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The JIT Compiler
================
This version of CPython can be built with an experimental just-in-time compiler. While most everything you already know about building and using CPython is unchanged, you will probably need to install a compatible version of LLVM first.
## Installing LLVM
The JIT compiler does not require end users to install any third-party dependencies, but part of it must be *built* using LLVM[^why-llvm]. You are *not* required to build the rest of CPython using LLVM, or even the same version of LLVM (in fact, this is uncommon).
LLVM version 16 is required. Both `clang` and `llvm-readobj` need to be installed and discoverable (version suffixes, like `clang-16`, are okay). It's highly recommended that you also have `llvm-objdump` available, since this allows the build script to dump human-readable assembly for the generated code.
It's easy to install all of the required tools:
### Linux
Install LLVM 16 on Ubuntu/Debian:
```sh
wget https://apt.llvm.org/llvm.sh
chmod +x llvm.sh
sudo ./llvm.sh 16
```
### macOS
Install LLVM 18 with [Homebrew](https://brew.sh):
```sh
brew install llvm@18
```
Homebrew won't add any of the tools to your `$PATH`. That's okay; the build script knows how to find them.
### Windows
Install LLVM 18 [by searching for it on LLVM's GitHub releases page](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/releases?q=18), clicking on "Assets", downloading the appropriate Windows installer for your platform (likely the file ending with `-win64.exe`), and running it. **When installing, be sure to select the option labeled "Add LLVM to the system PATH".**
### Dev Containers
If you are working CPython in a [Codespaces instance](https://devguide.python.org/getting-started/setup-building/#using-codespaces), there's no need to install LLVM as the Fedora 40 base image includes LLVM 18 out of the box.
## Building
For `PCbuild`-based builds, pass the new `--experimental-jit` option to `build.bat`.
For all other builds, pass the new `--enable-experimental-jit` option to `configure`.
Otherwise, just configure and build as you normally would. Cross-compiling "just works", since the JIT is built for the host platform.
[^why-llvm]: Clang is specifically needed because it's the only C compiler with support for guaranteed tail calls (`musttail`), which are required by CPython's continuation-passing-style approach to JIT compilation. Since LLVM also includes other functionalities we need (namely, object file parsing and disassembly), it's convenient to only support one toolchain at this time.
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