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About the xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC

The project​

The xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC project is part of the xPack Reproducible Build Framework and is hosted on GitHub as xpack-dev-tools/aarch64-none-elf-gcc-xpack, part of the xPack Binary Development Tools.

The main goal of this project is to streamline the development of embedded projects. µOS++ is the first cross-platform project to benefit from the xPack tools.

Project history​

The project was created in April 2022, following Arm's reorganization of the Arm GNU Toolchain which resulted in a family of toolchains for bare metal AArch64 and AArch32 targets.

The build scripts were initially a copy/paste of the arm-none-eabi-gcc-xpack project.

Both aarch64-none-elf and arm-none-eabi toolchains follow the Arm releases schedule (which are usually one major version behind the GNU releases), utilizing the same sources and similar build configurations as the official Arm releases. They are designed to be fully compatible with the official Arm GNU Toolchains.

May 2022​

The first xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC release was v11.2.1-1.1.

Support for parsing XML files in GDB was added (in v11.2.1-1.2).

December 2022​

The project received a significant update by transitioning the build scripts from the cumbersome monolithic XBB Docker images to the more flexible and modular xpm packages. XBB version 5.0.0 marked a major milestone for the xPack project, as it was the first self-sustained release. This version enabled the creation of new binary packages using existing binary packages, eliminating the need for custom Docker images or other compiled tools.

August 2024​

The project underwent a comprehensive restructuring. To streamline the top package.json by showcasing only user-related definitions and concealing build-related ones, all build-related files were relocated to the build-assets folder. Furthermore, the development Git branch was renamed to xpack-development for enhanced clarity.

Support for ld.gold was added (in v13.3.1-1.1).

Support for TUI in GDB was added on Windows too (in v13.3.1-1.1).

The web site​

The initial web site was launched in July 2022 as a sub-site in the xPack web site. It used the Jekyll Doc Theme 6.0 by Tom Johnson.

In August 2024, as part of the project restructuring, the website content was migrated from the xPack Jekyll sub-site to a local Docusaurus configuration stored in the website folder. To ensure continuity, HTML <meta> redirects were added to the old pages. Additionally, a GitHub Action was implemented to automatically publish the site upon any pushes to the website Git branch.

The author​

This project is currently maintained by Liviu Ionescu (ilg-ul), a senior computer engineer, with expertise in C++/C embedded systems, RTOSes, build tools, operating systems, compilers and Internet technologies.

He can be reached at <ilg@livius.net>. Please note, this email address is provided as a courtesy. For all correspondence related to the xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC project, kindly use the project support page).