Kefir C17/C23 Compiler

Kefir is an independent compiler for the C17/C23 programming language, developed by Jevgenij Protopopov. Kefir has been validated with a test suite of 100 software projects, among which are GNU core- and binutils, Curl, Nginx, OpenSSL, Perl, Postgresql, Tcl and many others. The compiler targets x86_64 architecture and System-V AMD64 ABI, supporting Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and DragonflyBSD. The project intends to provide a well-rounded, compatible and compliant compiler, including SSA-based optimization pipeline, debug information generation, position-independent code support, and bit-identical bootstrap. Kefir integrates with the rest of system toolchain --- assembler, linker and shared library.

Kefir provides support for _Decimal floating-point numbers relying on libgcc arithmetic routines. It also supports atomic operations of non-platform native sizes, which require a libatomic-compatible library. It implements a cc-compatible command line interface, making it a near-drop-in replacement in standard compilation pipelines.

Important note: as the project is developed and maintained by a single person, unfunded and in spare time, the author warns that uses of Kefir in production settings might be undesirable due to insufficient level of support the author can provide. All claims are reproducibly demonstrated by the test suite, yet bugs or inconsistencies may still exist.

On Linux, Kefir works with both glibc and musl libc. Musl headers are more standards-compliant and generally provide smoother compatibility. On FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD, the system standard library can be used, though additional macro definitions may be required. Kefir detects host system toolchain configuration on build and uses it later, with environment variables available for manual overrides.