shared.lib.

Step 2

• include Shlwapi.lib and Rpcrt4.lib as the input of your project linker manually.