Kotlin/Native target support

The Kotlin/Native compiler supports a great number of different targets, though it is hard to provide the same level of support for all of them. This document describes which targets Kotlin/Native supports and breaks them into several tiers depending on how well the compiler supports them.

Mind the following terms used in tier tables:

Gradle target name is a target preset that is used in the Kotlin Multiplatform Gradle plugin to enable the target.
Target triple is a target name according to the <architecture>-<vendor>-<system>-<abi> structure that is commonly used by compilers.
Running tests indicates out of the box support for running tests in Gradle and IDE.
This is only available on a native host for the specific target. For example, you can run macosX64 and iosX64 tests only on macOS x86-64 host.

Tier 1

The target is regularly tested on CI to be able to compile and run.
We provide a source and binary compatibility between compiler releases.

Gradle target name	Target triple	Running tests	Description
Apple macOS hosts only:
`macosX64`	`x86_64-apple-macos`	✅	Apple macOS on x86_64 platforms
`macosArm64`	`aarch64-apple-macos`	✅	Apple macOS on Apple Silicon platforms
`iosSimulatorArm64`	`aarch64-apple-ios-simulator`	✅	Apple iOS simulator on Apple Silicon platforms
`iosX64`	`x86_64-apple-ios-simulator`	✅	Apple iOS simulator on x86-64 platforms
`iosArm64`	`aarch64-apple-ios`		Apple iOS and iPadOS on ARM64 platforms

Tier 2

The target is regularly tested on CI to be able to compile, but may not be automatically tested to be able to run.
We're doing our best to provide a source and binary compatibility between compiler releases.

Gradle target name	Target triple	Running tests	Description
`linuxX64`	`x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu`	✅	Linux on x86_64 platforms
`linuxArm64`	`aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu`		Linux on ARM64 platforms
Apple macOS hosts only:
`watchosSimulatorArm64`	`aarch64-apple-watchos-simulator`	✅	Apple watchOS simulator on Apple Silicon platforms
`watchosX64`	`x86_64-apple-watchos-simulator`	✅	Apple watchOS 64-bit simulator on x86_64 platforms
`watchosArm32`	`armv7k-apple-watchos`		Apple watchOS on ARM32 platforms
`watchosArm64`	`arm64_32-apple-watchos`		Apple watchOS on ARM64 platforms with ILP32
`tvosSimulatorArm64`	`aarch64-apple-tvos-simulator`	✅	Apple tvOS simulator on Apple Silicon platforms
`tvosX64`	`x86_64-apple-tvos-simulator`	✅	Apple tvOS simulator on x86_64 platforms
`tvosArm64`	`aarch64-apple-tvos`		Apple tvOS on ARM64 platforms

Tier 3

The target is not guaranteed to be tested on CI.
We can't promise a source and binary compatibility between different compiler releases, though such changes for these targets are quite rare.

Gradle target name	Target triple	Running tests	Description
`androidNativeArm32`	`arm-unknown-linux-androideabi`		Android NDK on ARM32 platforms
`androidNativeArm64`	`aarch64-unknown-linux-android`		Android NDK on ARM64 platforms
`androidNativeX86`	`i686-unknown-linux-android`		Android NDK on x86 platforms
`androidNativeX64`	`x86_64-unknown-linux-android`		Android NDK on x86_64 platforms
`mingwX64`	`x86_64-pc-windows-gnu`	✅	64-bit Windows 7 and later using MinGW compatibility layer
Apple macOS hosts only:
`watchosDeviceArm64`	`aarch64-apple-watchos`		Apple watchOS on ARM64 platforms

For library authors

We don't recommend library authors to test more targets or provide stricter guarantees than the Kotlin/Native compiler does. You can use the following approach when considering support for native targets:

Support all the targets from tier 1, 2, and 3.
Regularly test targets from tier 1 and 2 that support running tests out of the box.

The Kotlin team uses this approach in the official Kotlin libraries, for example, kotlinx.coroutines and kotlinx.serialization.

Last modified: 25 September 2024