Linux

Building GCC under Linux requires less steps than in Windows since a number of required packages are typically already installed on most Linux distributions or they can be easily installed from pre-compiled binaries. GCC compile times are also generally a lot faster under Linux than in Windows, which is helpful for packages as 'large' as a custom GNU GCC for ARM toolchain.  That said ... the entire build process will probably still take about an hour on most machines.

This tutorial was written and tested for Ubuntu 10.10, but should be easily adaptable to most modern Linux distributions.  The build script currently builds GCC 4.5.2, Binutils 2.21, Newlib 1.19 and GDB 7.2.

Step 1: Install build tools and packages

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install libmpc-dev
sudo apt-get install zlib1g-dev
sudo apt-get install texinfo
sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev

Step 2: Build the GCC Toolchain

wget http://www.microbuilder.eu/Files/Tutorials/summon-arm-toolchain.tar.gz
tar -xvzf summon-arm-toolchain.tar.gz
sh summon-arm-toolchain.sh ~/ arm-none-eabi

Step 3: Add the GCC Toolchain to PATH

$ echo "PATH=$PATH:~/arm-none-eabi/bin" >> .bashrc

Windows

Building GCC under Windows is a little bit more complicated than in Linux, since a number of packages need to be installed beforehand. This guide will help you install and configure the required software packages to be able to build a GCC cross-compiling toolchain for ARM.

Step 1: Install MinGW and MSYS Base System

Before you can do anything useful, you will need to download Minimalist GNU for Windows (MinGW) andMSYS Base System with GNU Utilities (MSYS), both of which are available from theMinGW SourceForge download page. You can also download the files directly with the following links (which were the most recent versions at the publication of this article, 19 April 2010):

• Direct Download: Minimalist GNU for Windows (MinGW) 5.1.6
• Direct Download: MSYS Base System with GNU Utilities 1.0.11

Step 2: Download GNU wget

Next you need to download wget (a non-interactive network retriever) using the link below, and place the executable file in the "msys\1.0\bin" folder:

• Direct Download: wget

Step 3: Load the MSYS Environment and Start Building

Next you need to start the MSYS environment by selecting "Start -> Programs -> MinGW -> MSYS -> MSYS" in the start menu. (The menu options may vary slightly depending on which version of Windows you are using, and how you're start menu is configured.). This UNIX console will be used to build the necessary packages as well as the GNU GCC ARM Toolchain:

mount c:/mingw /mingw

$ wget ftp://ftp.gmplib.org/pub/gmp-5.0.1/gmp-5.0.1.tar.gz
$ tar -xvzf gmp-5.0.1.tar.gz
$ cd gmp-5.0.1
$ ./configure --prefix=/mingw
$ make
$ make install
$ cd ..

$ wget http://www.mpfr.org/mpfr-current/mpfr-2.4.2.tar.gz
$ tar -xvzf mpfr-2.4.2.tar.gz
$ cd mpfr-2.4.2
$ ./configure --prefix=/mingw
$ make
$ make install
$ cd ..

$ wget http://www.multiprecision.org/mpc/download/mpc-0.8.1.tar.gz
$ tar -xvzf mpc-0.8.1.tar.gz
$ cd mpc-0.8.1
$ ./configure --prefix=/mingw
$ make
$ make install
$ cd ..

Step 4: Build GNU GCC ARM Toolchain

Last, you need to download a simple script file that will handle the compilation of the GNU GCC ARM Toolchain (GCC 4.5.0, Newlib 1.18.0, GDB 7.1 and Binutils 2.20.1). Download the following file, and unzip it in the "<drive>:\msys\1.0\home\<username>\" folder:

• Direct Download: GCC Build Script

$ sh summon-arm-toolchain.sh ~ arm-none-eabi

Step 5: Adding the Environment Variables in Windows

In order to access the newly built GCC toolchain from the command-prompt, you will need to add the appropriate paths to the Windows "path". You can do this using the following steps:

• Right-click on My Computer and select Properties from the popup-menu
• Switch to the Advanced tab
  
• From there, select the Environment Variables button at the bottom
  
• Find the Path system variable and click the Edit button
  

C:\msys\1.0\home\<username>\arm-none-eabi\bin;C:\msys\1.0\bin\