{ "schema_version": 2, "id": "develop/ai/search-and-query/deprecated/development", "title": "Developer notes", "url": "https://redis.io/docs/latest/develop/ai/search-and-query/deprecated/development/", "summary": "Notes on RediSearch debugging, testing, and documentation", "aliases": [ "/develop/interact/search-and-query/deprecated/development" ], "tags": [ "docs", "develop", "stack", "oss", "rs", "rc", "oss", "kubernetes", "clients" ], "last_updated": "2025-06-26T15:11:30-07:00", "page_type": "content", "content_hash": "72b28a5a7f1e186f25bba7ab260181669f9046e760aa4ca05705984c21c1f005", "sections": [ { "id": "overview", "title": "Overview", "role": "overview", "text": "Developing RediSearch features involves setting up a development environment (which can be either Linux-based or macOS-based), building the module, running tests and benchmarks, and debugging both the module and its tests." }, { "id": "cloning-the-git-repository", "title": "Cloning the git repository", "role": "content", "text": "Run the following command to clone the RediSearch module and its submodules:\n\n[code example]" }, { "id": "working-in-an-isolated-environment", "title": "Working in an isolated environment", "role": "content", "text": "There are several reasons to develop in an isolated environment, like keeping your workstation clean, and developing for a different Linux distribution.\nThe most general option for an isolated environment is a virtual machine. It's very easy to set one up using [Vagrant](https://www.vagrantup.com)).\nDocker is even more agile, as it offers an almost instant solution:\n\n[code example]\n\nThen, from within the container, `cd /build` and go on as usual.\n\nIn this mode, all installations remain in the scope of the Docker container.\nUpon exiting the container, you can either re-invoke it with the above `docker exec` or commit the state of the container to an image and re-invoke it at a later stage:\n\n[code example]\n\nYou can replace `debian:bullseye` with your choice of OS, with the host OS being the best choice allowing you to run the RediSearch binary on your host after it is built." }, { "id": "installing-prerequisites", "title": "Installing prerequisites", "role": "setup", "text": "To build and test RediSearch you need to install several packages, depending on the underlying OS. The following OSes are supported:\n- Ubuntu 18.04\n- Ubuntu 20.04\n- Ubuntu 22.04\n- Debian linux 11\n- Rocky linux 8\n- Rocky linux 9\n- Amazon linux 2\n- Mariner 2.0\n- MacOS\n\nTo install the prerequisites on your system using a setup script, first enter the `RediSearch` directory and then run:\n\n[code example]\n\nNote that this will install various packages on your system using the native package manager (`sudo` is not required in a Docker environment).\n\nIf you prefer to avoid that, you can:\n\n* Review the relevant setup scripts under the `./install` directory and install packages manually.\n* Use an isolated environment as explained above." }, { "id": "installing-redis", "title": "Installing Redis", "role": "setup", "text": "As a rule of thumb, you should run the latest Redis version.\n\nIf your OS has a Redis 7.x package, you can install it using the OS package manager.\n\nOtherwise, you can build it from source and install it as described in [redis GitHub page](https://github.com/redis/redis)." }, { "id": "getting-help", "title": "Getting help", "role": "content", "text": "\nmake fetch # download and prepare dependant modules\n\nmake build # compile and link\n COORD=1 # build coordinator\n DEBUG=1 # build for debugging\n NO_TESTS=1 # disable unit tests\n WHY=1 # explain CMake decisions (in /tmp/cmake-why)\n FORCE=1 # Force CMake rerun (default)\n CMAKE_ARGS=... # extra arguments to CMake\n VG=1 # build for Valgrind\n SAN=type # build with LLVM sanitizer (type=address|memory|leak|thread) \n SLOW=1 # do not parallelize build (for diagnostics)\n GCC=1 # build with GCC (default unless Sanitizer)\n CLANG=1 # build with CLang\n STATIC_LIBSTDCXX=0 # link libstdc++ dynamically (default: 1)\nmake parsers # build parsers code (required after chaging files under query_parser dir)\nmake clean # remove build artifacts\n ALL=1 # remove entire artifacts directory\n\nmake run # run redis with RediSearch\n COORD=1 # run three local shards with coordinator (assuming the module was built with coordinator support)\n GDB=1 # invoke using gdb\n\nmake test # run all tests\n COORD=1 # test coordinator\n TEST=name # run specified test\nmake pytest # run python tests (tests/pytests)\n COORD=1 # test coordinator \n TEST=name # e.g. TEST=test:testSearch\n RLTEST_ARGS=... # pass args to RLTest\n REJSON=1|0|get # also load JSON module (default: 1)\n REJSON_PATH=path # use JSON module at `path`\n EXT=1 # External (existing) environment\n GDB=1 # RLTest interactive debugging\n VG=1 # use Valgrind\n VG_LEAKS=0 # do not search leaks with Valgrind\n SAN=type # use LLVM sanitizer (type=address|memory|leak|thread) \nmake unit-tests # run unit tests (C and C++)\n TEST=name # e.g. TEST=FGCTest.testRemoveLastBlock\nmake c_tests # run C tests (from tests/ctests)\nmake cpp_tests # run C++ tests (from tests/cpptests)\n\nmake callgrind # produce a call graph\n REDIS_ARGS=\"args\"\n\nmake sanbox # create container with CLang Sanitizer\n```" }, { "id": "building-from-source", "title": "Building from source", "role": "content", "text": "Run the following from the project root dir:\n\n[code example]make build[code example]make clean``` to remove build artifacts. ```make clean ALL=1``` will remove the entire `bin` subdirectory." }, { "id": "diagnosing-the-build-process", "title": "Diagnosing the build process", "role": "content", "text": "`make build` will build in parallel by default.\n\nFor the purposes of build diagnosis, `make build SLOW=1 VERBOSE=1` can be used to examine compilation commands." }, { "id": "running-redis-with-redisearch", "title": "Running Redis with RediSearch", "role": "content", "text": "The following will run \nmake run\n[code example]redis-cli``` in another terminal to interact with it." }, { "id": "running-tests", "title": "Running tests", "role": "content", "text": "There are several sets of unit tests:\n* C tests, located in [code example]tests/cpptests[code example]tests/pytests[code example]make test[code example]TEST``` parameter, e.g., ```make test TEST=regex```." }, { "id": "debugging", "title": "Debugging", "role": "content", "text": "To build for debugging (enabling symbolic information and disabling optimization), run [code example]make run DEBUG=1[code example]gdb[code example]BB()``` function inside a test." } ], "examples": [ { "id": "cloning-the-git-repository-ex0", "language": "sh", "code": "git clone --recursive https://github.com/RediSearch/RediSearch.git", "section_id": "cloning-the-git-repository" }, { "id": "working-in-an-isolated-environment-ex0", "language": "plaintext", "code": "search=$(docker run -d -it -v $PWD:/build debian:bullseye bash)\ndocker exec -it $search bash", "section_id": "working-in-an-isolated-environment" }, { "id": "working-in-an-isolated-environment-ex1", "language": "plaintext", "code": "docker commit $search redisearch1\ndocker stop $search\nsearch=$(docker run -d -it -v $PWD:/build rediseatch1 bash)\ndocker exec -it $search bash", "section_id": "working-in-an-isolated-environment" }, { "id": "installing-prerequisites-ex0", "language": "plaintext", "code": "cd ./install\n./install_script.sh sudo\n./install_boost.sh 1.83.0", "section_id": "installing-prerequisites" }, { "id": "building-from-source-ex0", "language": "make build``` will build RediSearch.", "code": "`make build COORD=1` will build Redis Open Source RediSearch Coordinator.\n\n`make build STATIC=1` will build as a static library.\n\nNotes:\n\n* Binary files are placed under `bin`, according to platform and build variant.\n* RediSearch uses [CMake](https://cmake.org) as its build system.", "section_id": "building-from-source" }, { "id": "building-from-source-ex1", "language": " will invoke both CMake and the subsequent make command that's required to complete the build.", "code": "Use", "section_id": "building-from-source" }, { "id": "running-redis-with-redisearch-ex0", "language": "plaintext", "code": "You can open", "section_id": "running-redis-with-redisearch" }, { "id": "running-tests-ex0", "language": "tests/ctests```, run by ```make c-tests```.", "code": "* C++ tests (enabled by GTest), located in", "section_id": "running-tests" }, { "id": "running-tests-ex1", "language": ", run by ```make cpp-tests```.", "code": "* Python tests (enabled by RLTest), located in", "section_id": "running-tests" }, { "id": "running-tests-ex2", "language": ", run by ```make pytest```.", "code": "You can run all tests by invoking", "section_id": "running-tests" }, { "id": "running-tests-ex3", "language": ".", "code": "A single test can be run using the", "section_id": "running-tests" }, { "id": "debugging-ex0", "language": "make DEBUG=1```.", "code": "You can then use", "section_id": "debugging" }, { "id": "debugging-ex1", "language": " to invoke ```gdb```.", "code": "In addition to the usual way to set breakpoints in", "section_id": "debugging" }, { "id": "debugging-ex2", "language": ", it is possible to use the ```BB``` macro to set a breakpoint inside the RediSearch code. It will only have an effect when running under ```gdb```.", "code": "Similarly, Python tests in a single-test mode, you can set a breakpoint by using the", "section_id": "debugging" } ] }