how to build - nihui/ncnn GitHub Wiki

Build for Linux x86

install g++ cmake protobuf

(optional) download and install vulkan-sdk from https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home

$ wget https://sdk.lunarg.com/sdk/download/1.1.92.1/linux/vulkansdk-linux-x86_64-1.1.92.1.tar.gz?Human=true -O vulkansdk-linux-x86_64-1.1.92.1.tar.gz
$ tar -xf vulkansdk-linux-x86_64-1.1.92.1.tar.gz

# setup env
$ export VULKAN_SDK=`pwd`/1.1.92.1/x86_64

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build
$ cd build

# cmake option NCNN_VULKAN for enabling vulkan
$ cmake -DNCNN_VULKAN=OFF ..

$ make -j4

install opencv for building example

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>

uncomment add_subdirectory(examples)
 in CMakeLists.txt with your favourite editor

$ mkdir -p build
$ cd build
$ cmake ..
$ make -j4

copy examples/squeezenet_v1.1.param to build/examples
copy examples/squeezenet_v1.1.bin to build/examples

$ cd build/examples
$ ./squeezenet yourimage.jpg 

output top-3 class-id and score
you may refer examples/synset_words.txt to find the class name
404 = 0.990290
908 = 0.004464
405 = 0.003941

Build for Windows x64 using Visual Studio Community 2017

install Visual Studio Community 2017

download Visual Studio Community 2017 from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/community/
install it
Start → Programs → Visual Studio 2017 → Visual Studio Tools → x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2017

build protobuf library

download protobuf-3.4.0 from https://github.com/google/protobuf/archive/v3.4.0.zip
> cd <protobuf-root-dir>
> mkdir build-vs2017
> cd build-vs2017
> cmake -G"NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=%cd%/install -Dprotobuf_BUILD_TESTS=OFF -Dprotobuf_MSVC_STATIC_RUNTIME=OFF ../cmake
> nmake
> nmake install

(optional) download and install vulkan-sdk from https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home

launch VulkanSDK-1.1.92.1-Installer.exe and install

build ncnn library (replace with your path)

> cd <ncnn-root-dir>
> mkdir -p build-vs2017
> cd build-vs2017

# cmake option NCNN_VULKAN for enabling vulkan
> cmake -G"NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=%cd%/install -DProtobuf_INCLUDE_DIR=<protobuf-root-dir>/build-vs2017/install/include -DProtobuf_LIBRARIES=<protobuf-root-dir>/build-vs2017/install/lib/libprotobuf.lib -DProtobuf_PROTOC_EXECUTABLE=<protobuf-root-dir>/build-vs2017/install/bin/protoc.exe -DNCNN_VULKAN=OFF ..

> nmake
> nmake install

pick build-vs2017/install folder for further usage

Build for MacOSX

install xcode and protobuf

Because the compiler bundled with xcode do not support openmp feature, you cannot enable the multithreading inference feature of ncnn library, if you build with xcode.

# install protobuf via homebrew
$ brew install protobuf

(optional) download and install vulkan-sdk from https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home

$ wget https://sdk.lunarg.com/sdk/download/1.1.92.1/mac/vulkansdk-macos-1.1.92.1.tar.gz?Human=true -O vulkansdk-macos-1.1.92.1.tar.gz
$ tar -xf vulkansdk-macos-1.1.92.1.tar.gz

# setup env
$ export VULKAN_SDK=`pwd`/vulkansdk-macos-1.1.92.1/macOS

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build
$ cd build

# cmake option NCNN_VULKAN for enabling vulkan
$ cmake -DNCNN_VULKAN=OFF ..

$ make -j4
$ make install

pick build/install folder for further usage

Build for Raspberry Pi 3

install g++ cmake protobuf

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build
$ cd build
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/pi3.toolchain.cmake -DPI3=ON ..
$ make -j4
$ make install

pick build/install folder for further usage

Build for NVIDIA Jetson

download Vulkan SDK from NVIDIA

please click the Vulkan SDK File link on https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/vulkan, at the time of writing we got Vulkan_loader_demos_1.1.100.tar.gz

scp the downloaded SDK to your Jetson device

scp Vulkan_loader_demos_1.1.100.tar.gz USERNAME@JETSON_IP:~/

from this monment on, we will work on the Jetson device

ssh USERNAME@JETSON_IP

install Vulkan SDK

cd ~/Vulkanloader_demos_1.1.100
sudo cp loader/libvulkan.so.1.1.100 /usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/
cd /usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/
sudo rm -rf libvulkan.so.1 libvulkan.so
sudo ln -s libvulkan.so.1.1.100 libvulkan.so
sudo ln -s libvulkan.so.1.1.100 libvulkan.so.1
cd ~/

install glslang dependency

# glslang is a dependency of Tencent/ncnn
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glslang.git
cd glslang
# assure that SPIR-V generated from HLSL is legal for Vulkan
./update_glslang_sources.py
mkdir -p build && cd build
sudo make -j`nproc` install && cd ..

compile ncnn

git clone https://github.com/Tencent/ncnn.git
# while aarch64-linux-gnu.toolchain.cmake would compile Tencent/ncnn as well
# but why not compile with more native features w
cd ncnn && mkdir -p build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/jetson.toolchain.cmake -DNCNN_VULKAN=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
make -j`nproc`
sudo make install

Build for ARM Cortex-A family with cross-compiling

download ARM toolchain from https://developer.arm.com/open-source/gnu-toolchain/gnu-a/downloads

$ export PATH=<your-toolchain-compiler-path>:$PATH

AArch32 target with soft float (arm-linux-gnueabi)

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build-arm-linux-gnueabi
$ cd build-arm-linux-gnueabi
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/arm-linux-gnueabi.toolchain.cmake ..
$ make -j4
$ make install

AArch32 target with hard float (arm-linux-gnueabihf)

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build-arm-linux-gnueabihf
$ cd build-arm-linux-gnueabihf
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/arm-linux-gnueabihf.toolchain.cmake ..
$ make -j4
$ make install

AArch64 GNU/Linux target (aarch64-linux-gnu)

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build-aarch64-linux-gnu
$ cd build-aarch64-linux-gnu
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/aarch64-linux-gnu.toolchain.cmake ..
$ make -j4
$ make install

pick build-XXXXX/install folder for further usage

Build for Android

you can use the pre-build ncnn-android-lib.zip from https://github.com/Tencent/ncnn/releases

install android-ndk

download android-ndk from http://developer.android.com/ndk/downloads/index.html
$ unzip android-ndk-r18b-linux-x86_64.zip
$ export ANDROID_NDK=<your-ndk-root-path>

(optional) drop debug compile flag to reduce binary size due to android-ndk issue

# edit $ANDROID_NDK/build/cmake/android.toolchain.cmake with your favorite editor
# remove "-g" line
list(APPEND ANDROID_COMPILER_FLAGS
  -g
  -DANDROID

(optional) download and install vulkan-sdk from https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home

$ wget https://sdk.lunarg.com/sdk/download/1.1.92.1/linux/vulkansdk-linux-x86_64-1.1.92.1.tar.gz?Human=true -O vulkansdk-linux-x86_64-1.1.92.1.tar.gz
$ tar -xf vulkansdk-linux-x86_64-1.1.92.1.tar.gz

# setup env
$ export VULKAN_SDK=`pwd`/1.1.92.1/x86_64

build armv7 library

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build-android-armv7
$ cd build-android-armv7

$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$ANDROID_NDK/build/cmake/android.toolchain.cmake \
    -DANDROID_ABI="armeabi-v7a" -DANDROID_ARM_NEON=ON \
    -DANDROID_PLATFORM=android-14 ..

# if you want to enable vulkan, platform api version >= android-24 is needed
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$ANDROID_NDK/build/cmake/android.toolchain.cmake \
    -DANDROID_ABI="armeabi-v7a" -DANDROID_ARM_NEON=ON \
    -DANDROID_PLATFORM=android-24 -DNCNN_VULKAN=ON ..

$ make -j4
$ make install

pick build-android-armv7/install folder for further jni usage

build aarch64 library

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build-android-aarch64
$ cd build-android-aarch64

$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$ANDROID_NDK/build/cmake/android.toolchain.cmake \
    -DANDROID_ABI="arm64-v8a" \
    -DANDROID_PLATFORM=android-21 ..

# if you want to enable vulkan, platform api version >= android-24 is needed
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$ANDROID_NDK/build/cmake/android.toolchain.cmake \
    -DANDROID_ABI="arm64-v8a" \
    -DANDROID_PLATFORM=android-24 -DNCNN_VULKAN=ON ..

$ make -j4
$ make install

pick build-android-aarch64/install folder for further jni usage

Build for iOS on MacOSX with xcode

you can use the pre-build ncnn.framework and openmp.framework from https://github.com/Tencent/ncnn/releases

install xcode

Because the compiler bundled with xcode do not support openmp feature, you cannot enable the multithreading inference feature of ncnn library, if you build with xcode.

(optional) download and install vulkan-sdk from https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home

$ wget https://sdk.lunarg.com/sdk/download/1.1.92.1/mac/vulkansdk-macos-1.1.92.1.tar.gz?Human=true -O vulkansdk-macos-1.1.92.1.tar.gz
$ tar -xf vulkansdk-macos-1.1.92.1.tar.gz

# setup env
$ export VULKAN_SDK=`pwd`/vulkansdk-macos-1.1.92.1/macOS

build library for iPhoneOS

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir build-ios
$ cd build-ios

$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/ios.toolchain.cmake -DIOS_PLATFORM=OS ..

# vulkan is only available on arm64 devices
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/ios.toolchain.cmake -DIOS_PLATFORM=OS64 -DVulkan_INCLUDE_DIR=`pwd`/vulkansdk-macos-1.1.92.1/MoltenVK/include -DVulkan_LIBRARY=`pwd`/vulkansdk-macos-1.1.92.1/MoltenVK/iOS/dynamic/libMoltenVK.dylib -DNCNN_VULKAN=ON ..

$ make -j4
$ make install

build library for iPhoneSimulator

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir build-ios-sim
$ cd build-ios-sim
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/ios.toolchain.cmake -DIOS_PLATFORM=SIMULATOR ..
$ make -j4
$ make install

package framework

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p ncnn.framework/Versions/A/Headers
$ mkdir -p ncnn.framework/Versions/A/Resources
$ ln -s A ncnn.framework/Versions/Current
$ ln -s Versions/Current/Headers ncnn.framework/Headers
$ ln -s Versions/Current/Resources ncnn.framework/Resources
$ ln -s Versions/Current/ncnn ncnn.framework/ncnn
$ lipo -create \
    build-ios/install/lib/libncnn.a \
    build-ios-sim/install/lib/libncnn.a \
    -o ncnn.framework/Versions/A/ncnn
$ cp -r build-ios/install/include/* ncnn.framework/Versions/A/Headers/
$ cp Info.plist ncnn.framework/Versions/A/Resources/

pick ncnn.framework folder for app development

Build for iOS on Linux with cctools-port

you can use the pre-build ncnn.framework and openmp.framework from https://github.com/Tencent/ncnn/releases

setup cross-compiling environment with https://github.com/tpoechtrager/cctools-port

you can enable the multithreading inference feature of ncnn library, if you build with cctools-port.

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>

change CMAKE_IOS_SDK_ROOT variable to your cctools-port target path
 in iosxc.toolchain.cmake and iossimxc.toolchain.cmake with your favourite editor

build armv7 arm64 library

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build-ios
$ cd build-ios
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/iosxc.toolchain.cmake ..
$ make
$ make install

build i386 x86_64 simulator library

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build-ios-sim
$ cd build-ios-sim
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/iossimxc.toolchain.cmake ..
$ make
$ make install

package framework

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p ncnn.framework/Versions/A/Headers
$ mkdir -p ncnn.framework/Versions/A/Resources
$ ln -s A ncnn.framework/Versions/Current
$ ln -s Versions/Current/Headers ncnn.framework/Headers
$ ln -s Versions/Current/Resources ncnn.framework/Resources
$ ln -s Versions/Current/ncnn ncnn.framework/ncnn
$ lipo -create \
    build-ios/install/lib/libncnn.a \
    build-ios-sim/install/lib/libncnn.a \
    -o ncnn.framework/Versions/A/ncnn
$ cp -r build-ios/install/include/* ncnn.framework/Versions/A/Headers/
$ cp Info.plist ncnn.framework/Versions/A/Resources/

pick ncnn.framework folder for app development

Build for Hisilicon platform with cross-compiling

download and install Hisilicon SDK

# the path that toolchain should be installed in
$ ls /opt/hisi-linux/x86-arm

$ cd <ncnn-root-dir>
$ mkdir -p build
$ cd build

# choose one cmake toolchain file depends on your target platform
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/hisiv300.toolchain.cmake ..
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/hisiv500.toolchain.cmake ..
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/himix100.toolchain.cmake ..
$ cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../toolchains/himix200.toolchain.cmake ..

$ make -j4
$ make install

pick build/install folder for further usage

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