# Build TensorFlow Lite with CMake

This page describes how to build and use the TensorFlow Lite library with
[CMake](https://cmake.org/) tool.

The following instructions have been tested on Ubuntu 16.04.3 64-bit PC (AMD64)
, macOS Catalina (x86_64), Windows 10 and TensorFlow devel Docker image
[tensorflow/tensorflow:devel](https://hub.docker.com/r/tensorflow/tensorflow/tags/).

**Note:** This feature is available since version 2.4.

### Step 1. Install CMake tool

It requires CMake 3.16 or higher. On Ubuntu, you can simply run the following
command.

```sh
sudo apt-get install cmake
```

Or you can follow
[the official cmake installation guide](https://cmake.org/install/)

### Step 2. Clone TensorFlow repository

```sh
git clone https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow.git tensorflow_src
```

**Note:** If you're using the TensorFlow Docker image, the repo is already
provided in `/tensorflow_src/`.

### Step 3. Create CMake build directory

```sh
mkdir tflite_build
cd tflite_build
```

### Step 4. Run CMake tool with configurations

#### Release build

It generates an optimized release binary by default. If you want to build for
your workstation, simply run the following command.

```sh
cmake ../tensorflow_src/tensorflow/lite
```

#### Debug build

If you need to produce a debug build which has symbol information, you need to
provide the `-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug` option.

```sh
cmake ../tensorflow_src/tensorflow/lite -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
```

#### Build with kernel unit tests

In order to be able to run kernel tests, you need to provide the
`-DTFLITE_KERNEL_TEST=on` flag. Unit test cross-compilation specifics can be
found in the next subsection.

```sh
cmake ../tensorflow_src/tensorflow/lite -DTFLITE_KERNEL_TEST=on
```

#### Build installable package

To build an installable package that can be used as a dependency by another
CMake project with `find_package(tensorflow-lite CONFIG)`, use the
`-DTFLITE_ENABLE_INSTALL=ON` option.

You should ideally also provide your own versions of library dependencies.
These will also need to used by the project that depends on TF Lite. You can
use the `-DCMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_PREFER_CONFIG=ON` and set the `<PackageName>_DIR`
variables to point to your library installations.

```sh
cmake ../tensorflow_src/tensorflow/lite -DTFLITE_ENABLE_INSTALL=ON \
  -DCMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_PREFER_CONFIG=ON \
  -DSYSTEM_FARMHASH=ON \
  -DSYSTEM_PTHREADPOOL=ON \
  -Dabsl_DIR=<install path>/lib/cmake/absl \
  -DEigen3_DIR=<install path>/share/eigen3/cmake \
  -DFlatBuffers_DIR=<install path>/lib/cmake/flatbuffers \
  -Dgemmlowp_DIR=<install path>/lib/cmake/gemmlowp \
  -DNEON_2_SSE_DIR=<install path>/lib/cmake/NEON_2_SSE \
  -Dcpuinfo_DIR=<install path>/share/cpuinfo \
  -Druy_DIR=<install path>/lib/cmake/ruy
```

**Note:** Refer to CMake documentation for
[`find_package`](https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/find_package.html)
to learn more about handling and locating packages.

#### Cross-compilation

You can use CMake to build binaries for ARM64 or Android target architectures.

In order to cross-compile the TF Lite, you namely need to provide the path to
the SDK (e.g. ARM64 SDK or NDK in Android's case) with `-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE`
flag.

```sh
cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=<CMakeToolchainFileLoc> ../tensorflow/lite/
```

##### Specifics of Android cross-compilation

For Android cross-compilation, you need to install
[Android NDK](https://developer.android.com/ndk) and provide the NDK path with
`-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE` flag mentioned above. You also need to set target ABI
with`-DANDROID_ABI` flag.

```sh
cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=<NDK path>/build/cmake/android.toolchain.cmake \
  -DANDROID_ABI=arm64-v8a ../tensorflow_src/tensorflow/lite
```

##### Specifics of kernel (unit) tests cross-compilation

Cross-compilation of the unit tests requires flatc compiler for the host
architecture. For this purpose, there is a CMakeLists located in
`tensorflow/lite/tools/cmake/native_tools/flatbuffers` to build the flatc
compiler with CMake in advance in a separate build directory using the host
toolchain.

```sh
mkdir flatc-native-build && cd flatc-native-build
cmake ../tensorflow_src/tensorflow/lite/tools/cmake/native_tools/flatbuffers
cmake --build .
```

It is also possible **to install** the *flatc* to a custom installation location
(e.g. to a directory containing other natively-built tools instead of the CMake
build directory):

```sh
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<native_tools_dir> ../tensorflow_src/tensorflow/lite/tools/cmake/native_tools/flatbuffers
cmake --build .
```

For the TF Lite cross-compilation itself, additional parameter
`-DTFLITE_HOST_TOOLS_DIR=<flatc_dir_path>` pointing to the directory containing
the native *flatc* binary needs to be provided along with the
`-DTFLITE_KERNEL_TEST=on` flag mentioned above.

```sh
cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=${OE_CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE} -DTFLITE_KERNEL_TEST=on -DTFLITE_HOST_TOOLS_DIR=<flatc_dir_path> ../tensorflow/lite/
```

##### Cross-compiled kernel (unit) tests launch on target

Unit tests can be run as separate executables or using the CTest utility. As far
as CTest is concerned, if at least one of the parameters `TFLITE_ENABLE_NNAPI,
TFLITE_ENABLE_XNNPACK` or `TFLITE_EXTERNAL_DELEGATE` is enabled for the TF Lite
build, the resulting tests are generated with two different **labels**
(utilizing the same test executable): - *plain* - denoting the tests ones run on
CPU backend - *delegate* - denoting the tests expecting additional launch
arguments used for the used delegate specification

Both `CTestTestfile.cmake` and `run-tests.cmake` (as referred below) are
available in `<build_dir>/kernels`.

Launch of unit tests with CPU backend (provided the `CTestTestfile.cmake` is
present on target in the current directory):

```sh
ctest -L plain
```

Launch examples of unit tests using delegates (provided the
`CTestTestfile.cmake` as well as `run-tests.cmake` file are present on target in
the current directory):

```sh
cmake -E env TESTS_ARGUMENTS=--use_nnapi=true\;--nnapi_accelerator_name=vsi-npu ctest -L delegate
cmake -E env TESTS_ARGUMENTS=--use_xnnpack=true ctest -L delegate
cmake -E env TESTS_ARGUMENTS=--external_delegate_path=<PATH> ctest -L delegate
```

**A known limitation** of this way of providing additional delegate-related
launch arguments to unit tests is that it effectively supports only those with
an **expected return value of 0**. Different return values will be reported as a
test failure.

#### OpenCL GPU delegate

If your target machine has OpenCL support, you can use
[GPU delegate](https://www.tensorflow.org/lite/performance/gpu) which can
leverage your GPU power.

To configure OpenCL GPU delegate support:

```sh
cmake ../tensorflow_src/tensorflow/lite -DTFLITE_ENABLE_GPU=ON
```

**Note:** It's experimental and available starting from TensorFlow 2.5. There
could be compatibility issues. It's only verified with Android devices and
NVidia CUDA OpenCL 1.2.

### Step 5. Build TensorFlow Lite

In the `tflite_build` directory,

```sh
cmake --build . -j
```

**Note:** This generates a static library `libtensorflow-lite.a` in the current
directory but the library isn't self-contained since all the transitive
dependencies are not included. To use the library properly, you need to create a
CMake project. Please refer the
["Create a CMake project which uses TensorFlow Lite"](#create_a_cmake_project_which_uses_tensorflow_lite)
section.

### Step 6. Build TensorFlow Lite Benchmark Tool and Label Image Example (Optional)

In the `tflite_build` directory,

```sh
cmake --build . -j -t benchmark_model
```

```sh
cmake --build . -j -t label_image
```

## Available Options to build TensorFlow Lite

Here is the list of available options. You can override it with
`-D<option_name>=[ON|OFF]`. For example, `-DTFLITE_ENABLE_XNNPACK=OFF` to
disable XNNPACK which is enabled by default.

| Option Name             | Feature        | Android | Linux | macOS | Windows |
| ----------------------- | -------------- | ------- | ----- | ----- | ------- |
| `TFLITE_ENABLE_RUY`     | Enable RUY     | ON      | OFF   | OFF   | OFF     |
:                         : matrix         :         :       :       :         :
:                         : multiplication :         :       :       :         :
:                         : library        :         :       :       :         :
| `TFLITE_ENABLE_NNAPI`   | Enable NNAPI   | ON      | OFF   | N/A   | N/A     |
:                         : delegate       :         :       :       :         :
| `TFLITE_ENABLE_GPU`     | Enable GPU     | OFF     | OFF   | N/A   | N/A     |
:                         : delegate       :         :       :       :         :
| `TFLITE_ENABLE_XNNPACK` | Enable XNNPACK | ON      | ON    | ON    | ON      |
:                         : delegate       :         :       :       :         :
| `TFLITE_ENABLE_MMAP`    | Enable MMAP    | ON      | ON    | ON    | N/A     |

## Create a CMake project which uses TensorFlow Lite

Here is the CMakeLists.txt of
[TFLite minimal example](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/tree/master/tensorflow/lite/examples/minimal).

You need to have add_subdirectory() for TensorFlow Lite directory and link
`tensorflow-lite` with target_link_libraries().

```
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
project(minimal C CXX)

set(TENSORFLOW_SOURCE_DIR "" CACHE PATH
  "Directory that contains the TensorFlow project" )
if(NOT TENSORFLOW_SOURCE_DIR)
  get_filename_component(TENSORFLOW_SOURCE_DIR
    "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../../../../" ABSOLUTE)
endif()

add_subdirectory(
  "${TENSORFLOW_SOURCE_DIR}/tensorflow/lite"
  "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/tensorflow-lite" EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)

add_executable(minimal minimal.cc)
target_link_libraries(minimal tensorflow-lite)
```

## Build TensorFlow Lite C library

If you want to build TensorFlow Lite shared library for
[C API](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/lite/c/README.md),
follow [step 1](#step-1-install-cmake-tool) to
[step 3](#step-3-create-cmake-build-directory) first. After that, run the
following commands.

### Linux / MacOS
```sh
cmake ../tensorflow_src/tensorflow/lite/c
cmake --build . -j
```

### Windows
```sh
cmake ../tensorflow_src/tensorflow/lite/c
cmake --build . -j --config Release
```

### Compiled Library

The above command generates the following shared library in the current
directory.

Platform | Library name
-------- | ---------------------------
Linux    | `libtensorflowlite_c.so`
macOS    | `libtensorflowlite_c.dylib`
Windows  | `tensorflowlite_c.dll`

**Note:** You need the public headers (`tensorflow/lite/c_api.h`,
`tensorflow/lite/c_api_experimental.h`, `tensorflow/lite/c_api_types.h`, and
`tensorflow/lite/common.h`), and the private headers that those public headers
include (`tensorflow/lite/core/builtin_ops.h`, `tensorflow/lite/core/c/*.h`, and
`tensorflow/lite/core/async/c/*.h`, ) to use the generated shared library.