Build AAX with LLVM and CMake on windows

Audio Plugins
1

I stuck here. I try to build a plugin with CMAKE and the VS 2019 built in LLVM support. All plug-in formats work, only AAX make some problems. I rebuilt the AAX library also with LLVM to be sure that it fits.

This is my CMAKE command line:
cmake -B cmake-build -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=../juce/install -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -A x64 -T ClangCL

I get following error when i try to build the AAX:

> lld-link : error : unknown file type: int\Release\AAXLibrary\x64\AAX_CEffectGUI.obj [C:\Daten\Code\repo\AudioPlugin\cmake-build\AudioPlugin_AAX.vcxproj]
...

The build works when i switch to the normal visual studio compiler. What does this error mean? What can i do to fix this?

2

?

3

Thanks for the fast reply. My library isn’t an obj file. It’s name is

AAXLibrary_x64.lib

It is built by obj files. I deleted them, but the error shows still up. When i execute dumpbin.exe on this, i get

File Type: LIBRARY

i’m a beginner in this area…

4

Ok, i have found out more about it. It looks that the compilation of the AAX library did not work as expected with LLVM. I have to take a closer look at it.

I’ll report back.

5

All good now. My AAX library was outdated and didn’t compile anymore in VS 2019. It works after i built it with ClangCL as toolset.

2 Likes
6

Can you explain how to do that? Is this a setting in the VS project?

7

You can set the compiler inside the CMake file. I set it when starting the cmake build:

cmake -B cmake-build -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=../juce/install -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -A x64 -T ClangCL

Yes, this is officially supported in the latest VS releases. You can choose Clang in the VS installer.