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Get the oxl toolchain

Requires: a C compiler (cc) and pthreads; oxl build/run emit C and link through it. Programs that use the sqlite3 shims also need sqlite3 dev headers. The release tarball ships for Linux (x86_64); macOS (aarch64) and Windows (x86_64, via MinGW gcc or LLVM clang) are supported platforms that build from source. See the README.

  1. Download and extract the latest toolchain release:

    Terminal window
    curl -LO https://github.com/oxidean/oxl/releases/latest/download/oxl-toolchain-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
    tar xzf oxl-toolchain-linux-x86_64.tar.gz && cd oxl-toolchain

  2. The tarball bundles the compiler, std/, and examples/. Try the bundled hello world:

    Terminal window
    ./oxl run examples/hello.oxl    # compile + run (needs cc on PATH)

  3. Put the toolchain on PATH, then write and run your own program. Keep std/ next to the oxl binary: that is where import "std/x" resolves. Every file starts with a package clause, and package main marks an executable:

    hello.oxl
    package main
    

    fn main() {
        println("hello, oxl")
    }
    Terminal window
    export PATH="$PWD:$PATH"
    oxl run hello.oxl      # compile + run
    oxl build hello.oxl    # → native binary

oxl build and oxl run invoke a C compiler for the final link. The driver probes cc → gcc → clang (MSVC’s cl can’t take the emitted C). Set LANG_CC to override, LANG_LDFLAGS to append link inputs (FFI shim objects, libraries), and LANG_SQLITE_SRC to point at an amalgamation sqlite3.c where no dev package exists.

Building from source

Section titled “Building from source”

On macOS, Windows, or any platform without a tarball, build the toolchain from the repository (a Rust toolchain plus cc):

Terminal window
git clone https://github.com/oxidean/oxl && cd oxl
# resolve the latest published release tag via /releases/latest (curl
# only, no auth); skip the checkout to build `main` instead:
TAG=$(curl -sL -o /dev/null -w '%{url_effective}' \
  https://github.com/oxidean/oxl/releases/latest | xargs basename)
git checkout "$TAG" && cargo build --release --manifest-path oxl/Cargo.toml
# binary: oxl/target/release/oxl; put it on PATH with std/ alongside

import "std/x" resolves against std/ next to the binary, so run it from the repo root or copy std/ next to wherever the binary lands.

The toolbox

Section titled “The toolbox”
oxl build [<pkg dir>|<file.oxl>...] [-o out]   compile to a native binary
oxl run [<pkg dir>|<file.oxl>...]              compile + run
oxl test [<pkg dir>|<file.oxl>...]             run all fn test_*() in a scope each
oxl fmt <file.oxl>...                          canonical AST pretty-print (comments kept)
oxl doc <file.oxl>                             /// comments → markdown
oxl get <path>@<query>                         fetch + pin a dependency (needs git)
oxl mod <init|tidy|verify|list>                maintain oxl.mod / oxl.sum
oxl list -m all                                the MVS-selected module build list
oxl lsp                                        stdio LSP: diagnostics, hover, goto-definition

oxl get, oxl mod, and oxl list -m are the package/module system: projects opt in with an oxl.mod manifest at the root. The language page covers manifests, resolution, and the module cache.