build

name	build
description	Guide for building, formatting, linting, and spell-checking Nanvix with z. Use this when asked to build or validate the repository.

Build Nanvix

Use this skill when the user asks to build, compile, format, lint, or spell-check Nanvix. This covers all build-system operations exposed through the z utility.

Prerequisites

• Development environment set up per doc/setup.md.
• A local cross-compilation toolchain (toolchain/).
• Windows 11: GNU Make on PATH, Windows Hypervisor Platform enabled, Developer Mode enabled, and Rust toolchain installed. See doc/setup.md for details.

Windows Setup Summary

Before building on Windows, ensure:

1. Windows Hypervisor Platform is enabled (Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName HypervisorPlatform -All, then reboot).
2. Developer Mode is on (Settings > Privacy & Security > For developers).
3. GNU Make is on PATH (winget install ezwinports.make).
4. Rust toolchain is installed via winget install Rustlang.Rustup.
5. Repository was cloned with git clone -c core.symlinks=true.
6. Git hooks are installed: ./z.ps1 setup.

Building

Preferred Build Commands (using z utility)

# Build everything with the local toolchain.
./z build -- all

Building Individual Components

# Kernel only.
./z build -- kernel
# Nanvixd only.
./z build -- all-nanvixd
# UserVM only.
./z build -- all-uservm

Build Parameters

Set these as environment variables or pass them after -- in the z command:

Parameter	Values	Default
MACHINE	microvm	microvm
TARGET	x86	x86
RELEASE	yes, no	no
LOG_LEVEL	trace, debug,	error
	info, warn,
	error, panic
PROFILER	yes, no	no
DEPLOYMENT_MODE	standalone,	standalone
	single-process,
	multi-process, l2

Example with custom parameters:

./z build -- all RELEASE=yes LOG_LEVEL=error

Manual Build Variants

# Default debug build.
./z build -- all
# Release build.
./z build -- all RELEASE=yes LOG_LEVEL=panic
# For echo-breakdown benchmark.
./z build -- all RELEASE=yes LOG_LEVEL=panic TIMESTAMP_MSG=yes

Building on Windows (using z.ps1)

On Windows 11, the z.ps1 PowerShell script provides the same CLI interface. Guest components are cross-compiled using a local toolchain; host binaries (nanvixd, uservm) are built natively with the microvm backend (WHP on Windows).

# Build everything (guest via make + host binaries natively).
.\z.ps1 build -- all

# Build only the UserVM (native Windows build).
.\z.ps1 build -- uservm

# Build only nanvixd (native Windows build).
.\z.ps1 build -- nanvixd

# Build only nanvix-bench (native Windows build).
.\z.ps1 build -- nanvix-bench

# Build only guest components (kernel + hello-rust-nostd).
.\z.ps1 build -- guest

# Release build.
.\z.ps1 build -- all RELEASE=yes

Any unrecognized target is forwarded to make, just like on Linux:

.\z.ps1 build -- kernel
.\z.ps1 build -- format-check
.\z.ps1 build -- lint-check

Code Quality

Formatting

# Check formatting issues.
./z build -- format-check
# Auto-fix formatting issues.
./z build -- format

Linting

# Check linting issues.
./z build -- lint-check
# Auto-fix linting issues.
./z build -- lint

Spell Checking

# Check spelling errors.
./z build -- spellcheck
# Fix spelling errors.
./z build -- spellcheck-fix

Formal Verification

Nanvix uses Verus for formal verification of selected kernel crates. The expected Verus version is pinned in build/verus-version. Verification requires VERUS_EXECUTABLE_DIR to be set; when unset, make verify is a no-op.

# Install verus and run verification.
./scripts/setup/verus.sh ~/toolchain/verus
./z build -- verify VERUS_EXECUTABLE_DIR=~/toolchain/verus

# Verify a single crate.
./z build -- verify-bitmap VERUS_EXECUTABLE_DIR=~/toolchain/verus

• Set VERUS_EXECUTABLE_DIR to the directory containing the verus binary.
• Use scripts/setup/verus.sh <dir> to download the pinned release.
• The vstd crate version in Cargo.toml is exact-pinned (=) to match the Verus binary.

Cleaning

./z clean        # Clean build artifacts.
./z distclean    # Remove all generated files.

Cleaning on Windows

.\z.ps1 clean        # Quick clean (UserVM artifacts + cache).
.\z.ps1 distclean    # Full clean (cargo clean + all artifacts).

CI/CD Pipeline

# Run the full CI pipeline locally.
./scripts/pipeline.sh

The pipeline covers: spell checking, formatting, linting, building, and testing across multiple machine and deployment configurations.

IDE Setup (Optional)

Visual Studio Code

Use the host-specific settings template. The Linux template invokes ./z, while the Windows template routes Rust Analyzer through ./z.bat build -- check, which runs native cargo check on host crates (uservm, nanvixd, nanvix-test, mkramfs).

Linux:

mkdir -p .vscode && cd .vscode
ln -s ../scripts/setup/vscode/settings-linux.json settings.json

Windows (PowerShell):

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path .vscode -Force
Copy-Item scripts\setup\vscode\settings-windows.json .vscode\settings.json

Note: The check target in z.ps1 only checks host crates natively. Guest and kernel crates require the cross-compilation toolchain. Run .\z.ps1 build -- check-kernel check-guest-binaries for a full cross-target check.

Troubleshooting Build Issues

• If builds fail with toolchain errors, verify toolchain/ symlink points to a valid toolchain.
• Use ./z help for usage information.
• Windows: Use .\z.ps1 help for Windows-specific usage information.
• Windows: If the UserVM build fails, verify that the Windows Hypervisor Platform feature is enabled (Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName HypervisorPlatform).