Command-Line Development¶

The MLTK uses CMake to build the various C++ libraries and applications.

The following describes how to setup your local PC to build applications via command-line.

Install Tools¶

Before we can build MLTK applications, we need to install a few tools first:

0) Setup OS¶

Windows

If you’re on Windows, enable long file paths: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=registry

Also install the Visual Studio C++ compiler (this is needed to build some of the 3rd party Python packages for Python 3.10): https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/visual-cpp-build-tools/

Be sure to check the Desktop Development with C++ workload in the installer GUI.

Linux

If you’re on Linux, run the following command to install the necessary packages:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get -y install build-essential g++-9 cmake ninja-build gdb p7zip-full git-lfs python3-dev python3-venv libusb-1.0-0 libgl1

1) Install CMake¶

CMake is a build system utility used to build the C++ applications.
Install CMake and ensure it is available on the command PATH
More details here: https://cmake.org/install

2) Install 7-Zip¶

7-Zip is a file archiver with a high compression ratio.
Several of the assets downloaded by the MLTK are compressed in this format. More details here: https://www.7-zip.org/download.html

3) Install Python¶

Install Python 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, or 3.12 64-bit and ensure it is available on the command PATH
More details here: https://www.python.org/downloads

4) Install GIT¶

If necessary, install Git:
https://git-scm.com/downloads

5) Clone the MLTK repository¶

git clone https://github.com/siliconlabs/mltk.git

Build Sequence¶

To build from the command-line, the basic sequence is:

1) Configure Build Settings¶

Various build settings may be optionally specified in the file:

<mltk repo root>/user_options.cmake

Refer to the Build Options for more details on the available settings.

2) Configure CMake Project¶

# Navigate to the root of the mltk repo
cd mltk

# Configure the CMake project using the desired toolchain
# Windows toolchain
cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=./cpp/tools/toolchains/gcc/windows/win64_toolchain.cmake -B./build -G Ninja .

# Linux toolchain
cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=./cpp/tools/toolchains/gcc/linux/linux_toolchain.cmake -B./build -G Ninja .

3) Build CMake Project for a specific target¶

cmake --build ./build --config Release --target mltk_model_profiler

4) Run the output executable¶

The built executable will be in the build directory, e.g.:

./build/mltk_model_profiler.exe

Example Applications¶

Refer to the Examples documentation for more details about the applications that come with the MLTK.

Python Wrappers¶

Refer to the Python wrappers documentation for more details about the wrappers that come with the MLTK.