Uwe Hermann - Building an ARM cross-toolchain with binutils, gcc, newlib, and gdb from source - Comments

Hi Uwe, I try your script in

Chris Lin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:49:05 +0100

Hi Uwe,
I try your script in Ubuntu 9.10 and got some error like follow:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wno-char-subscripts -Werror ../../gdb-6.8/gdb/cli/cli-cmds.c
cc1: warnings being treated as errors
../../gdb-6.8/gdb/cli/cli-cmds.c: In function ‘pwd_command’:
../../gdb-6.8/gdb/cli/cli-cmds.c:323: error: ignoring return value of ‘getcwd’, declared with attribute warn_unused_result
make[2]: *** [cli-cmds.o] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/chris/Downloads/build/gdb'
make[1]: *** [install-gdb] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/chris/Downloads/build'
make: *** [install] Error 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
please, help me to fix this problem.
thanks!

GCC ARM compile from Source

Harald.Baumgart — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:24:05 +0100

Hi Uwe,

I got the same error 'selected processor does not support `ldrh w2,[wp2]'' . It seams that the
optimized string-functions, in recent newlib-packages do not match all variants of arm,
(see http://sourceware.org/ml/newlib/2009/msg00040.html).

So i took an rather older newlib ( newlib-1.14.0) and the compilation process was successfull (Ubuntu 7.10)...
But it lacks of the variants i expected to get. I nead -mbig-endian, -mcpu=arm7tdmi and Software
FP-Emulation. I found, that the -eabi-work seams to be in progress, but still lacks of the big-endian variant.

I found at http://www.gnuarm.com/support.html#build (it dates from 2006) the hint, that in the script
't-arm-elf' in the GCC-Tree most variants are commented out. This is true even in the most recent
GCC-Source-packages.

I replaced that script and got the libraries i expected - but when i compile a project - it failed with the
statement that the libraries are compiled for FPU (the libraries in the folder
$PREFIX/arm-elf/lib/be/nofmult/ seamed to be compiled with wrong options).

Because the offered binaries at http://www.gnuarm.com/support.html are compiled for 64-Bit Linux,
i had to recompile the source (and still to replace t-arm-elf). I took the versions of binutils, gcc and , newlib which are
linked there and i got all the variants i expected.

I did it the way they mentioned (the first run for gcc with --with-headers=../../newlib-1.14.0/newlib/libc/include).

After the first GCC-compilation the test 'arm-elf-gcc --print-multi-lib' shows all variants wich will
be produced by the newlib-compilation (newlib checks that this way).

I know, thats not the solution for those which nead -meabi and the optimized string-functions, but for me
it works and i hope that this is usefull for others.

Solution

galopezi — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:48:42 +0100

Ok, look you are using Ubuntu 9.10 and you have to write that:

#export PATH=$PATH:/home/alejandro/bin/arm-elf/bin

#cd binutils-2.17.90
#./configure --target=arm-elf --prefix=/home/alejandro/bin/arm-elf --enable-interwork --enable-multilib --with-float=soft --disable-werror
#make all install
#cd..

ever you write --disable-werror when configure arm-toolchain Ok
tell me then what happen

alejandro is my name ok /home/my-name/ in your case /home/your-name/ in prefix

Newlib-1.180.0

galopezi — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:31:45 +0100

Hi Uwe

I am installing ARM toolchain, and this moment I installed binutils-2.20.51 and gcc-4.3.3 and whit newlib I configure it:

./configure --target=arm-elf --prefix=/home/alejandro/bin/arm-elf --enable-interwork --enable-multilib --with-float=soft --disable-werror

but when I install something happens and will not let me and shows me this error:

./make -j 2

/tmp/ccRfX9Qs.s: Assembler messages:
/tmp/ccRfX9Qs.s:173: Error: selected processor does not support `ldrh w2,[wp2]'
make[9]: *** [lib_a-strcmp.o] Error 1
make[9]: *** Se espera a que terminen otras tareas....
/tmp/ccXSKexr.s: Assembler messages:
/tmp/ccXSKexr.s:87: Error: selected processor does not support `ldrh r2,[r1],#2'
/tmp/ccXSKexr.s:90: Error: selected processor does not support `strneh r2,[ip],#2'
make[9]: *** [lib_a-strcpy.o] Error 1
make[9]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/gnu_arm_toolchain/newlib-1.18.0/arm-elf/nofmult/newlib/libc/machine/arm'
make[8]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[8]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/gnu_arm_toolchain/newlib-1.18.0/arm-elf/nofmult/newlib/libc/machine'
make[7]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[7]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/gnu_arm_toolchain/newlib-1.18.0/arm-elf/nofmult/newlib/libc'
make[6]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[6]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/gnu_arm_toolchain/newlib-1.18.0/arm-elf/nofmult/newlib'
make[5]: *** [all] Error 2
make[5]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/gnu_arm_toolchain/newlib-1.18.0/arm-elf/nofmult/newlib'
make[4]: *** [multi-do] Error 1
make[4]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/gnu_arm_toolchain/newlib-1.18.0/arm-elf/newlib'
make[3]: *** [all-multi] Error 2
make[3]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/gnu_arm_toolchain/newlib-1.18.0/arm-elf/newlib'
make[2]: *** [all] Error 2
make[2]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/gnu_arm_toolchain/newlib-1.18.0/arm-elf/newlib'
make[1]: *** [all-target-newlib] Error 2
make[1]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/gnu_arm_toolchain/newlib-1.18.0'
make: *** [all] Error 2

please, what do I must do to fix this?
thanks for help me

don't compiler binutils and gcc ¿Why?

Giovanny — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:40:42 +0100

I'm making the same that you say in your scrip but don't compiler and genera a Error mensage I have Ubuntu 9.10

./configure --target=arm-elf --prefix=/home/alejandro/bin/arm-elf --enable-interwork --enable-multilib --with-gnu-as --with-gnu-ld --disable-nls

and

elf32-arm.c:2524: error: ignoring return value of 'asprintf', declared with attribute warn_unused_result
elf32-arm.c: In function 'find_arm_glue':
elf32-arm.c:2557: error: ignoring return value of 'asprintf', declared with attribute warn_unused_result
make[4]: *** [elf32-arm.lo] Error 1
make[4]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/ARM/binutils-2.17.90/bfd'
make[3]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[3]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/ARM/binutils-2.17.90/bfd'
make[2]: *** [all] Error 2
make[2]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/ARM/binutils-2.17.90/bfd'
make[1]: *** [all-bfd] Error 2
make[1]: se sale del directorio `/home/alejandro/ARM/binutils-2.17.90'
make: *** [all] Error 2

what is my error??

Compilation problem in toolchain use

Brett — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:05:26 +0100

I built the toolchain on Mandriva 2009 for arm-none-eabi targets. When using the toolchain, I see an error indicating "recognized option `-meabi=4' ". On further research, it appears that new arm-none-eabi-gcc is calling the "stock" assember. I notice that other toolchains (such as sourcery) generate an arm-none-eabi-gcc and arm-none-eabi-as. Have I missed something? Any suggestions? Thanks

it doesn't work

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:52:04 +0100

it doesn't work

THANKS!

Jason — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:31:04 +0200

That makes perfect sense. I've been working on that all day and tried everything. Little did I know that's what that meant.

Everything works like a charm now. Thanks again!

gas not compiling

John — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:16:57 +0200

Hi,
First, thanks for a great script. It has helped a lot.

I am getting the same error compiling using Ubuntu 9.04
I have ensured that libncurses5-dev is installed and that --disable-werror is included for the $GDB build.
I followed the http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-binutils@gnu.org/msg06475.html
which indicates that it was applied to the sources for binutils.

But I still get the error. I am getting the right sources?
Should I specify --disable-werror for all under Ubuntu?

Here is where it fails:

gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../../binutils-2.19.1/gas -I. -I. -I../../binutils-2.19.1/gas -I../bfd -I../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/config -I../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/../include -I../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/.. -I../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/../bfd -DLOCALEDIR="\"/tmp/arm-cortex-toolchain/share/locale\"" -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Werror -g -O2 -c ../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/config/tc-arm.c
cc1: warnings being treated as errors
../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/config/tc-arm.c: In function ‘s_arm_unwind_save_mmxwr’:
../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/config/tc-arm.c:3459: error: format not a string literal and no format arguments
../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/config/tc-arm.c:3473: error: format not a string literal and no format arguments
../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/config/tc-arm.c: In function ‘s_arm_unwind_save_mmxwcg’:
../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/config/tc-arm.c:3591: error: format not a string literal and no format arguments
../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/config/tc-arm.c:3606: error: format not a string literal and no format arguments
../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/config/tc-arm.c: In function ‘s_arm_unwind_movsp’:
../../binutils-2.19.1/gas/config/tc-arm.c:3712: error: format not a string literal and no format arguments
make[3]: *** [tc-arm.o] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/john/workspace/te/build/gas'

Ubuntu 9.04 32bit compilation

Christoph — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:14:25 +0200

To successfully compile under Ubuntu 9.04 i386:
- install libncurses5-dev
- use --disable-werror, at least for gdb

the toolchain cannot be created

Fabrice — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:08:50 +0200

Hi Uwe,
Please can you help me?
I've tried your script, but I've got some errors at making GDB. I've got something like:
libtool: compile: gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../../gdb-6.8/bfd -I. -I. -I../../gdb-6.8/bfd -I../../gdb-6.8/bfd/../include -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Werror -g -O2 -c ../../gdb-6.8/bfd/elf32-arm.c -o elf32-arm.o cc1: warnings being treated as errors In file included from ../../gdb-6.8/bfd/elf32-arm.c:10432:

and then a lot of errors:
./elf32-target.h:683: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:686: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:688: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:691: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:692: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:694: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:695: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:696: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:700: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:702: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:703: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:704: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:706: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:707: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:708: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:709: error: initialization makes integer from pointer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:712: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:713: error: initialization makes integer from pointer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:714: error: initialization makes pointer from integer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:716: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:717: error: initialization makes integer from pointer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:718: error: large integer implicitly truncated to unsigned type ./elf32-target.h:731: error: large integer implicitly truncated to unsigned type ./elf32-target.h:736: error: excess elements in struct initializer ./elf32-target.h:736: error: (near initialization for 'elf32_bed') ./elf32-target.h:738: error: excess elements in struct initializer ./elf32-target.h:738: error: (near initialization for 'elf32_bed') In file included from ../../gdb-6.8/bfd/elf32-arm.c:10497: ./elf32-target.h:683: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:686: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:688: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:691: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:692: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:694: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:695: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:696: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:700: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:702: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:703: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:704: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:706: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:707: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:708: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:709: error: initialization makes integer from pointer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:712: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:713: error: initialization makes integer from pointer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:714: error: initialization makes pointer from integer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:716: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:717: error: initialization makes integer from pointer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:718: error: large integer implicitly truncated to unsigned type ./elf32-target.h:731: error: large integer implicitly truncated to unsigned type ./elf32-target.h:736: error: excess elements in struct initializer ./elf32-target.h:736: error: (near initialization for 'elf32_arm_vxworks_bed') ./elf32-target.h:738: error: excess elements in struct initializer ./elf32-target.h:738: error: (near initialization for 'elf32_arm_vxworks_bed') In file included from ../../gdb-6.8/bfd/elf32-arm.c:10649: ./elf32-target.h:683: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:686: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:688: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:691: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:692: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:694: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:695: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:696: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:700: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:702: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:703: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:704: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:706: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:707: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:708: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:709: error: initialization makes integer from pointer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:712: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:713: error: initialization makes integer from pointer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:716: error: initialization from incompatible pointer type ./elf32-target.h:717: error: initialization makes integer from pointer without a cast ./elf32-target.h:718: error: large integer implicitly truncated to unsigned type ./elf32-target.h:731: error: large integer implicitly truncated to unsigned type ./elf32-target.h:736: error: excess elements in struct initializer ./elf32-target.h:736: error: (near initialization for 'elf32_arm_symbian_bed') ./elf32-target.h:738: error: excess elements in struct initializer ./elf32-target.h:738: error: (near initialization for 'elf32_arm_symbian_bed') make[3]: *** [elf32-arm.lo] Error 1 make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/fabrice/build/bfd' make[2]: *** [install-recursive] Error 1 make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/fabrice/build/bfd' make[1]: *** [install-bfd] Error 2 make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/fabrice/build' make: *** [install] Error 2

How can I fix it?

Lack of prebuild ARM packages for Debian

Adam Turowski — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:47:27 +0200

Hi Uwe,

I totally agree with you that it is a shame that there is no prebuild ARM cross-development packages for debian. Ordinary embedded software developer usually is not fluent in configuration and building compilers. I managed to build it myself, but the struggle with correct dependencies was horrible. I hope someone will add that kind of software package to Debian distribution soon.

Regards,
Adam

Check your $PATH

Alexis Maldonado — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:58:40 +0200

I had the same problem, it turns out, I had "::" in my PATH (for example echo $PATH /usr/local/bin::/usr/bin:/bin). Which is the same as having a "." in your PATH. This breaks GCC compilation at some point, because it tries to run "as" in a directory where it just compiled the assembler for the embedded system. So just check that your PATH is clean, for example by running "export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin" before running Uwe's script.

Script for glibc

Avi — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:19:03 +0200

Hi Uwe,

I need to build a version with glibc 2.9 instead of newlib. Do you think that just replacing the NEWLIB environment and tar location will do, or this is totally different.

How do I change the script to creats also libraries and libc header files?

Thanks,
Avi.

It kind of worked - I can

Jason — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:53:16 +0200

It kind of worked - I can now link against libgcc.a. On the other hand, it appears to have compiled the floating point functions as ARM functions, with interworking, which probably won't work so well on a cortex-m3.

Building an ARM cross-toolchain with binutils, gcc, newlib, and gdb from source

Uwe Hermann — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:13:18 +0100

I've been planning to write about building custom ARM toolchains for a while (I used stuff from gnuarm.com in the past, but I switched to the lastest and greatest upstream versions at some point). Among other things, recent upstream versions now have ARM Cortex support.

First you will need a few base utilities and libs:

  $ apt-get install flex bison libgmp3-dev libmpfr-dev autoconf texinfo build-essential

Then you can use my tiny build-arm-toolchain script, which will download, build, and install the whole toolchain:

  $ cat build-arm-toolchain
  #!/bin/sh
  # Written by Uwe Hermann <uwe@hermann-uwe.de>, released as public domain.

  TARGET=arm-elf                         # Or: TARGET=arm-none-eabi
  PREFIX=/tmp/arm-cortex-toolchain       # Install location of your final toolchain
  PARALLEL="-j 2"                        # Or: PARALLEL=""

  BINUTILS=binutils-2.19.1
  GCC=gcc-4.3.3
  NEWLIB=newlib-1.17.0
  GDB=gdb-6.8

  export PATH="$PATH:$PREFIX/bin"

  mkdir build

  wget -c http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils/$BINUTILS.tar.bz2
  tar xfvj $BINUTILS.tar.bz2
  cd build
  ../$BINUTILS/configure --target=$TARGET --prefix=$PREFIX --enable-interwork --enable-multilib \
    --with-gnu-as --with-gnu-ld --disable-nls
  make $PARALLEL
  make install
  cd ..
  rm -rf build/* $BINUTILS $BINUTILS.tar.bz2

  wget -c ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/$GCC/$GCC.tar.bz2
  tar xfvj $GCC.tar.bz2
  cd build
  ../$GCC/configure --target=$TARGET --prefix=$PREFIX --enable-interwork --enable-multilib \
    --enable-languages="c" --with-newlib --without-headers --disable-shared --with-gnu-as --with-gnu-ld
  make $PARALLEL all-gcc
  make install-gcc
  cd ..
  rm -rf build/* $GCC.tar.bz2

  wget -c ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/newlib/$NEWLIB.tar.gz
  tar xfvz $NEWLIB.tar.gz
  cd build
  ../$NEWLIB/configure --target=$TARGET --prefix=$PREFIX --enable-interwork --enable-multilib \
    --with-gnu-as --with-gnu-ld --disable-nls
  make $PARALLEL
  make install
  cd ..
  rm -rf build/* $NEWLIB $NEWLIB.tar.gz

  # Yes, you need to build gcc again!
  cd build
  ../$GCC/configure --target=$TARGET --prefix=$PREFIX --enable-interwork --enable-multilib \
    --enable-languages="c,c++" --with-newlib --disable-shared --with-gnu-as --with-gnu-ld
  make $PARALLEL
  make install
  cd ..
  rm -rf build/* $GCC

  wget -c ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gdb/$GDB.tar.bz2
  tar xfvj $GDB.tar.bz2
  cd build
  ../$GDB/configure --target=$TARGET --prefix=$PREFIX --enable-interwork --enable-multilib
  make $PARALLEL
  make install
  cd ..
  rm -rf build $GDB $GDB.tar.bz2

The final toolchain is located in /tmp/arm-cortex-toolchain per default, and is ca. 170 MB in size. I explicitly created the build script in such a way that it minimizes the amount of disk space used during the build (ca. 1.2 GB or so, compared to more than 3 GB in the "naive" approach).

Using the "-j 2" option for make (see script) you can speed up the build quite a bit on multi-core machines (ca. 30 minutes vs. 60 minutes on an AMD X2 dual-core box). Also, you can change the script to build for other target variants if you want to (arm-elf or arm-none-eabi, for example).

Checkout the blog entry How to build arm gnu gcc toolchain for Mac OS X by Piotr Esden-Tempski for similar instructions for Mac OS X users.

Oh, and while I'm at it — does anybody have any idea why there are no pre-built toolchains for embedded (microcontroller) ARM targets in Debian? There are some toolchains for other microcontroller architectures (avr, m68hc1x, h8300, z80) but not too much other stuff. Is there some specific reason for the missing ARM toolchains (other than "nobody cared enough yet")?

I have heard about Emdebian, but from a quick look that seems to be more intended for toolchains with Linux/libc, not for microcontroller firmware (i.e. no MMU, no Linux, no libc etc.), but maybe I'm wrong?