gcc cross compiler for target i386-pc-mingw32

early-ehlinger · #1 13th February 2008, 08:30 PM

So I've decided to try getting my hands dirty at building a gcc cross compiler targeting i386-pc-mingw32. Why? Two reasons:

1: I'm really starting to like developing on Linux.
2: I'm really starting to dislike developing on Windows.

However, I do still need to produce Windows EXE's and DLL's, so if I'm to begin developing exclusively on Linux, I need a gcc -b i386-pc-mingw32.

So, I'm going to see if I can get a cross compiler up & running, and log my efforts here. I'm not there yet. Hopefully this thread can eventually serve as an impetus for three things:

1) Making it easier for others to do the same if they so desire.
2) Give others the opportunity to help me if they have been through this before. I googled my heart out, but I can't seem to find specific instructions for Fedora 8 + GCC 4.1.2
3) It would be really cool if you could just go to Package Manager, and tell Fedora to download and install a cross-compiler for some target. Obviously, I'm interested in i386-pc-mingw32, but others may want other targets too. Having such a capability would IMHO make Linux (esp Fedora) even more attractive as a development platform.

I'm using http://vmlinux.org/crash/mirror/www....GCC/FAQ-4.html as a basic guide, although it appears that parts are out of sync with reality :-(

First, I created a directory called ~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/, since I'm trying to build gcc 4.1.2 (to match Fedora 8's gcc version).

I then downloaded binutils-2.18.tar.bz2. It looks like Fedora8 comes with 2.17.5, but I couldn't find that in the GCC mirrors, so I went with the next version up, 2.18. I then decompressed it, configured, and built it:

$ tar -xjvf binutils-2.18.tar.bz2
$ cd binutils-2.18
$ ./configure --target=i386-pc-mingw32 --prefix=~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/bin -v
$ make all
$ make install

I was a bit nervous doing the "make install" bit, because I was concerned it would install these binutils into the main GCC installation. That will be fine once I'm confident I know what I'm doing, but for now, caution is the word of the day.

Luckily, this put the binutil files under ~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/bin/bin/, 1 level deeper than I would've liked, but it's good enough.

Next post: building GCC itself.

early-ehlinger · #2 13th February 2008, 08:35 PM

As I previously posted, I'm using this thread as a blog of sorts to track my experience with building a GCC cross compiler for the target i386-pc-mingw32.

So far, I've built binutils-2.18 successfully. The next step is gcc-4.1.2:

$ tar -xjvf gcc-4.1.2.tar.bz2
$ cd gcc-4.1.2
$ ./configure --target=i386-pc-mingw32 --prefix=~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/bin
$ make

Unfortunately, I get this error at this point:

Code:

WARNING: `makeinfo' is missing on your system.  You should only need it if
         you modified a `.texi' or `.texinfo' file, or any other file
         indirectly affecting the aspect of the manual.  The spurious
         call might also be the consequence of using a buggy `make' (AIX,
         DU, IRIX).  You might want to install the `Texinfo' package or
         the `GNU make' package.  Grab either from any GNU archive site.
make[3]: *** [fastjar.info] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/gcc-4.1.2/host-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/fastjar'
make[2]: *** [all] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/gcc-4.1.2/host-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/fastjar'
make[1]: *** [all-fastjar] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/gcc-4.1.2'
make: *** [all] Error 2

early-ehlinger · #3 13th February 2008, 08:37 PM

Here's a very frustrating aspect of this error:

Code:

$ makeinfo --version
makeinfo (GNU texinfo) 4.11

Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

early-ehlinger · #4 13th February 2008, 08:45 PM

I did a quick hack to see if I could fix this:

Code:

$ cd host-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/fastjar
$ which makeinfo
/usr/bin/makeinfo
$ gedit Makefile &

I then found the line that looked something like this:

Code:

MAKEINFO = ~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/gcc-4.1.2/missing makeinfo --split-size=5000000

And replaced it with:

Code:

MAKEINFO = /usr/bin/makeinfo --split-size=5000000

Save, exit, back to xterm:

Code:

$ cd ../../
$ make all

It's still compiling as I write this. Next post - if this compiles, playing with gcc. If not, more troubleshooting.

early-ehlinger · #5 13th February 2008, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by early-ehlinger

It's still compiling as I write this. Next post - if this compiles, playing with gcc. If not, more troubleshooting.

Looks like more troubleshooting.

Here's the error:

Code:

~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/gcc-4.1.2/host-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/gcc/xgcc -B~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/gcc-4.1.2/host-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/gcc/ -B~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/bin/i386-pc-mingw32/bin/ -B~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/bin/i386-pc-mingw32/lib/ -isystem ~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/bin/i386-pc-mingw32/include -isystem ~/Projects/gcc-4.1.2-mingw/bin/i386-pc-mingw32/sys-include -O2 -I../.././gcc/../winsup/w32api/include -O2 -g -O2  -DIN_GCC -DCROSS_COMPILE   -W -Wall -Wwrite-strings -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wold-style-definition  -isystem ./include   -g -DHAVE_GTHR_DEFAULT -DIN_LIBGCC2 -D__GCC_FLOAT_NOT_NEEDED -Dinhibit_libc -I. -I. -I../.././gcc -I../.././gcc/. -I../.././gcc/../include -I../.././gcc/../libcpp/include  -DL_muldi3 -c ../.././gcc/libgcc2.c -o libgcc/./_muldi3.o
In file included from ./tm.h:10,
                 from ../.././gcc/libgcc2.c:35:
../.././gcc/config/i386/cygming.h:52:19: error: stdio.h: No such file or directory
In file included from ./tm.h:10,
                 from ../.././gcc/libgcc2.c:35:
../.././gcc/config/i386/cygming.h:333: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token

It looks like for some reason stdio.h isn't on the -I path. I'm going to have to hunt it down and/or fix the dang Makefile to get gcc to find it. Aggh.

early-ehlinger · #6 13th February 2008, 09:17 PM

Code:

$ find . -name stdio.h
./fixincludes/tests/base/stdio.h
./libstdc++-v3/include/c_compatibility/stdio.h
./libssp/ssp/stdio.h
./gcc/testsuite/gcc.dg/cpp/usr/include/stdio.h

Not sure which one to use, so I'm just going to run with ./libstdc++-v3/include/c_compatibility/stdio.h and switch it up if things don't work :-)

Code:

$ gedit host-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/gcc/Makefile &

I then looked for a -I line to hack. Found this:

Code:

INCLUDES = -I. -I$(@D) -I$(srcdir) -I$(srcdir)/$(@D) \
	   -I$(srcdir)/../include  \
	   $(CPPINC) $(GMPINC)

And turned it into this:

Code:

INCLUDES = -I. -I$(@D) -I$(srcdir) -I$(srcdir)/$(@D) \
	   -I$(srcdir)/../include  -I$(srcdir)/../libstdc++-v3/include/c_compatibility/ \
	   $(CPPINC) $(GMPINC)

Didn't help.

Code:

INCLUDES = -I. -I$(@D) -I$(srcdir) -I$(srcdir)/$(@D) \
	   -I$(srcdir)/../include  \
	   $(CPPINC) $(GMPINC) \
	   -I$(srcdir)/../libstdc++-v3/include/c_compatibility/

Likewise didn't help. Both simply turned the one error into a pile of errors. Perhaps libstdc++-v3 isn't the right one to make gcc happy.

Tried similar with all locations returned from find, with no joy. Argh.

early-ehlinger · #7 13th February 2008, 09:36 PM

Trying a different tack.

I created a directory inside gcc-4.1.2 called "hack"

I then tried

Code:

cp fixincludes/tests/base/stdio.h hack/

And changed the makefile to include the hack directory.

Also tried with all 4 copies of stdio.h in the gcc-4.1.2 directory.

No joy yet.

early-ehlinger · #8 13th February 2008, 09:43 PM

Tried an absolutely crazy option. Changed the makefile to use the *SYSTEM* include directory, /usr/include.

This doesn't get me completely there, but it does give me some alternative errors. Notably:

Code:

../.././gcc/config/i386/gthr-win32.c:34:21: error: windows.h: No such file or directory
In file included from ../.././gcc/config/i386/gthr-win32.c:40:
../.././gcc/gthr-win32.h:70:20: error: _mingw.h: No such file or directory

This suggests that now the mingw headers are missing, which is (I hope) a step in the right direction.

early-ehlinger · #9 14th February 2008, 09:10 PM

Let's see if I can make up a Dr. Phil-style saying...

Well grab an idiot cap and slap it on my head, 'cuz I was acting like a fool dog barkin' up a tree instead of diggin' in the dirt.

So it turns out that one of the mingw packages contains a nice script that automates the build process for a hosted cross compiler. Unfortunately, it builds v3.4.5 of GCC, but it works, so that's a step in the right direction.

The name of the package to download is "Cross-Hosted MinGW Build Tool," and it's available here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...?group_id=2435 If you're trying to do this, you need the full tarball, *not* the source tarball. Once you download it, run x86-mingw32-build.sh

It's pretty close to exactly what I needed, although it could stand to be updated to use v4.x of GCC. Still, a very impressive little script that instantly killed all of the (probably stupid) mistakes I was making.