Build the binary from a local copy on Windows

The system compiler must be compatible with CUDA Toolkit if GPU support is required. Refer to the Supported Host Compilers section of the NVIDIA CUDA Compiler Driver NVCC documentation for more details. The required steps to change the system compiler depend on the OS.

Training on GPU requires NVIDIA Driver of version 418.xx or higher.

To build the command-line package from a local copy of the CatBoost repository on Windows:

  1. Clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/catboost/catboost.git

  2. (Optionally) Volta GPU users are advised to precisely set the required NVCC compile flags in the default_nvcc_flags.make.inc configuration file. Removing irrelevant flags speeds up the compilation.

    Note

    CatBoost may work incorrectly with Independent Thread Scheduling introduced in Volta GPUs when the number of splits for features exceeds 32.

  3. (Optionally) CUDA with compute capability 2.0 users must remove all lines starting with -gencode from the default_nvcc_flags.make.inc configuration file and add the following line instead:

    -gencode arch=compute_20,code=compute_20

  4. Install Visual Studio Community 2019.

    • Choose the Windows Platform development and Desktop Development with C++ options in the workloads tab.
    • Choose a suitable version of the MSVC compiler. It is advised to install VC++ 2019 version 16.11.11 v14.28 and CUDA Toolkit 11.0 or newer.

    Note

    Visual Studio forcibly installs the latest version of the compiler upon each update. The latest MSVC compiler may not be suitable for compiling CatBoost, especially with CUDA.

    Identify the set version of the compiler
    1. Open the properties window for any cpp file of the project.
    2. Ensure the absence of the /nologo option in the compiler's command-line (for example, by adding the deprecated /nologo- option in the Command Line/Additional Options box).
    3. Compile this source file (Ctrl + F7).

    The set version of the compiler is printed to the Output window. CatBoost can not be compiled with 19.14.* versions.

    Change the version of the compiler

    Use one of the following methods to set the recommended version of the compiler:

    • Enable the required version as described in the Visual C++ Team Blog.

    • Run the environment setter from the command line with the vcvars_ver option (the path to the script depends on the installation settings):

    call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat" -vcvars_ver=14.28

    Then open the solution:

    start msvs\arcadia.sln

  1. Open the catboost/catboost/app directory from the local copy of the CatBoost repository.

  2. Run the following command:

    ../../ya make -r [optional parameters]
    Parameter Description
    -DCUDA_ROOT The path to CUDA. This parameter is required to support training on GPU.