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Getting Started with xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC

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Overview​

xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC is a standalone cross-platform (Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux) binary distribution of GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC, intended for reproducible builds.

GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC is the aarch64-none-elf cross-compiler variant of Arm GNU Toolchain, an open source project based on the GNU Compiler Collection, maintained by the Free Software Foundation.

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In this context, embedded refers exclusively to bare-metal systems, not embedded Linux, which necessitates a different toolchain for building Linux user space applications.

The open source xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC project is hosted on GitHub as xpack-dev-tools/aarch64-none-elf-gcc-xpack; it provides the platform specific binaries as release assets.

In addition to the binary archives and the package metadata, this project also includes the build scripts.

Features​

All binaries are:

  • self-contained (include all required libraries)
  • file-system relocatable (can be installed in any location)
  • built on slightly older systems (to make them run on both old and new systems)
Compatibility with older systems

Given that most operating systems maintain significant compatibility with older versions, building an application on an older system ensures that the same binary can run on newer versions. Conversely, building an application on a newer system may utilize library features that are not available in older versions, making backward compatibility less feasible.

Benefits​

The main advantages of using the xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC are:

  • a convenient, uniform and portable install/uninstall/upgrade procedure; the same procedure is used for all major platforms (x64 Windows, x64 macOS, arm64 macOS, x64 GNU/Linux, arm64 GNU/Linux, arm GNU/Linux)
  • multiple versions of the same package can be installed at the same time on the same system
  • no need to worry about dependent libraries, all are included
  • significantly lighter and easier to use than Docker images that provide similar functionality and are GNU/Linux centric
  • projects can be tied to specific tools versions; this provides a good reproducibility, especially useful in CI/CD environments.

Compatibility​

The xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC project is fully compatible with the aarch64-none-elf variant of the Arm GNU Toolchain of the upstream GCC.

Install​

The binaries can be installed automatically as binary xPacks or manually as portable archives.

The details of installing the xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC on various platforms are presented in the Install Guide.

Documentation​

The original GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC documentation is available from the GCC project web site:

Release schedule​

This distribution generally follows the official Arm GNU Toolchain release schedule (about 2 times per year).

Support & feedback​

The quick advice for getting support and providing feedback is to use the GitHub Discussions.

For additional information, please refer to the Help Centre page.

Change log​

The release and change log is available in the repository CHANGELOG.md file.

Maintainer & Developer information​

For information on the workflow used to make releases, please see the Maintainer Info page.

For information on how to build the binaries, please see the Developer Info page.

However, the ultimate source for details are the build scripts themselves, all available from the aarch64-none-elf-gcc-xpack.git/build-assets/scripts folder. The scripts include common code from the @xpack-dev-tools/xbb-helper package.

License​

Unless otherwise stated, the original content is released under the terms of the MIT License, with all rights reserved to Liviu Ionescu.

The binary distributions include several open-source components; the corresponding licenses are available in each archive in the distro-info/licenses folder.

Releases​

The list of releases is available in the Releases pages.