Tiny GCC: Pure, Unadulterated, Object Code

[John Carter]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2008, Michael Witten wrote:

>    These cross-compilers don't need access to any kind of
>    libraries or headers.
>
>    They don't need C libraries, or libstdc++, or libobjc,
>    or anything that has absolutely nothing to do whatsoever
>    with compilation.
>
>
> Can I build gcc in this way?


Build gcc with the libc that goes into the target.

Compile your code with one or more of.....

`-nostartfiles'
      Do not use the standard system startup files when linking.  The
      standard system libraries are used normally, unless `-nostdlib' or
      `-nodefaultlibs' is used.

`-nodefaultlibs'
      Do not use the standard system libraries when linking.  Only the
      libraries you specify will be passed to the linker.  The standard
      startup files are used normally, unless `-nostartfiles' is used.
      The compiler may generate calls to `memcmp', `memset', `memcpy'
      and `memmove'.  These entries are usually resolved by entries in
      libc.  These entry points should be supplied through some other
      mechanism when this option is specified.

`-nostdlib'
      Do not use the standard system startup files or libraries when
      linking.  No startup files and only the libraries you specify will
      be passed to the linker.  The compiler may generate calls to
      `memcmp', `memset', `memcpy' and `memmove'.  These entries are
      usually resolved by entries in libc.  These entry points should be
      supplied through some other mechanism when this option is
      specified.

      One of the standard libraries bypassed by `-nostdlib' and
      `-nodefaultlibs' is `libgcc.a', a library of internal subroutines
      that GCC uses to overcome shortcomings of particular machines, or
      special needs for some languages.  (*Note Interfacing to GCC
      Output: (gccint)Interface, for more discussion of `libgcc.a'.)  In
      most cases, you need `libgcc.a' even when you want to avoid other
      standard libraries.  In other words, when you specify `-nostdlib'
      or `-nodefaultlibs' you should usually specify `-lgcc' as well.
      This ensures that you have no unresolved references to internal GCC
      library subroutines.  (For example, `__main', used to ensure C++
      constructors will be called; *note `collect2': (gccint)Collect2.)




John Carter                             Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639
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