Installing Crosstool-ng

1. Download and build crosstool-ng:

   # Install prerequisites:
   sudo apt-get install flex bison automake libtool ncurses-dev
   
   version=crosstool-ng-1.6.1
   wget http://ymorin.is-a-geek.org/download/crosstool-ng/$version.tar.bz2
   tar xjvf $version.tar.bz2
   
   cd $version/
   ./configure --local
   
   # NOTE: The following "make" command only builds the "ct-ng" tool
   #       (not the compilers, libs, and binutils).
   make
   chmod a+rx ct-ng
   

2. Configure crosstool-ng to build a specific cross-compiler. For some tips on how to do the configuration, see the section Configuration Options for Crosstool-ng (Glibc) for starters:

   # Finally, start crosstool-ng:
   ./ct-ng menuconfig
   # Note: Read the next section for information on how to configure...
   #
   # Alternatively, do this:
   # TODO: I haven't created the glibc config file yet:
   # cp crosstool-ng-1.6.1-ppc405-nofloat-glibc-config .config
   # or
   # cp crosstool-ng-1.6.1-ppc405-nofloat-uclibc-config .config
   #
   # Then run:
   # ./ct-ng oldconfig
   

3. Instruct crosstool-ng to build the cross-compiler:

   # After configuring (with menuconfig or oldconfig), build the toolchain:
   unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH LIBRARY_PATH CPATH
   export LD_LIBRARY_PATH LIBRARY_PATH CPATH
   ./ct-ng build
   

4. If you want both glibc and uClibc support, then repeat the process twice. Once for glibc, and once again for uClibc. See the following steps for how to reconfigure crosstool-ng for each. (Hint: you probably do want both uClibc and glibc support).

Configuration Options for Crosstool-ng (Glibc)

The first two configuration screens, and the options you should choose are displayed here. A more detailed description of the configurations follows these screenshots:

Here are the configuration settings to apply:

• Paths and misc options
  • Paths
    • Local tarballs directory: ${HOME}/sources
    • Save new tarballs: Yes
    • Prefix directory: /home/xilinx/crosstool-ng-1.6.1/${CT_TARGET}
  • Build behavior
    • Number of parallel jobs: 3 or 4 (if you have a quad-core computer)
  • Logging
    • Maximum log level to see: EXTRA
• Target options
  • Target Architecture: powerpc
  • Emit assembly for CPU: 405
  • Tune assembly for CPU: 405
  • Floating point: software
• Toolchain options
  • Vendor string: 405
• Operating System
  • Target OS: linux
  • Linux kernel version: 2.6.31.12
• binutils
  • binutils version: 2.19.1
  • binutils libraries for the target: Yes (libiberty and libbfd)
• C compiler
  • gcc version: 4.3.2
  • C++: Yes
  • Fortran: Yes (optional)
  • Java: Yes (optional)
  • (Untested: enable any other languages you may want)
• TODO: C-library
  • C library: glibc
  • glibc version: 2.6.1
  • Threading implementation to use: nptl
  • Use the ports addon: Yes
• Debug facilities (Optional, Untested!)
  • dmalloc: Yes (5.5.2)
  • duma: Yes (2_5_14)
  • gdb: Yes
    • Build a static cross gdb: Yes
    • Native gdb: Yes
    • Build a static native gdb: Yes
    • Use GMP and MPFR: yes
    • Version: 6.8
  • ltrace: No (Neither 0.5.3 nor 0.5.2 would build for the uClibc configuration)
  • TODO: strace: No (because I couldn't get it to build)
• Tools facilities (Optional, Untested!)
  • libelf: Yes
  • sstrip: No (because I couldn't get it to build)
• Companion libraries
  • TODO: GMP and MPFR
    • Build libraries for target: Yes
    • GMP version: 4.3.1 (was 4.2.4)
    • MPFR version: 2.4.2 (was 2.3.2)
    • TODO: Check the companion libraries builds: Yes (optional)

Configuration Options for Crosstool-ng (uClibc)

Special note: do not build uclibc yourself. Crosstool-ng will do this automatically! The instructions go basically like this:

1. Download and configure uClibc (using make menuconfig) and then save the configuration. This is discussed in more detail below. As a matter of fact, you can skip this step if you just use the provided config file, in which case crosstool-ng itself will download a copy of uClibc. Should you choose to download uClibc and run menuconfig, you can find it here.
2. Configure crosstool-ng (e.g. using make menuconfig) and instruct crosstool-ng where to find the configuration file you saved in step 1. If you did not specify an alternate name, then then the config file will probably be called .config and will be located in the uclibc directory.

uClibc 0.9.30.1 configuration (available here):

• Target architecture: powerpc
• Target Architecture Features and Options:
  • Target CPU has a floating point unit (FPU): No
  • Enable full C99 math library support: Yes
  • Enable C99 Floating-point environment: Yes
  • Enable long double support: No
• General Library Settings:
  • POSIX Threading support: Yes
  • Use the older (stable) version of linuxthreads: Yes (but we eventually might want NPTL though...)
• Network Support:
  • Remote Procedure Call (RPC) support: Yes (for NFS)
  • Full RPC support: Yes
  • Reentrant RPC support: Yes
• String and Stdio Support
  • ctype argument checking: Issue a diagnostic and abort()

Crosstool configuration (available here):

• Follow the same configuration as for Glibc (described in the previous section), and then apply the following additional configuration listed in the next bullets.

• C compiler

  • gcc version: 4.2.4 (because 4.3.2 would not build)
  • Java: No (because I could not get this to build)

• C-library:

  • C library: uClibc

  • uClibc version: 0.9.30.1

  • System Message: WARNING/2 (crosstool-ng-1.6.1.rst); backlink

    Duplicate explicit target name: "here".

    Configuration file: ${CT_LIB_DIR}/uClibc-0.9.30.1-ppc405-nofpu-config (available here)

  • Threading implementation to use: linuxthreads

• Debug facilities (Optional, Untested!)

  • ltrace: No (Neither 0.5.3 nor 0.5.2 would build)

Errors

"error: C compiler cannot create executables"

I don't yet know what to do about this error...

Downloads

• TODO: crosstool-ng-1.6.1-ppc405-nofloat-glibc-config
• crosstool-ng-1.6.1-ppc405-nofloat-uclibc-config
• uClibc-0.9.30.1-ppc405-nofpu-config