Crosscompiling to ARM

**{MSX}** · 28-01-2007, 12:42 AM

hi, i've a computer that runs on an ARM9 processor (exacly ARM920T), running linux.
i've read some time ago that it is possible to cross compile to arm with freepascal.. is it true? any hint on how to do it/things i should be aware of?

thanks!

**Legolas** · 28-01-2007, 01:14 AM

Yep!

Some months ago I built a crosscompiler for arm-linux. This binary package is a bit outdated and I have lost on my hd the batch script I have made for building, but IIRC it should be pretty similar to gba crossbuild (see the wiki)

**{MSX}** · 28-01-2007, 09:30 AM

you mean this page;
http://www.freepascal.org/wiki/index...ompile_For_ARM
?

uhm looks simple! :shock:

**dmantione** · 28-01-2007, 10:42 AM

If you use Linux on your desktop, you also can download the 2.0.4 ARM-linux release to cross-compile to ARM.

**Legolas** · 28-01-2007, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by {MSX}

you mean this page;
http://www.freepascal.org/wiki/index...ompile_For_ARM
?

uhm looks simple! :shock:

No, I mean this page:

http://www.freepascal.org/wiki/index...ameBoy_Advance

of course, changing the needed here and there

**Sly** · 29-01-2007, 11:08 AM

I tried compiling a FPC ARM cross-compiler a while back, but the FPC compiler would crash about an hour into the "make all" when trying to compile the runtime library. gtkspinbutton.pas would cause an internal compiler error that no-one on the FPC mailing list seemed interested in fixing, and I don't know how to debug that sort of thing with gdb.

**paul_nicholls** · 15-02-2007, 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by Legolas

Yep!

Some months ago I built a crosscompiler for arm-linux. This binary package is a bit outdated and I have lost on my hd the batch script I have made for building, but IIRC it should be pretty similar to gba crossbuild (see the wiki)

Hi Legolas :-)

I have tried using that crosscompiler for arm-linux so I can make some pascal GP2X programs and I am having troubles.

If I try compiling this code which uses the JEDI-SDL 1.0 beta units.

[pascal]Program Test_gp2x;
Uses
SDL;
Begin
End.[/pascal]

I get this output:

Code:

C&#58;\>ppcrossarm -Fuc&#58;\fpc\2.0.4\Units\arm-linux Test_gp2x.pp
Free Pascal Compiler version 2.1.1 &#91;2006/09/09&#93; for arm
Copyright &#40;c&#41; 1993-2006 by Florian Klaempfl
Target OS&#58; Linux for ARM
Compiling Test_gp2x.pp
Compiling SDL.pas
jedi-sdl.inc&#40;293,4&#41; Warning&#58; Illegal compiler directive "$THREADING"
Fatal&#58; Can't find unit pthreads
Fatal&#58; Compilation aborted

Any ideas?

I know I read somewhere about the $THREADING being removed/changed or something, but the fatal error is obviously the killer

If you noticed the 2.0.4 version in the path, this is because I dumped the crosscompile units and binaries into separate unit and bin folders in the native fpc 2.0.4 version. I can't see this affecting the crosscompile?

cheers,
Paul.

**dmantione** · 15-02-2007, 10:22 PM

Try to ifdef it, we cannot multithread on ARM at this time.

**paul_nicholls** · 15-02-2007, 10:35 PM

Originally Posted by dmantione

Try to ifdef it, we cannot multithread on ARM at this time.

Ok, what about if I added a -Dgp2x define in the compile line and did something like this in the SDL.pas file:

{$IFNDEF gp2x}
//the whole pthreads section
{$ENDIF}

could this work?

cheers,
Paul.

**WILL** · 15-02-2007, 10:43 PM

Hey, keep at it Paul! GP2X will be a really nice addition to the list of game platforms for FPC.

I can't exactly speak for him, but I think that after Legolas is done with getting the major stuff for GBA and NDS working he'll be interested in helping our add support for GP2X in FPC too.