How to build the assets?

[kohler]

Hi Sergio!

Thanks very much for this port, which I've used in teaching for several semesters. I'd like to build a version of the port with a newer GCC. Do you have any scripts/config lines explaining how you built the assets?

Thanks,
Eddie Kohler

[SergioBenitez]

Hi Eddie! Glad to hear you've been using the ports successfully!

My raw, personal notes are below. I've updated them on every successful and unsuccessful attempt to build a macOS-hosted cross-compiler. I will note, however, that unsuccessful attempts are much more common than the inverse. If you manage to build a more recent version, I'd love to update the binaries in this repository!

Installation & Build

0. Install required dependencies:

   brew install gawk help2man bash gcc
   brew reinstall --universal --with-examples gettext
   brew link --force gawk gettext

1. Build crosstool-ng from source.

   git clone https://github.com/crosstool-ng/crosstool-ng.git
   cd crosstool-ng
   ./bootstrap

   • This will inform you of any missing dependencies.

   • You may need to modify the first line of this file to read:

     /usr/local/bin/bash

   ./configure --prefix=$SOME_LOCAL_PATH

   • I used SOME_LOCAL_PATH=/Users/$user/Local/xtools-ng

   make
   make install
   alias ct-ng=$SOME_LOCAL_PATH/bin/ct-ng

2. Create two case-sensitive images.

   The large volume will be the build directory. The small volume will contain
   the finished binaries.

   A few configuration parameters:

   • $large-volume: name to be used for large image (e.g: arch-build)
   • $small-volume: name to be used for small image (e.g: arch-tools)
   • $large-location: where to store the large image (e.g: arch-build.dmg)
   • $small-location: where to store the small image (e.g: arch-tools.dmg)

   hdiutil create -type SPARSE -fs 'Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+' -size 16g -volname $large-volume $large-location

   hdiutil create -type SPARSE -fs 'Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+' -size 1g -volname $small-volume $small-location

3. Mount the images.

   option 1) just open the images

   option 2) hdiutil attach $LOCATION

4. Create the config (in small volume).

   This is the hardest part.

   Idea is to start with a known working config (see ct-ng list-samples) and
   then modify it as desired. For example, for the Raspberry Pi 3:

    ct-ng aarch64-rpi3-linux-gnueabi
   

   Then use ct-ng menuconfig to change things around. In particular, modify
   the "Paths" to point to the two volumes that were created.

    * Local tarballs directory: /Volumes/${large-volume}/src
    * Working directory: /Volumes/${large-volume}/.build
    * Prefix directory: /Volumes/${small-volume}/${CT_TARGET}
   

   • Uncheck "render toolchain read-only"
   • Ensure curl is used for downloads. wget fails strangely.
   • Uncheck "add crosstool-ng version to --version output"

5. Create the src directory.

   mkdir /Volumes/${large-volume}/src

6. Build.

   ct-ng build

Troubleshooting

Bad Digests

This happens sometimes, for some reason. Just try building again. If that
doesn't work, ct-ng clean, then try again.

You'll need to have the GNU sha512sum coreutil installed. This can come from
brew install coreutils. You'll need to symlink it manually:

  sudo ln -s sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/gsha512sum /usr/local/bin/sha512sum

[SergioBenitez]

Closing this out, but do let me know if I can be of further help!