Chapter 2. Learning About Toolchains

The toolchain is the first element of embedded Linux and the starting point of your project. The choices you make at this early stage will have a profound impact on the final outcome. Your toolchain should be capable of making effective use of your hardware by using the optimum instruction set for your processor, using the floating point unit if there is one, and so on. It should support the languages that you require and have a solid implementation of POSIX and other system interfaces. Not only that, but it should be updated when security flaws are discovered or bugs found. Finally, it should be constant throughout the project. In other words, once you have chosen your toolchain it is important to stick with it. Changing compilers and development libraries in an inconsistent way during a project will lead to subtle bugs.

Obtaining a toolchain is as simple as downloading and installing a package. But, the toolchain itself is a complex thing, as I will show you in this chapter.