Getting Started¶

ArchLintCpp consumes the same compilation information that Clang-based tooling normally uses: a compile_commands.json database.

Requirements¶

CMake 3.20 or newer
A C++20 compiler
LLVM/Clang 18 development packages
Ninja or another supported CMake generator

Build ArchLintCpp¶

On Ubuntu 24.04, install the required LLVM/Clang packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y llvm-18-dev libclang-18-dev clang-18 ninja-build

Configure and build:

cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja \
  -DLLVM_DIR=/usr/lib/llvm-18/lib/cmake/llvm \
  -DClang_DIR=/usr/lib/llvm-18/lib/cmake/clang \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

cmake --build build --parallel

Run the tests:

ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure

Prepare a target project¶

For a CMake project, enable compilation database generation:

cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja \
  -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON

This creates:

build/compile_commands.json

ArchLintCpp uses that database to analyze translation units with their actual compiler flags and include paths.

Create a configuration¶

Start with a small set of components and only encode rules that are architecturally meaningful.

layers:
  - name: Domain
    namespaces:
      - example::domain

  - name: Infrastructure
    namespaces:
      - example::infra

rules:
  - from: Domain
    must_not_depend_on:
      - Infrastructure

See Configuration for mapping semantics.

Run¶

./build/archlint-cpp \
  --config archlint.yml \
  --compile-db /path/to/project/build \
  --format text

Exit codes are intended for automation:

Code	Meaning
`0`	No architecture violations
`1`	Architecture violations found
`2`	CLI or configuration error
`3`	Clang tooling or analysis failure

CI integration¶

A recommended pattern is to keep ArchLintCpp as a dedicated architecture job rather than making every normal local build depend on LLVM development packages.

That gives projects an explicit architecture gate while leaving ordinary developer builds unchanged.