This more or less assumes Ubuntu (20.04) running on x86-64.
(see https://gist.github.com/luk6xff/9f8d2520530a823944355e59343eadc1)
Note that once the package qemu-user-static is installed, you can
run arm32 and aarch64 executables directly as if they were native executable.
So instead of qemu-aarch64-static hello.aarch64.exe you can just run ./hello.aarch64.exe.
Install the cross toolchain:
sudo apt-get install gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf
Set up cross compilers and QEMU via
make set_up_cross_env_a32
note, this runs sudo so it may prompt for a password
Now check the setup with
make test_qemu_env_a32
Here is a barebones example
arm-linux-gnueabihf-as hello_barebones.a32.s -o hello_barebones.a32.o
arm-linux-gnueabihf-objdump -d hello_barebones.a32.o
arm-linux-gnueabihf-ld hello_barebones.a32.o -o hello_barebones-a32
arm-linux-gnueabihf-objdump -d hello_barebones-a32
qemu-arm-static ./hello_barebones-a32
Install the cross toolchain:
sudo apt-get install gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu g++-aarch64-linux-gnu
Set up cross compilers and QEMU via
make set_up_cross_env_a64
note, this runs sudo so it may prompt for a password
Now check the setup with
make test_qemu_env_a64
Here is a barebones example
aarch64-linux-gnu-as hello_barebones.a64.s -o hello_barebones.a64.o
aarch64-linux-gnu-objdump -d hello_barebones.a64.o
aarch64-linux-gnu-ld hello_barebones.a64.o -o hello_barebones-a64
aarch64-linux-gnu-objdump -d hello_barebones-a64
qemu-arm-static ./hello_barebones-a64
Often it useful to see how a compiler translates a certain C expression.
Assuming test.c contains code with that expression. Run
aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc-8 test.c -c -O3 -o xxx.o ; aarch64-linux-gnu-objdump -D xxx.o
to see the result.
Qemu can also used to generated traces which can be useful for debugging:
General purpose reg contents only
qemu-aarch64-static -singlestep -d nochain,cpu test.exe 2> trace.txt
General purpose + FP reg contents and instruction:
qemu-aarch64-static -singlestep -d nochain,cpu,fpu,in_asm test.exe 2> trace.txt