feat: Portable, fully-static release executables on Linux (#1351)

This adds the option FULLY_STATIC to create fully-static executables.

To create portable, fully-static release executables on Linux, we need
to use musl instead of glibc. Static executables from glibc are not
portable.

The popular musl-gcc wrapper does not support C++, so instead we use a
full musl cross-compiler toolchain in the build workflow.

To build FULLY_STATIC, the user must point to the appropriate
cross-compiler, as we do in the workflow. On systems where musl is the
native libc (such as Alpine Linux), this is not necessary.

I have also read that musl's allocator is not very fast in
multi-threaded applications. So when FULLY_STATIC is enabled, we will
also enable mimalloc, a replacement allocator that is very fast.

I tested a very basic packaging command to compare speeds of dynamic
glibc, static musl, and static musl+mimalloc:

dynamic glibc:
runs: 2.527, 2.798, 2.703, 2.756, 2.959
avg = 2.749, std dev = 0.156s

static musl:
runs: 2.813, 2.920, 3.129, 3.003, 2.738
avg = 2.921s, std dev = 0.154s

static musl+mimalloc:
runs: 2.291, 2.034, 2.415, 2.303, 2.265
avg = 2.262s, std dev = 0.140s

The mimalloc build is 82% faster than musl default allocator, 77% faster
than glibc, and has more consistent runtime characteristics (lower
standard deviation).

.github/workflows/build.yaml

@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ jobs:
           kitware_key_path="/usr/share/keyrings/kitware-archive-keyring.gpg"
           kitware_sources_path="/etc/apt/sources.list.d/kitware.list"
 
-          wget -O - "$kitware_key_url" 2>/dev/null | gpg --dearmor - \
+          curl -sL "$kitware_key_url" | gpg --dearmor - \
               | sudo tee "$kitware_key_path" >/dev/null
 
           . /etc/lsb-release  # Defines $DISTRIB_CODENAME (jammy, focal, etc)
@@ -149,9 +149,32 @@ jobs:
             export PACKAGER_LOW_MEMORY_BUILD=yes
           fi
 
+          # Do fully static release builds on Linux.
+          BUILD_CONFIG="${{ matrix.build_type }}-${{ matrix.lib_type }}"
+          if [[ "${{ runner.os }}" == "Linux" && \
+                "$BUILD_CONFIG" == "Release-static" ]]; then
+            # Enable build settings for fully-static.
+            FULLY_STATIC="ON"
+
+            # Use a musl toolchain, since glibc static executables are not
+            # portable.
+            if [[ "${{matrix.target_arch}}" == "arm64" ]]; then
+              MUSL_ARCH="aarch64"
+            else
+              MUSL_ARCH="x86_64"
+            fi
+            curl -LO https://musl.cc/"$MUSL_ARCH"-linux-musl-native.tgz
+            tar xf "$MUSL_ARCH"-linux-musl-native.tgz
+            export CC=`pwd`/"$MUSL_ARCH"-linux-musl-native/bin/"$MUSL_ARCH"-linux-musl-gcc
+            export CXX=`pwd`/"$MUSL_ARCH"-linux-musl-native/bin/"$MUSL_ARCH"-linux-musl-g++
+          else
+            FULLY_STATIC="OFF"
+          fi
+
           cmake \
             -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="${{ matrix.build_type }}" \
             -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS="$BUILD_SHARED_LIBS" \
+            -DFULLY_STATIC="$FULLY_STATIC" \
             -S . \
             -B build/
 
@@ -179,7 +202,21 @@ jobs:
             exit 0
           fi
 
-          # TODO: Check static executables?
+          # Check static executables
+          if [[ "${{ runner.os }}" == "Linux" ]]; then
+            echo "::group::Check static executables"
+            for exe in build/packager/{packager,mpd_generator}; do
+              # Capture information about the executables, but also let it be
+              # logged to stdout.
+              ldd "$exe" | tee static.log
+              # The phrase "statically linked" means we got it right.  Fail if
+              # we don't find it.
+              if ! cat static.log | grep -q statically; then
+                exit 1
+              fi
+            done
+            echo "::endgroup::"
+          fi
 
           echo "::group::Prepare artifacts folder"
           mkdir artifacts

.gitmodules

@@ -34,3 +34,6 @@
 [submodule "packager/third_party/c-ares/source"]
 	path = packager/third_party/c-ares/source
 	url = https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares
+[submodule "packager/third_party/mimalloc/source"]
+	path = packager/third_party/mimalloc/source
+	url = https://github.com/microsoft/mimalloc

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -15,10 +15,14 @@ include("packager/policies.cmake")
 # Project name.  May not contain spaces.  Versioning is managed elsewhere.
 project(shaka-packager VERSION "")
 
-# The only build option for Shaka Packager is whether to build a shared
-# libpackager library.  By default, don't.
+# Whether to build a shared libpackager library.  By default, don't.
 option(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS "Build libpackager as a shared library" OFF)
 
+# Whether to attempt a static linking of the command line front-end.
+# Only supported on Linux and with musl.  This will also cause us to link
+# against mimalloc to replace the standard allocator in musl, which is slow.
+option(FULLY_STATIC "Attempt fully static linking of all CLI apps" OFF)
+
 # Enable CMake's test infrastructure.
 enable_testing()
 

docs/source/build_instructions.md

@@ -106,6 +106,18 @@ After configuring CMake you can run the build with
 cmake --build build --parallel
 ```
 
+To build portable, fully-static executables on Linux, you will need either musl
+as your system libc, or a musl toolchain.  (See [musl.cc](https://musl.cc).
+To create a portable, fully-static build for Linux, configure CMake with:
+
+```shell
+  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
+  -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS="OFF" \
+  -DFULLY_STATIC="ON" \
+  -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/path/to/x86_64-linux-musl-gcc \
+  -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/path/to/x86_64-linux-musl-g++
+```
+
 #### Windows
 
 Windows build instructions are similar. Using Tools > Command Line >

packager/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ include_directories(..)
 # Public include folder, to reference public headers as packager/foo.h
 include_directories(../include)
 
+# Include settings for optional fully-static binaries.
+include("fully-static.cmake")
+
 # Include our module for gtest-based testing.
 include("gtest.cmake")
 
@@ -171,6 +174,7 @@ target_link_libraries(packager
   libpackager
   license_notice
   string_utils
+  ${EXTRA_EXE_LIBRARIES}
 )
 
 add_executable(mpd_generator
@@ -187,6 +191,7 @@ target_link_libraries(mpd_generator
   license_notice
   mpd_builder
   mpd_util
+  ${EXTRA_EXE_LIBRARIES}
   )
 
 add_executable(packager_test

packager/fully-static.cmake

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Copyright 2024 Google LLC. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+# license that can be found in the LICENSE file or at
+# https://developers.google.com/open-source/licenses/bsd
+
+# Fully-static build settings.
+if(FULLY_STATIC)
+  # This is the "object" version of mimalloc, as opposed to the library
+  # version.  This is important for a static override of malloc and friends.
+  set(EXTRA_EXE_LIBRARIES $<TARGET_OBJECTS:mimalloc-obj>)
+
+  # Keep the linker from searching for dynamic libraries.
+  set(CMAKE_LINK_SEARCH_START_STATIC OFF)
+  set(CMAKE_LINK_SEARCH_END_STATIC OFF)
+
+  # Tell CMake not to plan to relink the executables, which wouldn't make sense
+  # in this context and causes CMake to fail at configure time when using a
+  # musl toolchain for static builds.
+  set(CMAKE_SKIP_BUILD_RPATH ON)
+
+  # Set extra linker options necessary for fully static linking.  These apply
+  # to all executables, which is critical when using a musl toolchain.  Without
+  # applying these to all executables, we could create dynamic musl executables
+  # as intermediate outputs, which then could not run on a glibc host system.
+  add_link_options(-static-libgcc -static-libstdc++ -static)
+endif()

packager/third_party/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ add_subdirectory(libpng EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
 add_subdirectory(libwebm EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
 add_subdirectory(libxml2 EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
 add_subdirectory(mbedtls EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
+add_subdirectory(mimalloc EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
 add_subdirectory(mongoose EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
 add_subdirectory(protobuf EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
 add_subdirectory(zlib EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)

packager/third_party/curl/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ set(USE_LIBIDN2 OFF)
 set(USE_LIBRTMP OFF)
 set(CURL_USE_LIBSSH2 OFF)
 set(CURL_ZLIB OFF CACHE STRING "Force curl not to search for system zlib")
+set(BUILD_CURL_EXE OFF)
 
 if(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
   # Use c-ares to fix static linking on Linux.  Set USE_ARES directly, not the

packager/third_party/libpng/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ set(PNG_BUILD_ZLIB ON)
 set(ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/../zlib/source/")
 # Tell libpng where to find zlib library to link to.
 set(ZLIB_LIBRARY zlibstatic)
+# Tell libpng where to find libm on Linux (-lm).
+set(M_LIBRARY m)
 
 # With these set in scope of this folder, load the library's own CMakeLists.txt.
 add_subdirectory(source)

packager/third_party/mimalloc/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Copyright 2024 Google LLC. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+# license that can be found in the LICENSE file or at
+# https://developers.google.com/open-source/licenses/bsd
+
+# CMake build file to host mimalloc configuration.
+# This is only used to produce static binaries on Linux, as a replacement for
+# the default allocator in musl, which is slower.
+
+# Turn these off to save time.
+set(MI_BUILD_SHARED OFF)
+set(MI_BUILD_STATIC OFF)
+set(MI_BUILD_TESTS OFF)
+
+# Turn these on.  They are already on by default as of the date we wrote this
+# file, but in case the defaults ever change, these settings are critical.
+set(MI_OVERRIDE ON)
+set(MI_BUILD_OBJECT ON)
+
+# With these set in scope of this folder, load the library's own CMakeLists.txt.
+add_subdirectory(source)

packager/third_party/mimalloc/source

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 4e50d6714d471b72b2285e25a3df6c92db944593