docs/features.md

# CC Toolchain Features

NOTE: It's possible this document has drifted, please file issues or
submit PRs for any inaccuracies you find

## Toolchain features

CC toolchains are configured by creating features. Features are
arbitrary strings for enabling or disabling behavior in the toolchain.

Semantically there are 3 types of features:

1. Features whose names are arbitrary, and are only used to carry
   command line flags.
2. Features with special names which are markers to bazel / `rules_cc`
   that some behavior should be enabled or is supported by the toolchain
3. Features with special names, that are also expected to pass the
   various compiler / linker flags to enable some behavior.

With all features, even though the feature name may have special meaning
to `rules_cc`, it is still up to your toolchain to provide the correct
compiler flags for your situation.

Depending on how bazel / `rules_cc` read the features, you might need to
define them differently.

In some cases `rules_cc` checks if a feature is *supported*, or it
automatically _enables_ it when it's relevant. In this case that means a
feature with that name is defined in the toolchain. For example:

```bzl
return [
    cc_common.create_cc_toolchain_config_info(
        features = [
            feature(name = "dbg"), # Supported by the toolchain but off by default
        ],
        ...
    ),
]
```

This is separate from if a feature is *enabled*, which either means a
feature is defined in the toolchain _and_ automatically enabled:

This is separate from when a feature is *enabled*, which means one of
the following:

- The feature is defined in the toolchain _and_ enabled by default in
  its definition:

   ```bzl
   feature(
      name = "archive_param_file",
      enabled = True,  # Enabled by default when defined
   ),
   ```

- the feature is enabled by a user passing
  `--features=archive_param_file`, setting `features =
  ["archive_param_file"]` or through other mechanisms in the toolchain
  definition (not covered here).

This distinction is important for when `rules_cc` checks if a feature is
enabled, without automatically enabling it. This is common for "marker"
features. If `rules_cc` checks for a feature being enabled, it not
existing in the toolchain will be treated the same as it being disabled.
This means a toolchain that does not want to support a feature can omit
it.

In some cases `rules_cc` bases behavior on the presence of a feature,
but doesn't require it to be enabled. This is rare but mentioned for the
relevant features below.

NOTE: Feature names aren't really considered public API, and are subject
to change more frequently than the rest of the API (even though their
behavior likely doesn't change often).

NOTE: While this document attempts to cover `rules_cc` behavior, it is
possible for any custom rule to read the features of the toolchain and
change its behavior based on them.

## Legacy features

By default, unless you add the
[`no_legacy_features`](#no_legacy_features) feature to your toolchain,
you will automatically inherit the features (and action configurations)
defined in
[`legacy_features.bzl`](../cc/private/toolchain_config/legacy_features.bzl).
It is recommended that you override all features to avoid this
potentially confusing behavior. You can read that file to see the
current defaults.

If you do not add a `no_legacy_features` feature, any features you add
with the same name as a legacy feature will override the default
behavior, but any that you omit will be added to your toolchain
implicitly.

## All features

Below are all of the features names that currently have special meaning
for bazel / `rules_cc`, or are commonly used directly by users.

### `archive_param_file`

A marker feature indicating that the archiver supports reading arguments
from a `@params` file.

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `compiler_param_file`

A marker feature indicating that bazel / `rules_cc` should pass
arguments to the compiler with a `@params` file.

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `compiler_param_file_on_demand`

A marker feature indicating that bazel / `rules_cc` should pass
arguments to the compiler with a `@params` file only when it seems like
it will be needed based on command length.

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `compile_all_modules`

A marker feature that causes all headers in the generated `modulemap`s
for [`layering_check`](#layering_check) to be written as compilable
`header` instead of `textual header`, which causes `clang` to attempt
to build a compiled module from them. This is required for actually
building modules from the generated `modulemap`s, which isn't
necessary for common `layering_check` uses.

Expected to be supported for Swift interop.

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `copy_dynamic_libraries_to_binary`

A marker feature that causes bazel to copy dependent shared libraries to
the output directory of a `cc_binary` when linking against them. This is
commonly used on Windows.

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `coverage` / `gcc_coverage_map_format` / `llvm_coverage_map_format`

Bazel / `rules_cc` automatically enables the `coverage` feature when
using `bazel coverage` or `bazel build --collect_code_coverage`. It then
either enables `gcc_coverage_map_format` (default) or
`llvm_coverage_map_format` (if `--experimental_use_llvm_covmap` is set).
At this point it is up to the toolchain to pass the correct compiler /
linker flags to produce the instrumented binaries.

These features are all off by default. Toolchains should make the format
features dependent on `coverage` being enabled.

### `coverage_enabled` / `coverage_instrumented`

`coverage_enabled` is requested whenever `coverage` is, that is, whenever
coverage collection is generally enabled for the build.
`coverage_instrumented` is requested in addition to it, but only for those
targets that are actually instrumented for coverage, either because they
match
[`--instrumentation_filter`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--instrumentation_filter)
themselves or because one of their direct `deps` or `implementation_deps`
does and may thus provide instrumented headers.

Toolchains should use these features instead of `coverage` to restrict
instrumentation flags to the compile actions that actually need them, which
is considerably cheaper than instrumenting every target in the build. Link
actions still need the coverage runtime whenever `coverage_enabled` is
requested, as an uninstrumented binary can link in instrumented libraries.

These features are off by default and requested as described above. Older
versions of Bazel and `rules_cc` only request `coverage`, so toolchains
that support those as well should keep their `coverage` flag sets and guard
them with `with_feature_set(not_features = ["coverage_enabled"])`.

### `cpp_modules`

A marker feature for enabling C++20 modules. This also depends on
`--experimental_cpp_modules` being passed.

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `dbg` / `fastbuild` / `opt`

These features are requested based on
[`--compilation_mode`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--compilation_mode)
and primarily useful for customizing other features in the toolchain.

These features are mutually exclusive and one is always enabled. By
default they are all disabled in a toolchain definition.

### `dead_strip`

This feature is requested based on
[`--objc_enable_binary_stripping`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--objc_enable_binary_stripping)
and commonly correlates with the `-dead_strip` linker flag.

This feature should be off by default.

### `disable_whole_archive_for_static_lib`

Disable allowing `alwayslink = True` usage on a library.

This feature should be off by default.

### `dynamic_link_test_srcs`

A marker feature that affects linking behavior of `cc_test` targets. See
the source for details.

This feature should be off by default.

### `exclude_private_headers_in_module_maps`

A marker feature for excluding private headers from the generated
`modulemap`s for [`layering_check`](#layering_check). Otherwise private
headers are included with `private header`.

Expected to be supported for Swift interop.

This feature should be off by default.

### `external_include_paths`

A marker feature indicating that all external bazel modules' include
paths should be passed through `-isystem` instead of `-I`. This is still
up to the toolchain to configure correctly, but this affects the
toolchain variables the include paths are passed through.

This feature should be off by default.

### `force_no_whole_archive` / `legacy_whole_archive`

Deprecated marker features to disable linking shared libraries with
`--whole-archive` by default.

These features should be off by default.

### `fully_static_link`

`fully_static_link` is not used by `rules_cc` directly but is
recommended in the `cc_binary` documentation for producing fully
statically linked binaries. If you want to support this it should be
implemented in your toolchain. For example the default implementation is
to pass `-static` to the linker when this feature is enabled.

This feature is off by default.

### `gcc_quoting_for_param_files` / `windows_quoting_for_param_files`

Marker features to configure the quoting style of arguments in `@params`
files. If neither are enabled, no quoting is applied.

These features must be enabled if desired.

### `generate_submodules`

A marker feature for generating submodules for each header in the
generated `modulemap`s for [`layering_check`](#layering_check).

This feature should be off by default.

### `has_configured_linker_path`

A marker feature indicating that when creating an interface shared
library, the toolchain calls the default configured linker. In this case
it's up to the default linker and toolchain to correctly emit both the
normal shared library, and the interface library. If this is not set
`rules_cc` uses the `@bazel_tools//tools/cpp:link_dynamic_library`
helper instead (which might not work with all toolchain configurations).

This feature should be enabled if desired.

### `header_module_codegen` / `header_modules` / `use_header_modules`

Use `clang` modules for some cases. Read the source for details.

These features should be off by default.

### `generate_dsym_file` / `no_generate_debug_symbols`

`generate_dsym_file` is requested based on
[`--apple_generate_dsym`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--apple_generate_dsym)
and indicates that the toolchain should generate a dsym file for
debugging on Apple platforms. `no_generate_debug_symbols` is set in the opposite case.

These features should be off by default.

### `generate_linkmap`

This feature is requested based on
[`--objc_generate_linkmap`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--objc_generate_linkmap)
and commonly correlates with the `-map` linker flag.

This feature should be off by default.

### `generate_pdb_file`

This feature indicates a Windows `pdb` file should be created when
linking a binary. This must be enabled by the user or the toolchain.

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `lang_objc`

A marker feature indicating that Objective-C or Objective-C++ is being
built.

This feature should be off by default.

### `layering_check`

Enable validation that a library directly depends on everything it uses.
This is implemented using `clang`'s `modulemap` features. See the
default toolchains for implementation examples. `rules_cc` does not
reference this feature directly, but the name `layering_check` is used
by users to enable this behavior, and disable it for incompatible
targets.

This feature should be off by default and turned on at the project /
target level.

### LTO features

Bazel / `rules_cc` have many special features for LTO behavior:

- `thin_lto` top level feature that is also used by users
- `thin_lto_all_linkstatic_use_shared_nonlto_backends` read the source
- `thin_lto_linkstatic_tests_use_shared_nonlto_backends` read the source
- `no_use_lto_indexing_bitcode_file` read the source
- `use_lto_native_object_directory` read the source

These features must be enabled if desired.

### `module_maps`

A marker feature that should always be enabled if supported indicating
that the compiler supports `modulemap` files (`clang`). This is required
for `layering_check`.

This feature should be enabled by default if supported.

### `module_map_home_cwd`

Whether a `modulemap` used with [`layering_check`](#layering_check)
should use its current directory as the `cwd`. This affects relative
paths in the generated `modulemap`s. This is only useful if you need to
also pass the related `clang` flags.

This feature should be off by default.

### `module_map_without_extern_module`

A marker feature to disable writing `extern module` declarations in the
generated `modulemap`s for [`layering_check`](#layering_check).

Expected to be supported for Swift interop.

This feature should be off by default.

### `no_dotd_file`

A marker feature for disabling `.d` file generating and parsing by
bazel. Dotd file parsing is also dependent on
[`--cc_dotd_files`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--cc_dotd_files)
and
[`--objc_use_dotd_pruning`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--objc_use_dotd_pruning)

This feature should be off by default.

### `no_legacy_features`

Disable `rules_cc` automatically adding the legacy features to the
toolchain (discussed  above).

This feature should be added if possible, but its enabled state does no
matter.

### `no_stripping`

When enabled `rules_cc` does not strip a `cc_binary` to create the
implicit `binary.stripped`, instead it is only symlinked.

This feature should be off by default.

### `only_doth_headers_in_module_maps`

A marker feature for only including `.h` files in the generated
`modulemap`s for [`layering_check`](#layering_check). Otherwise public
headers with any extension are included.

Expected to be supported for Swift interop.

This should be off by default.

### `parse_headers`

This feature is used alongside
[`--process_headers_in_dependencies`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--process_headers_in_dependencies)
to run a separate action that validates header files are valid on their
own. This feature is special to `rules_cc` but is also used by users to
enable this behavior, and disable it for incompatible targets.

See also [`layering_check`](#layering_check)

This should be off by default and turned on at the project / target
level.

### `parse_headers_as_c`

This feature is used alongside `parse_headers` to parse headers as C
instead of C++. This is useful headers that are not valid C++.

This should be off by default and turned on at the project / target
level.

### `parse_showincludes`

A marker feature for enabling parsing of the output of `/showIncludes`
to generate `.d` for parsing by bazel. Dotd file parsing is also
dependent on
[`--cc_dotd_files`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--cc_dotd_files)
and
[`--objc_use_dotd_pruning`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--objc_use_dotd_pruning)

This feature should be enabled by default if supported.

### `per_object_debug_info`

This feature name, alongside the value of
[`--fission`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--fission)
is used to determine if debug info should be produced in a separate file
from the object file.

This feature is off by default.

### `pic` / `supports_pic`

Bazel / `rules_cc` checks if your toolchain has an enabled feature named
`supports_pic` to determine if position independent code is supported at
all. If so it also expects an enabled feature named `pic` which actually
adds the relevant compiler flags in the correct cases (only when the
`pic` variable is enabled). You should also add another feature that
respects the `force_pic` variable, which reacts to the `--force_pic`
flag.

See also [`prefer_pic_for_opt_binaries`](#prefer_pic_for_opt_binaries)

`pic`, `supports_pic`, and the optional `force_pic` feature, should all
be enabled by default if PIC is supported. The implementation of these
features should be contingent on the relevant variables being set. See
the default toolchains for an example.

### `prefer_pic_for_opt_binaries`

A marker feature to automatically enable position independent code when
using `--compilation_mode=opt`.

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### Profile guided optimization features

`rules_cc` has quite a few PGO/FDO features, which are all automatically
enabled based on various [`--fdo_*`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--fdo_instrument)
flags it supports. To get the most up to date information on how all of
these fit together it's best to look at the code. The combination of all
of these features likely isn't well tested today.

The current list of features (not all of these are provided by the
legacy features) is:

- `autofdo`
- `cs_fdo_instrument`
- `cs_fdo_optimize`
- `enable_afdo_thinlto`
- `enable_autofdo_memprof_optimize`
- `enable_fdo_memprof_optimize`
- `enable_fdo_split_functions`
- `enable_fdo_thinlto`
- `enable_fsafdo`
- `enable_xbinaryfdo_thinlto`
- `fdo_instrument`
- `fdo_optimize`
- `fdo_prefetch_hints`
- `propeller_optimize_thinlto_compile_actions`
- `propeller_optimize`
- `xbinary_fdo`
- `xbinaryfdo` (yes both of these exist)

All of these features are off by default.


### `no_copts_tokenization`

A marker feature to disable shell tokenization of `copts` in the toolchain.
This can be used by users to make sure special characters that are
expected in `defines` / `copts` are not processed. This is required in
some cases when you have quoted arguments.

This feature takes effect even if the toolchain doesn't define it. There
is no purpose in adding it to your toolchain unless you want to enable
it everywhere.

### `sanitize_pwd`

A marker feature indicating the toolchain has sanitized the `PWD` from
the outputs. Otherwise `rules_cc` will set `PWD=/proc/self/cwd` (unless
on macOS) when linking a binary. This is commonly used when
`-fdebug-prefix-map` is supported by the compiler.

This feature must be enabled by default if supported.

### `set_soname`

A marker feature that causes interface libraries to respect the `soname`
they have. Otherwise `-soname` is passed when creating interface libraries.

This feature must be enabled by default if supported.

### `serialized_diagnostics_file`

A marker feature for enabling generating a serialized diagnostics file
from the compiler. Commonly used with the `--serialize-diagonostics`
`clang` flag.

This feature should be off by default and requested through `--features`
when desired.

### `shorten_virtual_includes`

A marker feature that causes virtual include paths generated by
`strip_include_prefix` and friends to use a shorter path. This is useful
on Windows to avoid long path issues.

This feature must be enabled by default if desired.

### `skip_virtual_includes`

A marker feature that avoids creating `_virtual_includes` symlinks when
headers only need a `strip_include_prefix` (without an
`include_prefix`). Instead, `rules_cc` adds the stripped directory to
the include paths directly and uses the original headers. This reduces
path lengths and can help avoid long path issues on Windows.

The only downside of this feature is that if you disable sandboxing
non-declared headers can be included that are in the same directory as
the one being added to the include path. This would still be caught by
[`layering_check`](#layering_check) if enabled.

See also [`shorten_virtual_includes`](#shorten_virtual_includes).

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `static_link_cpp_runtimes`

A marker feature used by `rules_cc` to determine if the toolchain
should statically link the C++ runtime libraries.

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `supports_dynamic_linker`

A marker feature that indicates 2 things:

1. That `cc_library` targets can create "nodeps" shared libraries for
   use with
   [`--dynamic_mode`](https://bazel.build/reference/command-line-reference#flag--dynamic_mode).
   This requires shared libraries can be created without seeing their
   dependencies' symbols, which can lead to runtime crashes, but can
   reduce large static links for small changes.
2. Whether a `cc_binary` prefers linking static over shared libraries
   when both are available for a target.

This feature must be enabled if supported. Otherwise it should be
omitted from the toolchain.

### `supports_interface_shared_libraries`

A marker feature indicating that the toolchain supports creating
interface libraries for a shared libraries. This can be used to reduce
input tree size of downstream linking actions.

This feature must be enabled if supported.

### `supports_start_end_lib`

Whether the toolchain supports using the `--start-lib` / `--end-lib`
linker flags. This is required for use with `LTO`.

This feature must be enabled if supported.

### `symbol_check`

A feature automatically requested by `cc_static_library` that enables
the toolchain to enable optional validation around the symbols in the
produced static library.

This feature should be off by default and is automatically requested by
`cc_static_library`.

### `system_include_paths`

A marker feature indicating that include paths from the `includes`
attribute of a target should be passed with `-isystem` instead of `-I`.
This is still up to the toolchain to configure correctly, but this
affects the toolchain variables the include paths are passed through.
This is expected to be set by users when necessary (hopefully rarely).

This feature takes effect even if the toolchain doesn't define it. There
is no purpose in adding it to your toolchain unless you want to enable
it everywhere.

### `targets_windows`

This is used by `rules_cc` to change the behavior in various places only
when building for Windows. If your toolchain targets Windows this should
be enabled.

This feature must be enabled if targeting Windows.

### `treat_warnings_as_errors`

A user-enabled feature requesting that warnings are treated as errors.
This is not special to `rules_cc`. This is commonly used with the
`-Werror` compiler flag.

This feature should be off by default.

### `validates_layering_check_in_textual_hdrs`

Whether `layering_check` should also apply to the `textual_hdrs`
attribute of targets.

See also [`layering_check`](#layering_check)

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `windows_export_all_symbols` / `no_windows_export_all_symbols`

Marker features to configure whether a `.def` should be created. The
negating feature wins if both are enabled.

This feature must be enabled if desired.

### `warn_backrefs_defined`

A marker feature indicating `-Wl,--warn-backrefs-exclude` should be
passed when linking static libraries downstream of a `cc_import`

This feature must be enabled if desired.