Official Windows Support

[GregoryComer]

Summary

This is the top-level tracking task for official Windows support. Native Windows support is in experimental status, meaning that the build interface, feature set, and timeline are subject to change.

Features

Support is planned for both the ahead of time (Python) and runtime on native Windows. The following are targeted for official support:

• Python Packages: Install the ExecuTorch python package through pip or install from source using install_executorch.bat.
• Runtime Build: Compile the C++ runtime for x86 and x84-64 using Clang-CL.
• Python Runtime Bindings: Run models from Python.
• Kernel Libraries: Build the portable, optimized, and quantized operator libraries.
• XNNPACK Backend: Build the XNNPACK (CPU) backend.

Disclaimers

• Building using MSVC is not supported. You'll need Clang-CL. See Clang/LLVM support in Visual Studio for installation instructions.
• Backends other than XNNPACK aren't officially supported on Windows (yet).
• Cross-compilation for Android from a Windows host isn't officially supported.

If these constraints are limiting for your use case, please file an issue or reach out on Discord. This workstream is driven by community requests and we will be happy to consider feature and pull requests.

Task List

• Enable core runtime and operator library build on Windows.
  • Fix portable library build on Windows #13700
  • Fix remaining build issues on Windows, re-enable Windows pybind preset build CI job #13702
• Enable the XNNPACK backend on Windows.
  • Fix XNNPACK build on Windows #13259
• Set up Windows CMake presets.
  • Create Windows CMake preset #13257
• Support Windows in Tokenizers.
  • [Windows] Fix build issues using Clang-CL on Windows, add CI meta-pytorch/tokenizers#121
  • Bump tokenizers to 4ed91cc #13888
  • [Windows] Re-enable tokenizers #14180
• Run unit tests in CI on Windows.
  • [Windows] Run Python unit test CI on Windows #13716
  • Run C++ unit tests in CI.
  • Enable all Windows tests / remove pytest-windows.ini #13883
• Run example model tests in CI on Windows.
  • [Windows] Add model run CI #13836
• Setup Windows wheel build jobs.
  • [Windows] Add CI wheel build jobs for Windows #13837
• Update top-level and build from source documentation for Windows.

In addition to the above, there have been a number of community contributions that have laid the groundwork. The following list is not exhaustive, but covers a large chunk of the Windows contributions:

• @python3kgae
  • [Build] Implement install_requirements.sh with Python #4748
  • [Build] Support windows in resolve_buck.py #4856
  • And many more...
• @SamGondelman
  • [Windows] [Tensor.cpp] add #include <algorithm> #8912
  • [Windows] [file_data_loader.cpp] Add compat_unistd.h #8913
  • And many more...
• @ykhrustalev
  • Correct the Windows cross-compiling commands #13071

cc @larryliu0820 @jathu