Difference between revisions of "Cross compilation"

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*libraries are required to be present that are compatible with the ''target'' system.
 
*libraries are required to be present that are compatible with the ''target'' system.
  
Related articles
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=See also=
 
*[http://buildroot.uclibc.org buildroot]
 
*[http://buildroot.uclibc.org buildroot]
 
*Wikipedia: [[w:Cross-compiling|Cross-compiling]]
 
*Wikipedia: [[w:Cross-compiling|Cross-compiling]]

Revision as of 02:05, 12 March 2007

Put simply, a compiler takes source code as input and produces a binary executable as output. Cross compilation refers to the case where the binary code produced is designed to execute on a different machine architecture than the host system.

For example: Using a C compiler on a PPC system to produce code to run on an Intel.

A cross-compilation environment (refered to as the toolchain) provides a number of advantages, even when the host and target architectures are the same.

  • Strict control of the version on cc, libc and binutils used
  • The build process can be run as a non-root user on the host unix system, preventing damage to the host system if the toolchain misbehaves

Host enviroment

  • Enviroment variables affecting cross toolchains
  • a version of gcc and binutils that supports cross compilation is required in the host enviroment
  • headers to link against are required
  • libraries are required to be present that are compatible with the target system.

See also