Building from source

Sloppy is C + Rust + C++ (V8 bridge). Building from source means CMake for the runtime, Cargo for the compiler, and an optional V8 SDK for runtime execution.

Windows x64, Linux x64, and macOS are validated alpha lanes. Linux arm64, Windows arm64, and other non-alpha targets may need source-build work.

Windows

From a PowerShell that has Visual Studio's C++ tools on PATH (a Developer PowerShell prompt, or a regular shell after running vcvarsall.bat):

.\tools\windows\bootstrap.ps1
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 doctor
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 configure
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 build
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 test

bootstrap.ps1 fetches dependencies into .sdeps/. doctor reports what's available. configure defaults to the windows-dev preset (non-V8). The built binaries live under build\<preset>\.

To build with V8 enabled (required to run handlers):

.\tools\windows\resolve-v8-sdk.ps1 -Fetch
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 configure -Preset windows-relwithdebinfo -EnableV8
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 build -Preset windows-relwithdebinfo
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 test -Preset windows-relwithdebinfo

dev.ps1 rejects windows-dev + -EnableV8 because the V8 SDK is RelWithDebInfo-compatible.

Other handy commands:

.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 help            # all commands and flags
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 clean           # remove build/<preset> only
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 format-check    # clang-format / cargo fmt
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 lint            # standards + boundary scans
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 analyze         # advanced static analysis
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 package         # local package archive
.\tools\windows\dev.ps1 test-package    # smoke the package outside the checkout

Linux

./tools/unix/bootstrap.sh
./tools/unix/dev.sh doctor
./tools/unix/dev.sh configure
./tools/unix/dev.sh build
./tools/unix/dev.sh test

Same command shape. Unix wrappers are thinner than the Windows ones — some Windows-only commands aren't implemented yet.

What you need installed

Tool	Purpose
CMake ≥ 3.25	Build system
Ninja	Default generator
Clang/MSVC	C/C++ compiler (clang-cl on Windows is the default)
Rust toolchain	Compiler (rustup is fine; latest stable)
Git	Submodule fetches in .sdeps
Python 3	Some helper scripts

tools/windows/dev.ps1 doctor (and the Unix equivalent) reports what's missing.

Optional dependencies

Picked up automatically when present, ignored when absent:

Dependency	Enables
V8 SDK	JavaScript handler execution
OpenSSL	Inbound TLS
libpq	PostgreSQL provider
ODBC driver	SQL Server provider
libsodium	Password hashing
vcpkg	Convenience for native deps on Windows

Set VCPKG_ROOT if you want to use a vcpkg root other than the one .sdeps/vcpkg would bootstrap.

Environment variables

Variable	Purpose
VCPKG_ROOT	Override default vcpkg root
SLOPPY_V8_ROOT / -V8Root	Explicit V8 SDK root for V8 builds
SLOPPY_POSTGRES_TEST_URL	Live PostgreSQL provider test URL
SLOPPY_SQLSERVER_TEST_CONNECTION_STRING	Live SQL Server connection string

Don't commit credentials. The .gitignore covers obvious local files; the rest is on you.

Output layout

build/
  <preset>/
    sloppy.exe          (or sloppy on Unix)
    sloppyc.exe
    libsloppy_*.{a,lib}
    tests/...

compiler/
  target/               Cargo build output

artifacts/
  packages/             local package archives from `package`

Adding build\<preset>\ to your PATH lets you invoke sloppy from anywhere as if you'd installed it.

When something goes wrong

Run sloppy doctor against your built binary first — it surfaces most environment issues. If the build itself is broken, dev.ps1 doctor reports the toolchain side; CMake errors generally include a clear "missing X" line.

For V8 SDK resolution issues specifically, see v8-sdk.md.