How to Build ClickHouse on Linux

Supported platforms:

  • x86_64
  • AArch64
  • Power9 (experimental)

Normal Build for Development on Ubuntu

The following tutorial is based on the Ubuntu Linux system. With appropriate changes, it should also work on any other Linux distribution.

Install Git, CMake, Python and Ninja

  1. $ sudo apt-get install git cmake python ninja-build

Or cmake3 instead of cmake on older systems.

Install clang-13 (recommended)

On Ubuntu/Debian you can use the automatic installation script (check official webpage)

  1. sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - https://apt.llvm.org/llvm.sh)"

For other Linux distribution - check the availability of the prebuild packages or build clang from sources.

Use clang-13 for Builds

  1. $ export CC=clang-13
  2. $ export CXX=clang++-13

Gcc can also be used though it is discouraged.

Checkout ClickHouse Sources

  1. $ git clone --recursive [email protected]:ClickHouse/ClickHouse.git

or

  1. $ git clone --recursive https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse.git

Build ClickHouse

  1. $ cd ClickHouse
  2. $ mkdir build
  3. $ cd build
  4. $ cmake ..
  5. $ ninja

To create an executable, run ninja clickhouse.
This will create the programs/clickhouse executable, which can be used with client or server arguments.

How to Build ClickHouse on Any Linux

The build requires the following components:

  • Git (is used only to checkout the sources, it’s not needed for the build)
  • CMake 3.10 or newer
  • Ninja
  • C++ compiler: clang-11 or newer
  • Linker: lld
  • Python (is only used inside LLVM build and it is optional)

If all the components are installed, you may build in the same way as the steps above.

Example for Ubuntu Eoan:

  1. sudo apt update
  2. sudo apt install git cmake ninja-build clang++ python
  3. git clone --recursive https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse.git
  4. mkdir build && cd build
  5. cmake ../ClickHouse
  6. ninja

Example for OpenSUSE Tumbleweed:

  1. sudo zypper install git cmake ninja clang-c++ python lld
  2. git clone --recursive https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse.git
  3. mkdir build && cd build
  4. cmake ../ClickHouse
  5. ninja

Example for Fedora Rawhide:

  1. sudo yum update
  2. yum --nogpg install git cmake make clang-c++ python3
  3. git clone --recursive https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse.git
  4. mkdir build && cd build
  5. cmake ../ClickHouse
  6. make -j $(nproc)

How to Build ClickHouse Debian Package

Install Git

  1. $ sudo apt-get update
  2. $ sudo apt-get install git python debhelper lsb-release fakeroot sudo debian-archive-keyring debian-keyring

Checkout ClickHouse Sources

  1. $ git clone --recursive --branch master https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse.git
  2. $ cd ClickHouse

Run Release Script

  1. $ ./release

Faster builds for development

Normally all tools of the ClickHouse bundle, such as clickhouse-server, clickhouse-client etc., are linked into a single static executable, clickhouse. This executable must be re-linked on every change, which might be slow. One common way to improve build time is to use the ‘split’ build configuration, which builds a separate binary for every tool, and further splits the code into several shared libraries. To enable this tweak, pass the following flags to cmake:

  1. -DUSE_STATIC_LIBRARIES=0 -DSPLIT_SHARED_LIBRARIES=1 -DCLICKHOUSE_SPLIT_BINARY=1

You Don’t Have to Build ClickHouse

ClickHouse is available in pre-built binaries and packages. Binaries are portable and can be run on any Linux flavour.

They are built for stable, prestable and testing releases as long as for every commit to master and for every pull request.

To find the freshest build from master, go to commits page, click on the first green checkmark or red cross near commit, and click to the “Details” link right after “ClickHouse Build Check”.

Split build configuration

Normally ClickHouse is statically linked into a single static clickhouse binary with minimal dependencies. This is convenient for distribution, but it means that on every change the entire binary is linked again, which is slow and may be inconvenient for development. There is an alternative configuration which creates dynamically loaded shared libraries instead, allowing faster incremental builds. To use it, add the following flags to your cmake invocation:

  1. -DUSE_STATIC_LIBRARIES=0 -DSPLIT_SHARED_LIBRARIES=1 -DCLICKHOUSE_SPLIT_BINARY=1

Note that the split build has several drawbacks: * There is no single clickhouse binary, and you have to run clickhouse-server, clickhouse-client, etc. * Risk of segfault if you run any of the programs while rebuilding the project. * You cannot run the integration tests since they only work a single complete binary. * You can’t easily copy the binaries elsewhere. Instead of moving a single binary you’ll need to copy all binaries and libraries.