Xmake Zig

Building Zig with Xmake

Xmake drives zig build-exe / zig build-lib under the hood. Zig is particularly nice because its native cross-compile story plays well with xmake's toolchain selection.

1. Minimal project

xmake create -l zig -t console hello
cd hello
xmake run

add_rules("mode.debug", "mode.release")

target("hello")
    set_kind("binary")
    add_files("src/*.zig")

2. Target kinds

target("app")       set_kind("binary")
target("mylib")     set_kind("static")
target("mydyn")     set_kind("shared")

3. Toolchain

xmake f --toolchain=zig
xmake f --toolchain=zig --sdk=/opt/zig-0.12

Zig is auto-detected when zig is on PATH. Pin with --sdk for a specific install.

4. Cross-compile

Zig has built-in cross-compile for every target it supports — no extra SDK needed:

xmake f -p windows -a x86_64 --toolchain=zig
xmake f -p linux   -a arm64  --toolchain=zig
xmake f -p macosx  -a arm64  --toolchain=zig
xmake

Xmake passes -target <triple> to zig build-exe. Far easier than GCC/Clang cross-SDKs.

5. Mixing Zig with C

Zig ships its own C compiler (zig cc) that can build C files. You can mix them in one target:

target("app")
    set_kind("binary")
    add_files("src/main.zig", "src/helper.c")
    add_includedirs("include")

Zig imports C via @cImport. No bridging needed.

6. Using Zig as your C compiler

Bonus trick: point xmake's C toolchain at zig cc for free cross-compile of C projects:

xmake f --toolchain=zig
xmake f --cc="zig cc" --cxx="zig c++"

This is especially useful for MinGW-free Windows builds from Linux.

Pitfalls

• Zig API churn. Zig is pre-1.0; build-exe / build-lib flags change between versions. Pin --sdk to a known version in CI.
• Mixing .zig and .cpp in one target. .zig + .c is fine; C++ is more brittle — use a separate target with add_deps.
• Runtime dependencies. -target <triple> gives you a cross-compile, but you still need the right dynamic linker at runtime on the target — Zig can produce static binaries if you prefer (-fno-pie etc.).

When to branch out

• Cross-compile plumbing (-p, -a, --sdk) → xmake-cross-compilation
• Target basics → xmake-targets