windows_support.md

Windows Support

TheRock aims to support as many subprojects as possible on "native" Windows (as opposed to WSL 1 or WSL 2) using standard build tools like MSVC.

Warning

This is still under development. Not all subprojects build for Windows yet.

Supported subprojects

ROCm is composed of many subprojects, some of which are supported on Windows:

• https://rocm.docs.amd.com/en/latest/what-is-rocm.html
• https://rocm.docs.amd.com/projects/install-on-windows/en/latest/reference/component-support.html
• https://rocm.docs.amd.com/projects/install-on-windows/en/latest/conceptual/release-versioning.html#windows-builds-from-source

This table tracks current support status for each subproject in TheRock on Windows. Some subprojects may need extra patches to build within TheRock (on mainline, in open source, using MSVC, etc.).

Component subset	Subproject	Supported	Notes
base	aux-overlay	✅
base	rocm-cmake	✅
base	rocm-core	✅	No shared libraries
base	rocm_smi_lib	❌	Unsupported
base	rocprofiler-register	⭕	Patched to no-op
base	rocm-half	✅
compiler	amd-llvm	✅	No shared libraries, limited runtimes
compiler	amd-comgr	✅	No shared libraries
compiler	hipcc	✅
compiler	hipify	✅	Patched for Ninja
core	ROCR-Runtime	❌	Unsupported
core	rocminfo	❌	Unsupported
core	clr	❔	Under review (partly closed source)
profiler	rocprofiler-sdk	❔
comm-libs	rccl	❔
math-libs	rocRAND	❔	Almost ready. Needs workaround for hip-clr dep
math-libs	hipRAND	❔	Almost ready. Needs workaround for hip-clr dep
math-libs	rocPRIM	❔
math-libs	hipCUB	❔
math-libs	rocThrust	❔
math-libs	rocFFT	❔
math-libs	hipFFT	❔
math-libs (blas)	hipBLAS-common	❔
math-libs (blas)	hipBLASlt	❔
math-libs (blas)	rocBLAS	❔
math-libs (blas)	rocSPARSE	❔
math-libs (blas)	hipSPARSE	❔
math-libs (blas)	rocSOLVER	❔
math-libs (blas)	hipSOLVER	❔
math-libs (blas)	hipBLAS	❔
ml-libs	MIOpen	❔

Building from source

These instructions mostly mirror the instructions in the root README.md, with some extra Windows-specific callouts.

Prerequisites

Set up your system

• Choose your shell between cmd, powershell, and git bash as well as your terminal application. Some developers report good experiences with Windows Terminal and Cmder.

• A Dev Drive is recommended, due to how many source and build files are used. See the Set up a Dev Drive on Windows 11 article for setup instructions.

• Symlink support is recommended.

  Test if symlinks work from cmd:

  echo "Test 1 2 3" > test.txt
  mklink link_from_cmd.txt test.txt

  Test if symlinks work from Powershell:

  echo "Test 1 2 3" > test.txt
  New-Item -Path link_from_powershell.txt -ItemType SymbolicLink -Value test.txt

  If symlink support is not enabled, enable developer mode and/or grant your account the "Create symbolic links" permission. These resources may help:

  • https://portal.perforce.com/s/article/3472
  • https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-10/security/threat-protection/security-policy-settings/create-symbolic-links
  • https://stackoverflow.com/a/59761201

Install tools

You will need:

• Git: https://git-scm.com/downloads

  • Suggested: enable symlinks with git config --global core.symlinks true

• CMake: https://cmake.org/download/

• Ninja: https://ninja-build.org/

• (Optional) ccache: https://ccache.dev/, or sccache: https://github.com/mozilla/sccache

• Python: https://www.python.org/downloads/ (3.11+ recommended)

• The MSVC compiler from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/ (typically from either Visual Studio or the Build Tools for Visual Studio), including these components:

  • MSVC
  • C++ CMake tools for Windows
  • C++ ATL
  • C++ AddressSanitizer (optional)

  After installing MSVC, use it in your build environment. If you build from an editor like VSCode, CMake can discover the compiler among other "kits". If you use the command line, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/building-on-the-command-line?view=msvc-170. (typically run the appropriate vcvarsall.bat)

Tip

Some of these tools are available via package managers like https://github.com/chocolatey/choco

choco install git
choco install cmake
choco install ninja
choco install ccache
choco install sccache
choco install python

Clone and fetch sources

git clone https://github.com/ROCm/TheRock.git
python ./build_tools/fetch_sources.py

Configure

Some components do not build for Windows yet, so disable them:

cmake -B build -GNinja . \
  -DTHEROCK_AMDGPU_FAMILIES=gfx110X-dgpu \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_COMPILER=ON \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_HIPIFY=ON \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_CORE=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_CORE_RUNTIME=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_HIP_RUNTIME=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_PROFILER_SDK=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_COMM_LIBS=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_MATH_LIBS=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_RAND=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_PRIM=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_FFT=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_BLAS=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_SPARSE=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_SOLVER=OFF \
  -DTHEROCK_ENABLE_ML_LIBS=OFF

# If iterating and wishing to cache, add these:
#  -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=ccache \
#  -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=ccache \
#  -DCMAKE_MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT=Embedded \

Tip

ccache does not support MSVC's /Zi flag which may be set by default when a project (e.g. LLVM) opts in to policy CMP0141. Setting -DCMAKE_MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT=Embedded instructs CMake to compile with /Z7 or equivalent, which is supported by ccache.

Ensure that MSVC is used by looking for lines like these in the logs:

-- The C compiler identification is MSVC 19.42.34436.0
-- The CXX compiler identification is MSVC 19.42.34436.0

Build

cmake --build build

At the moment this should build some projects in base/ as well as compiler/.