From 41613437ffee0dbccad684fc744788bc504ec213 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Christian Kastner <ckk@kvr.at>
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2025 21:29:14 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] cmake: Add GGML_BACKEND_DIR option (#15074)

* cmake: Add GGML_BACKEND_DIR option

This can be used by distributions to specify where to look for backends
when ggml is built with GGML_BACKEND_DL=ON.

* Fix phrasing
---
 ggml/CMakeLists.txt             |  5 +++--
 ggml/cmake/ggml-config.cmake.in |  2 +-
 ggml/src/CMakeLists.txt         | 13 ++++++++++++-
 ggml/src/ggml-backend-reg.cpp   |  3 +++
 4 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ggml/CMakeLists.txt b/ggml/CMakeLists.txt
index 231250efc..7c4666b7e 100644
--- a/ggml/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ggml/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -39,8 +39,9 @@ if (WIN32)
     set(CMAKE_SHARED_MODULE_PREFIX  "")
 endif()
 
-option(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS "ggml: build shared libraries" ${BUILD_SHARED_LIBS_DEFAULT})
-option(GGML_BACKEND_DL   "ggml: build backends as dynamic libraries (requires BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)" OFF)
+option(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS           "ggml: build shared libraries" ${BUILD_SHARED_LIBS_DEFAULT})
+option(GGML_BACKEND_DL             "ggml: build backends as dynamic libraries (requires BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)" OFF)
+set(GGML_BACKEND_DIR "" CACHE PATH "ggml: directory to load dynamic backends from (requires GGML_BACKEND_DL")
 
 #
 # option list
diff --git a/ggml/cmake/ggml-config.cmake.in b/ggml/cmake/ggml-config.cmake.in
index 2322c6cd9..65a75a2f1 100644
--- a/ggml/cmake/ggml-config.cmake.in
+++ b/ggml/cmake/ggml-config.cmake.in
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ if(NOT TARGET ggml::ggml)
 
     find_library(GGML_LIBRARY ggml
         REQUIRED
-        HINTS ${GGML_LIB_DIR}
+        HINTS ${GGML_LIB_DIR} ${GGML_BACKEND_DIR}
         NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH)
 
     add_library(ggml::ggml UNKNOWN IMPORTED)
diff --git a/ggml/src/CMakeLists.txt b/ggml/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 0425fd60a..177fb2821 100644
--- a/ggml/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ggml/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -214,6 +214,13 @@ add_library(ggml
             ggml-backend-reg.cpp)
 add_library(ggml::ggml ALIAS ggml)
 
+if (GGML_BACKEND_DIR)
+    if (NOT GGML_BACKEND_DL)
+        message(FATAL_ERROR "GGML_BACKEND_DIR requires GGML_BACKEND_DL")
+    endif()
+    target_compile_definitions(ggml PUBLIC GGML_BACKEND_DIR="${GGML_BACKEND_DIR}")
+endif()
+
 target_link_libraries(ggml PUBLIC ggml-base)
 
 if (CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME MATCHES "Linux")
@@ -227,7 +234,11 @@ function(ggml_add_backend_library backend)
         set_target_properties(${backend} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY})
         target_compile_definitions(${backend} PRIVATE GGML_BACKEND_DL)
         add_dependencies(ggml ${backend})
-        install(TARGETS ${backend} LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
+        if (GGML_BACKEND_DIR)
+            install(TARGETS ${backend} LIBRARY DESTINATION ${GGML_BACKEND_DIR})
+        else()
+            install(TARGETS ${backend} LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
+        endif()
     else()
         add_library(${backend} ${ARGN})
         target_link_libraries(ggml PUBLIC ${backend})
diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-backend-reg.cpp b/ggml/src/ggml-backend-reg.cpp
index f0cdac31e..6c3151375 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-backend-reg.cpp
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-backend-reg.cpp
@@ -498,6 +498,9 @@ static ggml_backend_reg_t ggml_backend_load_best(const char * name, bool silent,
 
     std::vector<fs::path> search_paths;
     if (user_search_path == nullptr) {
+#ifdef GGML_BACKEND_DIR
+        search_paths.push_back(fs::u8path(GGML_BACKEND_DIR));
+#endif
         // default search paths: executable directory, current directory
         search_paths.push_back(get_executable_path());
         search_paths.push_back(fs::current_path());