HashLink NMB

HashLink is a virtual machine for Haxe https://hashlink.haxe.org

Building on Linux/OSX

HashLink and generated HLC applications require C23 mode. CMake builds require CMake 3.21 or newer. Make builds detect -std=c23 or the older -std=c2x spelling and fail if neither supports nullptr.

HashLink is distributed with some graphics libraries allowing to develop various applications, you can manually disable the libraries you want to compile in Makefile. Here's the dependencies that you install in order to compile all the libraries:

• fmt: libpng-dev libturbojpeg-dev libvorbis-dev
• openal: libopenal-dev
• ssl: libmbedtls-dev
• uv: libuv1-dev
• sqlite: libsqlite3-dev
• updater HTTPS: libcurl4-openssl-dev

To install all dependencies on the latest Ubuntu, for example:

sudo apt-get install libpng-dev libturbojpeg-dev libvorbis-dev libopenal-dev libmbedtls-dev libuv1-dev libsqlite3-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev

For 16.04, see this note.

To install all dependencies on the latest Fedora, for example:

sudo dnf install libpng-devel turbojpeg-devel libvorbis-devel openal-soft-devel mbedtls-devel libuv-devel sqlite-devel libcurl-devel

And on OSX:

brew bundle to install the dependencies listed in Brewfile.

Once dependencies are installed you can simply call:

make

To be able to use hashlink binary with the debugger you can then call:

sudo make codesign_osx

To install hashlink binaries on your system you can then call:

make install

Building on Windows

Open hl.sln using Visual Studio C++, or use CMake to build HashLink. Limen is installed separately.

MSVC builds use /std:clatest and require a toolset with C23 typeof support; the existing HashLink headers provide MSVC's nullptr compatibility definition.

When compiling generated HLC code manually, pass -std=c23 (-std=c2x on older GCC/Clang versions) or /std:clatest with MSVC. For example, from a directory containing generated hello.c:

cc -std=c23 -I. -I/usr/local/include hello.c -L/usr/local/lib -lhl -lm -o hello

To build all of HashLink libraries it is required to download several additional distributions, read each library README file (in hashlink/libs/xxx/README.md) for additional information.

In short you'll probably need:

• openal-soft, extract to <hashlink>/include/openal

Limen

Limen is an optional component and is not included with HashLink.

Install it with:

hl limen install

Update it independently:

hl limen update

Reinstall the latest verified release, replacing all Limen-managed files:

hl limen reinstall

Check the installed version:

hl limen status

Remove it:

hl limen remove

Limen uses .limen-manifest; hl update owns .hl-manifest and manages HashLink only. Removal preserves modified files and retains the Limen manifest until they are restored or moved.

Build Limen from source independently in the Limen repository.

Self-update

Run hl update to check the latest HashLink NMB release. It verifies every managed installation file by size and SHA-256, repairs missing or modified official files, and installs newer releases. Files not managed by HashLink are preserved. hl update --check reports changes without installing them; hl update --force reinstalls managed files.

The installation is located from the running hl executable, regardless of the current directory. System-wide Linux installations may require running with sufficient permissions; the updater does not invoke sudo.

Linux ARM64 releases include a native hl updater command. The VM/JIT remains unavailable on ARM64.

The updater uses the latest release archives offered for manual download: ZIP on Windows and tar.gz on Linux. A per-platform manifest records the managed files. The updater verifies the manifest and archive against their GitHub release asset SHA-256 digests, then verifies extracted files before changing the installation.

Debugging

You can debug Haxe/HashLink applications by using the Visual Studio Code Debugger

Documentation

Read the Documentation on the HashLink wiki.