OsmocomBB

h2. GNU ARM toolchain

This page will describe the procedure for compiling a GNU ARM toolchain.

We will build a toolchain consisting of:

* GCC 4.8.2

* Binutils 2.21.1

* Newlib 1.19

h3. Getting the buildscript

First of all, create a directory you want to use for building the toolchain, and download the buildscript [raw-attachment:gnu-arm-build.3.sh] there.

You will need to make it executable:

<pre>

$ chmod +x gnu-arm-build.3.sh

</pre>

h3. Dependencies

In order to build the toolchain, you will need to install the following packages (assuming you're using a Debian-based distribution):

<pre>

$ sudo apt-get install build-essential libgmp3-dev libmpfr-dev libx11-6 libx11-dev texinfo flex bison libncurses5 \

  libncurses5-dbg libncurses5-dev libncursesw5 libncursesw5-dbg libncursesw5-dev zlibc zlib1g-dev libmpfr4 libmpc-dev

</pre>

Note: you maybe have to adjust some libncurses and libmpfr version numbers in the above for newer distributions (as of 2021). Use apt-cache search to figure it out.

h3. Preparation

Open a shell in the directory of gnu-arm-build.sh and create the following directories:

<pre>

$ mkdir build install src

</pre>

Download the needed sources to src/:

<pre>

$ cd src/

$ wget http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-4.8.2/gcc-4.8.2.tar.bz2

$ wget http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils/binutils-2.21.1a.tar.bz2

$ wget ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/newlib/newlib-1.19.0.tar.gz

</pre>

On Ubuntu 18.04 and Debian 10, tweak the build script such that it applies attachment:gcc-4.8.2-ubuntu-18-04.diff after unpacking gcc sources.

h3. Building the toolchain

<pre>

$ cd ..

$ ./gnu-arm-build.3.sh 

I will build an arm-none-eabi cross-compiler:

  Prefix: <YOURPATH>/install

  Sources: <YOURPATH>/src

  Build files: <YOURPATH>/build

Press ^C now if you do NOT want to do this.

</pre>

Hit enter and after some time hopefully end up with:

<pre>

Build complete! Add <YOURPATH>/bin to your PATH to make arm-none-eabi-gcc and friends

accessible directly.

</pre>

h3. Making it accessible

If you're using bash, you can add the following in your ~/.bashrc file:

<pre>

export PATH=$PATH:<YOURPATH>/install/bin

</pre>

That's it. You can build [[OsmocomBB]] now (see [[Software Getting Started]]).

*Credits:*

This script is a slightly updated/modified version of the script found "here":http://hobbycode.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/gnu-arm-installer/. 

The original version also builds Insight, but since we don't need that, we won't build it. If you want to, just remove the comments in the shellscript.