Getting Started with Embedding V8

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Getting Started with Embedding V8

Installing & Testing Standalone V8 application

Download the V8 source code
Create a build configuration using the helper script:

tools/dev/v8gen.py x64.release.sample

You can inspect and manually edit the build configuration by running:

gn args out.gn/x64.release.sample

Build the static library on a Linux 64 system:

ninja -C out.gn/x64.release.sample v8_monolith

Compile hello-world.cc, linking to the static library created in the build process. For example, on 64bit Linux using the GNU compiler:

g++ -I. -Iinclude samples/hello-world.cc -o hello_world -fno-rtti -lv8_monolith -lv8_libbase -lv8_libplatform -ldl -Lout.gn/x64.release.sample/obj/ -pthread -std=c++17 -DV8_COMPRESS_POINTERS -DV8_ENABLE_SANDBOX

For more complex code, V8 fails without an ICU data file. Copy this file to where your binary is stored:

cp out.gn/x64.release.sample/icudtl.dat .

Run the hello_world executable file at the command line. e.g. On Linux, in the V8 directory, run:

./hello_world

V8 as a standalone virtual machine has some key V8 concepts such as handles, scopes, and contexts. The V8 API provides functions for compiling and executing scripts, accessing C++ methods and data structures, handling errors, and enabling security checks. Your application can use V8 just like any other C++ library. Your C++ code accesses V8 through the V8 API by including the header include/v8.h.

Embedding on Arzedlab 🪵

Getting Started with Embedding V8

Getting Started with Embedding V8

Installing & Testing Standalone V8 application