Cross-compilation

Author: mitchellh

.github/workflows/test.yml

@@ -88,6 +88,38 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run example
         run: nix develop -c go run ./examples/${{ matrix.example }}/
 
+  cross:
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        target:
+          - linux-amd64
+          - linux-arm64
+          - macos-amd64
+          - macos-arm64
+          - windows-amd64
+          - windows-arm64
+    name: Cross ${{ matrix.target }}
+    runs-on: namespace-profile-ghostty-sm
+    env:
+      ZIG_LOCAL_CACHE_DIR: /zig/local-cache
+      ZIG_GLOBAL_CACHE_DIR: /zig/global-cache
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
+      - name: Setup Cache
+        uses: namespacelabs/nscloud-cache-action@a90bb5d4b27522ce881c6e98eebd7d7e6d1653f9 # v1.4.2
+        with:
+          path: |
+            /nix
+            /zig
+      - name: Setup Nix
+        uses: cachix/install-nix-action@616559265b40713947b9c190a8ff4b507b5df49b # v31.10.4
+        with:
+          nix_path: nixpkgs=channel:nixos-unstable
+      - name: Cross-compile
+        run: nix develop -c make cross-${{ matrix.target }}
+
   build-shared:
     runs-on: namespace-profile-ghostty-sm
     env:

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -7,3 +7,13 @@ FetchContent_Declare(ghostty
     GIT_TAG 2ed382a15566b267c32fae440b065f7844b15bfb
 )
 FetchContent_MakeAvailable(ghostty)
+
+# Cross-compilation targets for CI and multi-platform builds.
+# Each call produces ghostty-vt-static-<NAME> and ghostty-vt-<NAME>
+# IMPORTED targets whose output lands under build/ghostty-<NAME>/.
+ghostty_vt_add_target(NAME linux-amd64    ZIG_TARGET x86_64-linux-gnu)
+ghostty_vt_add_target(NAME linux-arm64    ZIG_TARGET aarch64-linux-gnu)
+ghostty_vt_add_target(NAME macos-amd64    ZIG_TARGET x86_64-macos)
+ghostty_vt_add_target(NAME macos-arm64    ZIG_TARGET aarch64-macos)
+ghostty_vt_add_target(NAME windows-amd64  ZIG_TARGET x86_64-windows-gnu)
+ghostty_vt_add_target(NAME windows-arm64  ZIG_TARGET aarch64-windows-gnu)

Makefile

@@ -9,7 +9,36 @@ LD_LIBRARY_PATH := $(GHOSTTY_ZIG_OUT)/lib
 # Stamp file to track whether the cmake build has run.
 STAMP := $(BUILD_DIR)/.ghostty-built
 
-.PHONY: build test clean
+# Cross-compilation target definitions.
+# Each entry maps a make target suffix to GOOS, GOARCH, zig target triple,
+# and the CC/CXX target flag for zig cc.
+CROSS_TARGETS := linux-amd64 linux-arm64 macos-amd64 macos-arm64 windows-amd64 windows-arm64
+
+linux-amd64_GOOS   := linux
+linux-amd64_GOARCH := amd64
+linux-amd64_ZIG    := x86_64-linux-gnu
+
+linux-arm64_GOOS   := linux
+linux-arm64_GOARCH := arm64
+linux-arm64_ZIG    := aarch64-linux-gnu
+
+macos-amd64_GOOS   := darwin
+macos-amd64_GOARCH := amd64
+macos-amd64_ZIG    := x86_64-macos
+
+macos-arm64_GOOS   := darwin
+macos-arm64_GOARCH := arm64
+macos-arm64_ZIG    := aarch64-macos
+
+windows-amd64_GOOS   := windows
+windows-amd64_GOARCH := amd64
+windows-amd64_ZIG    := x86_64-windows-gnu
+
+windows-arm64_GOOS   := windows
+windows-arm64_GOARCH := arm64
+windows-arm64_ZIG    := aarch64-windows-gnu
+
+.PHONY: build test clean cross $(addprefix cross-,$(CROSS_TARGETS))
 
 $(STAMP):
 	cmake -B $(BUILD_DIR) -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
@@ -22,5 +51,24 @@ build: $(STAMP)
 test: $(STAMP)
 	PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$(PKG_CONFIG_PATH) DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$(DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH) LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$(LD_LIBRARY_PATH) go test ./...
 
+# cross builds all cross-compilation targets.
+cross: $(addprefix cross-,$(CROSS_TARGETS))
+
+# cross-<target> cross-compiles the Go package for the given target using
+# zig cc and the libghostty-vt static library built by CMake.
+define CROSS_RULE
+cross-$(1): $(STAMP)
+	CGO_ENABLED=1 \
+	CC="zig cc -target $$($(1)_ZIG)" \
+	CXX="zig c++ -target $$($(1)_ZIG)" \
+	GOOS=$$($(1)_GOOS) \
+	GOARCH=$$($(1)_GOARCH) \
+	CGO_CFLAGS="-I$(CURDIR)/$(BUILD_DIR)/ghostty-$(1)/include -DGHOSTTY_STATIC" \
+	CGO_LDFLAGS="-L$(CURDIR)/$(BUILD_DIR)/ghostty-$(1)/lib -lghostty-vt" \
+	go build . ./sys/...
+endef
+
+$(foreach t,$(CROSS_TARGETS),$(eval $(call CROSS_RULE,$(t))))
+
 clean:
 	rm -rf $(BUILD_DIR)

README.md

@@ -79,6 +79,47 @@ go build -tags dynamic
 See the [Ghostty docs](https://ghostty.org/docs/install/build) for
 building `libghostty-vt` from source.
 
+### Cross-Compilation
+
+Because `libghostty-vt` only depends on libc, cross-compilation is
+straightforward using [Zig](https://ziglang.org/) as the C compiler.
+Zig is already required to build `libghostty-vt`, so no extra tooling
+is needed. You don't need to write any Zig code, we're just using
+Zig as a C/C++ compiler.
+
+First, build `libghostty-vt` for your target (from the ghostty source tree):
+
+```shell
+zig build -Demit-lib-vt -Dtarget=x86_64-linux-gnu --prefix /tmp/ghostty-linux-amd64
+```
+
+Then cross-compile your Go project with `zig cc`:
+
+```shell
+CGO_ENABLED=1 \
+GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 \
+CC="zig cc -target x86_64-linux-gnu" \
+CXX="zig c++ -target x86_64-linux-gnu" \
+CGO_CFLAGS="-I/tmp/ghostty-linux-amd64/include -DGHOSTTY_STATIC" \
+CGO_LDFLAGS="-L/tmp/ghostty-linux-amd64/lib -lghostty-vt" \
+go build ./...
+```
+
+Supported targets include `x86_64-linux-gnu`, `aarch64-linux-gnu`,
+`x86_64-macos`, `aarch64-macos`, `x86_64-windows-gnu`, and
+`aarch64-windows-gnu`.
+
+If you are using ghostty's CMake integration via `FetchContent`, the
+`ghostty_vt_add_target()` function handles the zig build for you:
+
+```cmake
+FetchContent_MakeAvailable(ghostty)
+ghostty_vt_add_target(NAME linux-amd64 ZIG_TARGET x86_64-linux-gnu)
+```
+
+See the [ghostty CMakeLists.txt](https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/blob/main/CMakeLists.txt)
+for full documentation of `ghostty_vt_add_target()`.
+
 ## Development
 
 CMake fetches and builds `libghostty-vt` automatically. CMake is only