# Frequently Asked Questions

## Build System and CMake Configuration

### How do I add a new file to CMake?

If you forget to add a new file to the CMake configuration, you may end up with
undefined symbol errors at link time.

There should be a `CMakeLists.txt` in the directory where you added the new
file, which has the list of different .h/.cpp files to be included in the build.
Add your new file to that list.

### How do I speed up iterating on changes to the build system?

The general idea is to build as little as you can.
- [Use `sccache`](/docs/HowToGuides/GettingStarted.md) or `ccache` if you
  aren't doing so already.
- Use `build-script`'s various `--skip-*` flags to skip configuring for
  platforms that you do not care about.
- If you're on macOS, use `--swift-darwin-supported-archs="x86_64"`.
- Use a release build without assertions (`--release --no-assertions`).
  While debuginfo and assertions are valuable to enable when working on the
  toolchain itself, they are not so useful if you are working only on changes
  to the build system.

## Using a Locally Built Toolchain

### How do I use a locally built compiler to build X?

You can use the `SWIFT_EXEC` environment variable to use a locally
built compiler to compile both packages and Xcode projects.

1. For SwiftPM packages, pass the environment variable when invoking SwiftPM.
   ```sh
   # Assuming the current working directory contains the package, build the
   # package using a custom compiler.
   SWIFT_EXEC=/path/to/swiftc swift build
   ```
2. For Xcode projects, select the project in the Project Navigator. In the
   Build Settings tab, click '+' and then 'Add User-Defined Setting'.
   Create a build setting `SWIFT_EXEC` with the value set to `/path/to/swiftc`.
   If you now do a clean build, your locally built compiler will be used.

   At the time of writing, in the latest Xcode 12.2 beta 3, `SWIFT_EXEC` does not
   work for SwiftPM integration inside Xcode, so this will not work for Xcode
   projects that depend on SwiftPM packages.

**Note:** Even thought the variable says 'SWIFT', it needs to point to
'swift**c**', not 'swift'. The extra 'c' is not a typo.

## Testing and CI

### How do I reproduce/fix a test that fails in CI but passes for me locally?

TODO: Write some tips here, point to Testing.md for simulator setup.

## Documentation

### Where can I find documentation on X?

This very depends on what X is, but some broad guidelines are:

1. Do a case-insensitive recursive string search.
   - Use a specialized tool like [ripgrep](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep)
     or [ag](https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher).
   - Use `git grep --ignore-case "mypattern"`. `git grep` also supports helpful
     flags which provide more context:
     - `--show-function`: Tries to print the function name that a match was
       found in.
     - `--function-context`: Tries to print the entire surrounding function
       containing the match.
   - Use 'Find in Workspace' in Xcode (<kbd>⌘</kbd>+<kbd>⇧</kbd>+<kbd>F</kbd>).
   - Use `grep --ignore-case --recursive "mypattern" .`.
2. Go through the [Documentation Index](/docs/README.md).

### How do I build the documentation as HTML?

You can build the ReST formatted documentation as HTML using Sphinx. Follow
[Sphinx's installation instructions][] and check that `sphinx-build` is
available on your `PATH`:

[Sphinx's installation instructions]: https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/installation.html

```sh
sphinx-build --version
```

If that succeeds, you can build the documentation using `make`

```sh
make -C docs
```

(Tested with `sphinx-build` version 3.2.1.)

This compiles the `.rst` files in the `docs` directory into HTML in the
`docs/_build/html` directory.

For the Markdown documentation, you can view the rendered HTML directly on
GitHub. For example, this file is rendered on GitHub at
https://github.com/apple/swift/tree/main/docs/HowToGuides/FAQ.md .

HTML documentation for the standard library on Darwin platforms is hosted on the
[Apple Developer website](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/swift_standard_library).

## Pull Request Workflow

### How do I format my changes?

First, install `clang-format` using your system's package manager. This should
also install the `git-clang-format` script (try `git-clang-format --help`).
In case it doesn't, you can replace `git-clang-format` in the following
commands with `../llvm-project/clang/tools/clang-format/git-clang-format`.

Start out at the tip of the branch where you want to reformat the commits.

```
# If there is only one commit that needs to be reformatted.
git-clang-format HEAD~1
git add .
git commit --amend --no-edit

# Say the last N commits need to be reformatted.
# Mark them as 'edit' instead of 'pick'.
git rebase -i HEAD~N
# Re-run N times, reformatting each commit.
git-clang-format HEAD~1
git add .
git commit --amend --no-edit
git rebase --continue
```

### How do I clean up my git history?

TODO: Link to a beginner-friendly external resource, or (less preferably)
describe basic usage of rebase here.