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xPack GNU RISC-V Embedded GCC v10.2.0-1.2 released

· 11 min read
Liviu Ionescu (ilg)
Liviu Ionescu (ilg)

Version 10.2.0-1.2 is a maintenance release; it expands the multi-libs with non-C (compressed) configurations.

The xPack GNU RISC-V Embedded GCC is a standalone cross-platform binary distribution of the SiFive RISC-V GCC.

There are binaries for x64 Windows, macOS (x64) and GNU/Linux (x64 and x86, Arm 64-bit).

Raspberry Pi

The main targets for the GNU/Linux Arm binaries are the Raspberry Pi class devices (armv7l and aarch64; armv6 is not supported).

note

Due to memory limitations during the build, there is no Arm 32-bit image.

Download​

The binary files are available from GitHub Releases.

Prerequisites​

  • x86/x64 GNU/Linux: any system with GLIBC 2.15 or higher (like Ubuntu 12 or later, Debian 8 or later, RedHat/CentOS 7 later, Fedora 20 or later, etc)
  • Arm GNU/Linux 64-bit: any system with GLIBC 2.23 or higher (like Ubuntu 16 or later, Debian 9 or later, RedHat/CentOS 8 or later, Fedora 24 or later, etc); (there is no Arm 32-bit image!);
  • x86/x64 Windows: Windows 7 with the Universal C Runtime (UCRT), Windows 8, Windows 10
  • x64 macOS: 10.13 or later

Install​

The easiest way to install this specific version, is by using xpm:

xpm install @xpack-dev-tools/riscv-none-elf-gcc@10.2.0-1.2.1 --verbose

Comprehensive instructions for installing xPack GNU RISC-V Embedded GCC on different platforms can be found in the Install Guide.

Compliance​

The xPack GNU RISC-V Embedded GCC generally follows the official SiFive RISC-V GCC releases), with as little differences as possible.

The current version is based on:

  • SiFive RISC-V GCC release v2020.12.0 from April 7, 2021, and includes the SiFive extensions, including the RVV vector support.

Supported libraries​

The supported libraries are:

$ riscv-none-embed-gcc -print-multi-lib
.;
rv32e/ilp32e;@march=rv32e@mabi=ilp32e
rv32ea/ilp32e;@march=rv32ea@mabi=ilp32e
rv32em/ilp32e;@march=rv32em@mabi=ilp32e
rv32ema/ilp32e;@march=rv32ema@mabi=ilp32e
rv32i/ilp32;@march=rv32i@mabi=ilp32
rv32ia/ilp32;@march=rv32ia@mabi=ilp32
rv32im/ilp32;@march=rv32im@mabi=ilp32
rv32ima/ilp32;@march=rv32ima@mabi=ilp32
rv32if/ilp32f;@march=rv32if@mabi=ilp32f
rv32ifd/ilp32d;@march=rv32ifd@mabi=ilp32d
rv32iaf/ilp32f;@march=rv32iaf@mabi=ilp32f
rv32iafd/ilp32d;@march=rv32iafd@mabi=ilp32d
rv32imf/ilp32f;@march=rv32imf@mabi=ilp32f
rv32imfd/ilp32d;@march=rv32imfd@mabi=ilp32d
rv32imaf/ilp32f;@march=rv32imaf@mabi=ilp32f
rv32imafd/ilp32d;@march=rv32imafd@mabi=ilp32d
rv64i/lp64;@march=rv64i@mabi=lp64
rv64i/lp64/compact;@march=rv64i@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64ia/lp64;@march=rv64ia@mabi=lp64
rv64ia/lp64/compact;@march=rv64ia@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64im/lp64;@march=rv64im@mabi=lp64
rv64im/lp64/compact;@march=rv64im@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64ima/lp64;@march=rv64ima@mabi=lp64
rv64ima/lp64/compact;@march=rv64ima@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64if/lp64f;@march=rv64if@mabi=lp64f
rv64if/lp64f/compact;@march=rv64if@mabi=lp64f@mcmodel=compact
rv64ifd/lp64d;@march=rv64ifd@mabi=lp64d
rv64ifd/lp64d/compact;@march=rv64ifd@mabi=lp64d@mcmodel=compact
rv64iaf/lp64f;@march=rv64iaf@mabi=lp64f
rv64iaf/lp64f/compact;@march=rv64iaf@mabi=lp64f@mcmodel=compact
rv64iafd/lp64d;@march=rv64iafd@mabi=lp64d
rv64iafd/lp64d/compact;@march=rv64iafd@mabi=lp64d@mcmodel=compact
rv64imf/lp64f;@march=rv64imf@mabi=lp64f
rv64imf/lp64f/compact;@march=rv64imf@mabi=lp64f@mcmodel=compact
rv64imfd/lp64d;@march=rv64imfd@mabi=lp64d
rv64imfd/lp64d/compact;@march=rv64imfd@mabi=lp64d@mcmodel=compact
rv64imaf/lp64f;@march=rv64imaf@mabi=lp64f
rv64imaf/lp64f/compact;@march=rv64imaf@mabi=lp64f@mcmodel=compact
rv64imafd/lp64d;@march=rv64imafd@mabi=lp64d
rv64imafd/lp64d/compact;@march=rv64imafd@mabi=lp64d@mcmodel=compact
rv32ec/ilp32e;@march=rv32ec@mabi=ilp32e
rv32ec_zba_zbb/ilp32e;@march=rv32ec_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32e
rv32eac/ilp32e;@march=rv32eac@mabi=ilp32e
rv32eac_zba_zbb/ilp32e;@march=rv32eac_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32e
rv32emc/ilp32e;@march=rv32emc@mabi=ilp32e
rv32emc_zba_zbb/ilp32e;@march=rv32emc_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32e
rv32emac/ilp32e;@march=rv32emac@mabi=ilp32e
rv32emac_zba_zbb/ilp32e;@march=rv32emac_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32e
rv32ic/ilp32;@march=rv32ic@mabi=ilp32
rv32ic_zba_zbb/ilp32;@march=rv32ic_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32
rv32iac/ilp32;@march=rv32iac@mabi=ilp32
rv32iac_zba_zbb/ilp32;@march=rv32iac_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32
rv32imc/ilp32;@march=rv32imc@mabi=ilp32
rv32imc_zba_zbb/ilp32;@march=rv32imc_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32
rv32imac/ilp32;@march=rv32imac@mabi=ilp32
rv32imac_zba_zbb/ilp32;@march=rv32imac_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32
rv32imfc/ilp32f;@march=rv32imfc@mabi=ilp32f
rv32imfc_zba_zbb/ilp32f;@march=rv32imfc_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32f
rv32imafc/ilp32f;@march=rv32imafc@mabi=ilp32f
rv32imafc_zba_zbb/ilp32f;@march=rv32imafc_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32f
rv32imfdc/ilp32d;@march=rv32imfdc@mabi=ilp32d
rv32imfdc_zba_zbb/ilp32d;@march=rv32imfdc_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32d
rv32imafdc/ilp32d;@march=rv32imafdc@mabi=ilp32d
rv32imafdc_zba_zbb/ilp32d;@march=rv32imafdc_zba_zbb@mabi=ilp32d
rv64ic/lp64;@march=rv64ic@mabi=lp64
rv64ic/lp64/compact;@march=rv64ic@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64ic_zba_zbb/lp64;@march=rv64ic_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64
rv64ic_zba_zbb/lp64/compact;@march=rv64ic_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64iac/lp64;@march=rv64iac@mabi=lp64
rv64iac/lp64/compact;@march=rv64iac@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64iac_zba_zbb/lp64;@march=rv64iac_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64
rv64iac_zba_zbb/lp64/compact;@march=rv64iac_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64imc/lp64;@march=rv64imc@mabi=lp64
rv64imc/lp64/compact;@march=rv64imc@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64imc_zba_zbb/lp64;@march=rv64imc_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64
rv64imc_zba_zbb/lp64/compact;@march=rv64imc_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64imac/lp64;@march=rv64imac@mabi=lp64
rv64imac/lp64/compact;@march=rv64imac@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64imac_zba_zbb/lp64;@march=rv64imac_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64
rv64imac_zba_zbb/lp64/compact;@march=rv64imac_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64@mcmodel=compact
rv64imfc/lp64f;@march=rv64imfc@mabi=lp64f
rv64imfc/lp64f/compact;@march=rv64imfc@mabi=lp64f@mcmodel=compact
rv64imfc_zba_zbb/lp64f;@march=rv64imfc_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64f
rv64imfc_zba_zbb/lp64f/compact;@march=rv64imfc_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64f@mcmodel=compact
rv64imafc/lp64f;@march=rv64imafc@mabi=lp64f
rv64imafc/lp64f/compact;@march=rv64imafc@mabi=lp64f@mcmodel=compact
rv64imafc_zba_zbb/lp64f;@march=rv64imafc_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64f
rv64imafc_zba_zbb/lp64f/compact;@march=rv64imafc_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64f@mcmodel=compact
rv64imfdc/lp64d;@march=rv64imfdc@mabi=lp64d
rv64imfdc/lp64d/compact;@march=rv64imfdc@mabi=lp64d@mcmodel=compact
rv64imfdc_zba_zbb/lp64d;@march=rv64imfdc_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64d
rv64imfdc_zba_zbb/lp64d/compact;@march=rv64imfdc_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64d@mcmodel=compact
rv64imafdc/lp64d;@march=rv64imafdc@mabi=lp64d
rv64imafdc/lp64d/compact;@march=rv64imafdc@mabi=lp64d@mcmodel=compact
rv64imafdc_zba_zbb/lp64d;@march=rv64imafdc_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64d
rv64imafdc_zba_zbb/lp64d/compact;@march=rv64imafdc_zba_zbb@mabi=lp64d@mcmodel=compact

Changes​

There are no functional changes.

Improvements​

Compared to the original SiFive version, the same architecture and API options are supported, and there are minimal functional changes

  • libgloss was removed from the list of libraries always linked to the application, since it issues ECALL instructions that fail in bare metal environments

Compressed instructions libraries​

The SiFive v2020.12.0 release no longer includes libraries without the C (compressed) instructions; however there are still many RISC-V designs, like gate count/area conscious soft IP implementation targeting FPGA without compressed instructions; to support them too, in addition to the libraries included in the SiFive toolchain, in the xPack distribution the list of multi-libs was expanded with 28 more combinations:

rv32e-ilp32e--
rv32ea-ilp32e--
rv32em-ilp32e--
rv32ema-ilp32e--
rv32i-ilp32--
rv32ia-ilp32--
rv32im-ilp32--
rv32ima-ilp32--
rv32if-ilp32f--
rv32ifd-ilp32d--
rv32iaf-ilp32f--
rv32iafd-ilp32d--
rv32imf-ilp32f--
rv32imfd-ilp32d--
rv32imaf-ilp32f--
rv32imafd-ilp32d--
rv64i-lp64--
rv64ia-lp64--
rv64im-lp64--
rv64ima-lp64--
rv64if-lp64f--
rv64ifd-lp64d--
rv64iaf-lp64f--
rv64iafd-lp64d--
rv64imf-lp64f--
rv64imfd-lp64d--
rv64imaf-lp64f--
rv64imafd-lp64d--

newlib-nano​

Support for newlib-nano is available using the --specs=nano.specs option. For better results, this option must be added to both compile and link time.

nosys.specs​

If no syscalls are needed, --specs=nosys.specs can be used at link time to provide empty implementations for the POSIX system calls.

Compile options​

The libraries are compiled with -O2 -mcmodel=medany. The nano version is compiled with -Os -mcmodel=medany.

caution

It is mandatory for the applications to be compiled with -mcmodel=medany, otherwise the link will fail.

Python​

Support for Python scripting was added to GDB. This distribution provides a separate binary, riscv-none-embed-gdb-py3 with support for Python 3.7.

The Python 3 run-time is included, so GDB does not need any version of Python to be installed, and is insensitive to the presence of other versions.

Support for Python 2 was discontinued.

Text User Interface (TUI)​

Support for TUI was added to GDB. The ncurses library (v6.2) was added to the distribution.

note

TUI is not available on Windows

Bug fixes​

  • none

Enhancements​

  • none

Known problems​

  • due to the very large number of instructions added by the vector support (~70K), the compiler sources became too large and it was not possible to build the Arm 32-bit image (#229)
  • the archive size got too big for the Windows 32-bit node to handle, and xpm install may fail with RangeError: Array buffer allocation failed; the 64-bit systems are not affected.

Documentation​

The original documentation is available in the share/doc folder.

Build​

The binaries for all supported platforms (Windows, macOS and Intel & Arm GNU/Linux) were built using the xPack Build Box (XBB), a set of build environments based on slightly older distributions, that should be compatible with most recent systems.

The scripts used to build this distribution are in:

  • distro-info/scripts

For the prerequisites and more details on the build procedure, please see the README-MAINTAINER page.

CI tests​

Before publishing, a set of simple tests were performed on an exhaustive set of platforms. The results are available from:

Tests​

The binaries were tested on a variety of platforms, but mainly to check the integrity of the build, not the compiler functionality.

Checksums​

The SHA-256 hashes for the files are:

62637b65ba5f57b88ee32ebf329164cbd9b2fa1d4531915950f707499a7efa2a
xpack-riscv-none-embed-gcc-10.2.0-1.2-darwin-x64.tar.gz

8d516bc593144935d844e1a34f113cde4b9e0ee0046c1f0228e9924f35b4dd30
xpack-riscv-none-embed-gcc-10.2.0-1.2-linux-arm64.tar.gz

2e3f947403404359c8996a8b8c50dc61e8ee0f720da561d354f74b57f2fd4d53
xpack-riscv-none-embed-gcc-10.2.0-1.2-linux-ia32.tar.gz

d72bdcd1eee41dc5a208a8a03976b70d014510deb5890c9e8738e804ba23f985
xpack-riscv-none-embed-gcc-10.2.0-1.2-linux-x64.tar.gz

f9d25d057d69e3d460fd15f422b533ae315e6ecdcd389bbd784cc2e083ba64b3
xpack-riscv-none-embed-gcc-10.2.0-1.2-win32-ia32.zip

2ec9f651dc349da0672edf6d26542e85c7c8068c8eab11b88b99b0edbd2260fc
xpack-riscv-none-embed-gcc-10.2.0-1.2-win32-x64.zip

Deprecation notices​

32-bit support​

Support for 32-bit Intel Linux and Intel Windows will most probably be dropped in 2022. Support for 32-bit Arm Linux will be preserved for a while, due to the large user base of 32-bit Raspberry Pi systems.

Linux minimum requirements​

Support for RedHat 7 will most probably be dropped in 2022, and the minimum requirement will be raised to GLIBC 2.27, available starting with Ubuntu 18 and RedHat 8.

Download analytics​

Credit to Shields IO for the badges and to Somsubhra/github-release-stats for the individual file counters.