Building from Source

How to build Deeplearning4j from source — prerequisites, Maven build, libnd4j C++ compilation, CUDA and CPU builds, and common issues

Most users should use the releases on Maven Central and do not need to build from source. Building from source is intended for contributors, those testing unreleased features, or teams maintaining a custom fork.

Overview

The DL4J stack is a monorepo at github.com/deeplearning4j/deeplearning4j. A full source build produces:

• libnd4j — native C++ compute engine (compiled with CMake, invoked through Maven via JavaCPP)

• nd4j — Java ND4J array library, SameDiff autodiff, backend bindings (CPU, CUDA)

• deeplearning4j — neural network layers, LLM/VLM pipelines, PEFT, training infrastructure

• datavec — data pipeline and ETL

• omnihub — model hub and AutoModel loader

• python4j — embedded CPython from the JVM

Prerequisites

Required Tools

Tool	Minimum Version	Notes
JDK	11	JDK 17 recommended
Maven	3.6.3	Earlier 3.x releases have known issues with the monorepo
CMake	3.19	Required to compile libnd4j
gcc / g++	9.x	Or Clang 12+. Must support C++17
ccache	any	Essential — first build: 30–45 min; subsequent builds with ccache: ~30 seconds

Install ccache

ccache caches compiled object files. Without it, every native build recompiles everything from scratch.

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install ccache

# macOS
brew install ccache

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install ccache

Verify it's working: ccache --show-stats

Never run ccache -C or ccache --clear — this forces a full 30–45 minute rebuild.

Platform-Specific Setup

Linux (Ubuntu / Debian)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
    build-essential cmake ccache git \
    libgomp1 openjdk-17-jdk

Linux (Fedora / RHEL)

sudo dnf groupinstall 'Development Tools'
sudo dnf install cmake ccache java-17-openjdk-devel

macOS

xcode-select --install
brew update
brew install cmake ccache maven openjdk@17

Windows

libnd4j requires a Unix-compatible toolchain. Install MSYS2 and run inside the MSYS2 shell:

pacman -S \
    mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc \
    mingw-w64-x86_64-cmake \
    mingw-w64-x86_64-ccache \
    make pkg-config grep sed gzip tar \
    mingw64/mingw-w64-x86_64-openblas

Add C:\msys64\mingw64\bin to your system PATH.

Cloning the Repository

git clone https://github.com/deeplearning4j/deeplearning4j.git
cd deeplearning4j

Building: CPU

The Maven build compiles both the C++ native backend (libnd4j) and the Java modules in a single invocation. JavaCPP invokes CMake internally — you do not need to run CMake or make directly.

mvn -Pcpu \
  -Dlibnd4j.buildthreads=$(nproc) \
  -pl libnd4j,:nd4j-cpu-backend-common,:nd4j-native \
  clean install -DskipTests

This builds libnd4j for CPU and the Java CPU backend bindings. First build takes 30–45 minutes; subsequent builds with ccache take ~30 seconds for small changes.

After the native backend is built, build the remaining Java modules:

mvn install -DskipTests -pl nd4j,deeplearning4j,datavec,omnihub,python4j

Or build everything at once (slower, compiles all modules):

mvn -Pcpu \
  -Dlibnd4j.buildthreads=$(nproc) \
  clean install -DskipTests

Building: CUDA

CUDA prerequisites

• NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit (default: 12.9, configurable via -Dcuda.version)

• Compatible NVIDIA driver (525.60+ for CUDA 12.9)

• On Windows: Visual Studio 2019 or 2022

Install CUDA from developer.nvidia.com/cuda-downloads.

Build command

mvn -Pcuda \
  -Dlibnd4j.chip=cuda \
  -Dlibnd4j.buildthreads=$(nproc) \
  -pl libnd4j,:nd4j-cuda-12.9 \
  clean install -DskipTests

To enable Triton JIT compilation (produces the -compile classifier variant):

mvn -Pcuda \
  -Dlibnd4j.chip=cuda \
  -Dlibnd4j.triton=ON \
  -Dlibnd4j.buildthreads=$(nproc) \
  -pl libnd4j,:nd4j-cuda-12.9 \
  clean install -DskipTests

Building for a different CUDA version

cuda.version is a Maven property. To build against CUDA 12.6 instead of 12.9:

mvn -Pcuda \
  -Dcuda.version=12.6 \
  -Dlibnd4j.chip=cuda \
  -Dlibnd4j.buildthreads=$(nproc) \
  -pl libnd4j,:nd4j-cuda-12.6 \
  clean install -DskipTests

Note: the pre-built artifacts on Maven Central target CUDA 12.9. Building against a different version requires a source build.

Key build flags

Flag	Description
-Dlibnd4j.chip=cuda	Build the CUDA backend (default is CPU)
-Dlibnd4j.buildthreads=N	Parallel compiler jobs for native build
-Dlibnd4j.triton=ON	Enable Triton MLIR JIT compilation stack
-Dlibnd4j.compute=XX	Target specific CUDA compute capability (e.g., 86 for Ampere). Changing this invalidates the ccache for all CUDA objects.
-Dcuda.version=X.Y	Target a specific CUDA toolkit version (default: 12.9)
-Pcpu / -Pcuda	Maven profile for CPU or CUDA build

Building Specific Modules

Maven's -pl flag restricts the build to specific submodules. Use -am (--also-make) to include transitive dependencies:

# Build only deeplearning4j-core (with its dependencies)
mvn install -DskipTests -pl deeplearning4j/deeplearning4j-core -am

# Build only the GGML import module
mvn install -DskipTests -pl nd4j/nd4j-ggml -am

# Build only the LLM module
mvn install -DskipTests -pl deeplearning4j/samediff-llm -am

Running Tests

All tests live in platform-tests/. Tests are never placed in the modules being tested. The individual library modules (nd4j/, deeplearning4j/, datavec/) don't include a concrete backend — platform-tests is the only module that declares one, making it the single place where tests can actually execute against real native code.

Always run from the platform-tests directory:

cd platform-tests

# Run a single test class
mvn test -Dtest=MyTestClass

# Run a single test method
mvn test -Dtest=MyTestClass#myTestMethod

# Run a parameterized test method (requires trailing wildcard)
mvn test -Dtest=MyTestClass#parameterizedMethod*

Never run mvn test from the project root — it triggers full native rebuilds and runs every test suite.

Selecting a backend

The backend.artifactId Maven property controls which backend tests run against:

# CPU (default)
mvn test -Dtest=MyTestClass

# CUDA
mvn test -Dtest=MyTestClass -Dbackend.artifactId=nd4j-cuda-12.9

# CPU with specific native classifier
mvn test -Dtest=MyTestClass -Dplatform.classifier=linux-x86_64-onednn-avx2

Memory configuration

The default heap is 32g — override for machines with less RAM:

mvn test -Dtest=MyTestClass -Dtest.heap.size=6g -Dtest.offheap.size=6g

Selecting tests by tag

Tests are tagged with JUnit 5 tags (samediff, onnx, training, long-running-test, etc.):

# Run only SameDiff tests
mvn test -Dtests=samediff

# Exclude long-running tests
mvn test -DexcludedTests="long-running-test,large-resources"

Domain test scripts

platform-tests/ includes convenience scripts:

Script	What it runs
run-onnx-tests.sh	ONNX SameDiff import tests
run-tensorflow-tests.sh	TensorFlow SameDiff import tests
run-keras-tests.sh	Keras model import tests
run-benchmarks.sh	Standalone JUnit launcher with valgrind/compute-sanitizer support
bootstrap-onnx.sh	Downloads ~65 ONNX Zoo models (data setup, not a test runner)

For a comprehensive guide to the platform-tests architecture — backend selection internals, JUnit 5 extensions, base test classes, test tags, memory profiling, and the shaded-JAR benchmark workflow — see Contributing — Platform Tests.

IDE Setup: IntelliJ IDEA

IntelliJ IDEA is the recommended IDE.

1. Open the repo as a Maven project (File > Open, select pom.xml at the repo root).

2. Install the Lombok plugin: Settings > Plugins > search "Lombok" > Install. Without it, the IDE shows false errors throughout the codebase.

3. Enable annotation processing: Settings > Build, Execution, Deployment > Compiler > Annotation Processors > check "Enable annotation processing".

4. Import Maven profiles as needed (cpu or cuda).

5. Increase IntelliJ's JVM heap: Help > Change Memory Settings > 4096 MB or higher.

Using Local Build Artifacts

After a successful build, use the local snapshot in a downstream project:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.deeplearning4j</groupId>
    <artifactId>deeplearning4j-core</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
</dependency>

Check the current snapshot version in the root POM.

CI Build Artifacts

The project CI builds native artifacts for every platform and configuration. Understanding the classifier system helps when selecting the right JAR for your deployment target.

Artifact classifier format

Pre-built artifacts use classifiers to encode platform, helper library, and SIMD extension:

<artifactId>-<version>-<os>-<arch>[-<helper>][-<extension>].jar

For example:

• nd4j-native-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT-linux-x86_64.jar — base CPU

• nd4j-native-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT-linux-x86_64-onednn-avx2.jar — oneDNN + AVX2

• nd4j-native-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT-linux-x86_64-compile.jar — MLIR/Triton compile stack

Supported build matrix

Platform	Helpers available	Extensions
Linux x86_64	onednn, compile	avx2, avx512
Linux ARM64	—	—
macOS ARM64	—	—
Windows x86_64	onednn	avx2, avx512
Android ARM64	—	—
Android x86_64	—	—
Linux x86_64 CUDA 12.6	cudnn, compile	—
Linux x86_64 CUDA 12.9	cudnn, compile	—

Building a specific classifier locally

To build with a helper or extension, pass the corresponding Maven properties:

# CPU with oneDNN helper and AVX2
mvn -Pcpu \
  -Dlibnd4j.helper=onednn \
  -Dlibnd4j.extension=avx2 \
  -Dlibnd4j.buildthreads=$(nproc) \
  -pl libnd4j,:nd4j-cpu-backend-common,:nd4j-native \
  clean install -DskipTests

# CUDA with cuDNN helper
mvn -Pcuda \
  -Dlibnd4j.chip=cuda \
  -Dlibnd4j.helper=cudnn \
  -Dlibnd4j.buildthreads=$(nproc) \
  -pl libnd4j,:nd4j-cuda-12.9 \
  clean install -DskipTests

For full CI/CD infrastructure details (build matrix, test suites, snapshot deployment), see Contributing — CI/CD Build Environment.

Common Build Issues

Native build takes forever (no ccache)

Symptom: Every build takes 30–45 minutes even for small changes.

Fix: Install ccache and verify it's on your PATH. Check ccache --show-stats — the hit rate should be high after the first build.

CMake version too old

Symptom: CMake policy errors or missing CMake features.

Fix: Install CMake 3.19+. On older systems: pip install cmake or download from cmake.org.

Out of memory during Maven build

Symptom: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError or GC overhead limit exceeded.

Fix:

export MAVEN_OPTS="-Xmx4g -XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=1g"

CUDA compute capability mismatch

Symptom: no kernel image is available for execution on the device

Fix: Check your GPU's compute capability and pass it explicitly:

nvidia-smi --query-gpu=compute_cap --format=csv,noheader
# Then build with: -Dlibnd4j.compute=XX

Windows: DLL not found at runtime

Symptom: Can't find dependent libraries when running from an IDE.

Fix: Add C:\msys64\mingw64\bin to your system PATH and restart the IDE.

Related Pages

• Contributing — pull request workflow, coding conventions, Eclipse CLA

• Maven Setup — using pre-built Maven Central artifacts

• GPU and CPU Setup — configuring backends for end users