PREV UP NEXT Using and Porting GNU CC

Chapter 4: Installing GNU CC

  • Configurations Configurations Supported by GNU CC.
  • Other Dir Compiling in a separate directory (not where the source is).
  • Cross-Compiler Building and installing a cross-compiler.
  • Sun Install See below for installation on the Sun.
  • VMS Install See below for installation on VMS.
  • Collect2 How collect2 works; how it finds ld.
  • Header Dirs Understanding the standard header file directories.
  • Here is the procedure for installing GNU CC on a Unix system. See VMS Install, for VMS systems. In this section we assume you compile in the same directory that contains the source files; see Other Dir, to find out how to compile in a separate directory on Unix systems.

    You cannot install GNU C by itself on MSDOS; it will not compile under any MSDOS compiler except itself. You need to get the complete compilation package DJGPP, which includes binaries as well as sources, and includes all the necessary compilation tools and libraries.

    1. If you have built GNU CC previously in the same directory for a different target machine, do `make distclean' to delete all files that might be invalid. One of the files this deletes is `Makefile'; if `make distclean' complains that `Makefile' does not exist, it probably means that the directory is already suitably clean.
    2. On a System V release 4 system, make sure `/usr/bin' precedes `/usr/ucb' in PATH. The cc command in `/usr/ucb' uses libraries which have bugs.
    3. Specify the host and target machine configurations. You do this by running the file `configure' with appropriate arguments.

      The `configure' script searches subdirectories of the source directory for other compilers that are to be integrated into GNU CC. The GNU compiler for C++, called G++ is in a subdirectory named `cp'. `configure' inserts rules into `Makefile' to build all of those compilers.

      If you are building a compiler to produce code for the machine it runs on, specify the configuration name with the `--target' option; the host will default to be the same as the target. (If you are building a cross-compiler, see Cross-Compiler.)

      Here is an example:

      ./configure --target=sparc-sun-sunos4.1
      

      If you run `configure' without specifying configuration arguments, `configure' tries to guess the type of host you are on, and uses that configuration type for both host and target. So you don't need to specify a configuration, for building a native compiler, unless `configure' cannot figure out what your configuration is.

      A configuration name may be canonical or it may be more or less abbreviated.

      A canonical configuration name has three parts, separated by dashes. It looks like this: `cpu-company-system'. (The three parts may themselves contain dashes; `configure' can figure out which dashes serve which purpose.) For example, `m68k-sun-sunos4.1' specifies a Sun 3.

      You can also replace parts of the configuration by nicknames or aliases. For example, `sun3' stands for `m68k-sun', so `sun3-sunos4.1' is another way to specify a Sun 3. You can also use simply `sun3-sunos', since the version of SunOS is assumed by default to be version 4. `sun3-bsd' also works, since `configure' knows that the only BSD variant on a Sun 3 is SunOS.

      You can specify a version number after any of the system types, and some of the CPU types. In most cases, the version is irrelevant, and will be ignored. So you might as well specify the version if you know it.

      See Configurations, for a list of supported configuration names and notes on many of the configurations. You should check the notes in that section before proceding any further with the installation of GNU CC.

      There are four additional options you can specify independently to describe variant hardware and software configurations. These are `--with-gnu-as', `--with-gnu-ld', `--with-stabs' and `--nfp'.

      `--with-gnu-as'
      If you will use GNU CC with the GNU assembler (GAS), you should declare this by using the `--with-gnu-as' option when you run `configure'.

      Using this option does not install GAS. It only modifies the output of GNU CC to work with GAS. Building and installing GAS is up to you.

      Conversely, if you do not wish to use GAS and do not specify `--with-gnu-as' when building GNU CC, it is up to you to make sure that GAS is not installed. GNU CC searches for a program named as in various directories; if the program it finds is GAS, then it runs GAS. If you are not sure where GNU CC finds the assembler it is using, try specifying `-v' when you run it.

      The systems where it makes a difference whether you use GAS are
      `hppa1.0-any-any', `hppa1.1-any-any', `i386-any-sysv', `i386-any-isc',
      `i860-any-bsd', `m68k-bull-sysv', `m68k-hp-hpux', `m68k-sony-bsd',
      `m68k-altos-sysv', `m68000-hp-hpux', `m68000-att-sysv', and `mips-any'). On any other system, `--with-gnu-as' has no effect.

      On the systems listed above (except for the HP-PA and for ISC on the 386), if you use GAS, you should also use the GNU linker (and specify `--with-gnu-ld').

      `--with-gnu-ld'
      Specify the option `--with-gnu-ld' if you plan to use the GNU linker with GNU CC.

      This option does not cause the GNU linker to be installed; it just modifies the behavior of GNU CC to work with the GNU linker. Specifically, it inhibits the installation of collect2, a program which otherwise serves as a front-end for the system's linker on most configurations.

      `--with-stabs'
      On MIPS based systems and on Alphas, you must specify whether you want GNU CC to create the normal ECOFF debugging format, or to use BSD-style stabs passed through the ECOFF symbol table. The normal ECOFF debug format cannot fully handle languages other than C. BSD stabs format can handle other languages, but it only works with the GNU debugger GDB.

      Normally, GNU CC uses the ECOFF debugging format by default; if you prefer BSD stabs, specify `--with-stabs' when you configure GNU CC.

      No matter which default you choose when you configure GNU CC, the user can use the `-gcoff' and `-gstabs+' options to specify explicitly the debug format for a particular compilation.

      `--with-stabs' is meaningful on the ISC system on the 386, also, if `--with-gas' is used. It selects use of stabs debugging information embedded in COFF output. This kind of debugging information supports C++ well; ordinary COFF debugging information does not.

      `--nfp'
      On certain systems, you must specify whether the machine has a floating point unit. These systems include `m68k-sun-sunosn' and `m68k-isi-bsd'. On any other system, `--nfp' currently has no effect, though perhaps there are other systems where it could usefully make a difference.

      Here we spell out what files will be set up by configure. Normally you need not be concerned with these files.

    4. The standard directory for installing GNU CC is `/usr/local/lib'. If you want to install its files somewhere else, specify `--prefix=dir' when you run `configure'. Here dir is a directory name to use instead of `/usr/local' for all purposes with one exception: the directory `/usr/local/include' is searched for header files no matter where you install the compiler. To override this name, use thge --local-prefix option below.
    5. Specify `--local-prefix=dir' if you want the compiler to search directory `dir/include' for header files instead of `/usr/local/include'. (This is for systems that have different conventions for where to put site-specific things.)

      Unless you have a convention other than `/usr/local' for site-specific files, it is a bad idea to specify `--local-prefix'.

    6. Make sure the Bison parser generator is installed. (This is unnecessary if the Bison output files `c-parse.c' and `cexp.c' are more recent than `c-parse.y' and `cexp.y' and you do not plan to change the `.y' files.)

      Bison versions older than Sept 8, 1988 will produce incorrect output for `c-parse.c'.

    7. If you have chosen a configuration for GNU CC which requires other GNU tools (such as GAS or the GNU linker) instead of the standard system tools, install the required tools in the build directory under the names `as', `ld' or whatever is appropriate. This will enable the compiler to find the proper tools for compilation of the program `enquire'.

      Alternatively, you can do subsequent compilation using a value of the PATH environment variable such that the necessary GNU tools come before the standard system tools.

    8. Build the compiler. Just type `make LANGUAGES=c' in the compiler directory.

      `LANGUAGES=c' specifies that only the C compiler should be compiled. The makefile normally builds compilers for all the supported languages; currently, C, C++ and Objective C. However, C is the only language that is sure to work when you build with other non-GNU C compilers. In addition, building anything but C at this stage is a waste of time.

      In general, you can specify the languages to build by typing the argument `LANGUAGES="list"', where list is one or more words from the list `c', `c++', and `objective-c'. If you have any additional GNU compilers as subdirectories of the GNU CC source directory, you may also specify their names in this list.

      Ignore any warnings you may see about ``statement not reached'' in `insn-emit.c'; they are normal. Also, warnings about ``unknown escape sequence'' are normal in `genopinit.c' and perhaps some other files. Likewise, you should ignore warnings about ``constant is so large that it is unsigned'' in `insn-emit.c' and `insn-recog.c'. Any other compilation errors may represent bugs in the port to your machine or operating system, and should be investigated and reported (see Bugs).

      Some commercial compilers fail to compile GNU CC because they have bugs or limitations. For example, the Microsoft compiler is said to run out of macro space. Some Ultrix compilers run out of expression space; then you need to break up the statement where the problem happens.

      If you are building with a previous GNU C compiler, do not use `CC=gcc' on the make command or by editing the Makefile. Instead, use a full pathname to specify the compiler, such as `CC=/usr/local/bin/gcc'. This is because make might execute the `gcc' in the current directory before all of the compiler components have been built.

    9. If you are building a cross-compiler, stop here. See Cross-Compiler.
    10. Move the first-stage object files and executables into a subdirectory with this command:
      make stage1
      

      The files are moved into a subdirectory named `stage1'. Once installation is complete, you may wish to delete these files with rm -r stage1.

    11. If you have chosen a configuration for GNU CC which requires other GNU tools (such as GAS or the GNU linker) instead of the standard system tools, install the required tools in the `stage1' subdirectory under the names `as', `ld' or whatever is appropriate. This will enable the stage 1 compiler to find the proper tools in the following stage.

      Alternatively, you can do subsequent compilation using a value of the PATH environment variable such that the necessary GNU tools come before the standard system tools.

    12. Recompile the compiler with itself, with this command:
      make CC="stage1/xgcc -Bstage1/" CFLAGS="-g -O"
      

      This is called making the stage 2 compiler.

      The command shown above builds compilers for all the supported languages. If you don't want them all, you can specify the languages to build by typing the argument `LANGUAGES="list"'. list should contain one or more words from the list `c', `c++', `objective-c', and `proto'. Separate the words with spaces. `proto' stands for the programs protoize and unprotoize; they are not a separate language, but you use LANGUAGES to enable or disable their installation.

      If you are going to build the stage 3 compiler, then you might want to build only the C language in stage 2.

      Once you have built the stage 2 compiler, if you are short of disk space, you can delete the subdirectory `stage1'.

      On a 68000 or 68020 system lacking floating point hardware, unless you have selected a `tm.h' file that expects by default that there is no such hardware, do this instead:

      make CC="stage1/xgcc -Bstage1/" CFLAGS="-g -O -msoft-float"
      
    13. If you wish to test the compiler by compiling it with itself one more time, install any other necessary GNU tools (such as GAS or the GNU linker) in the `stage2' subdirectory as you did in the `stage1' subdirectory, then do this:
      make stage2
      make CC="stage2/xgcc -Bstage2/" CFLAGS="-g -O" 
      

      This is called making the stage 3 compiler. Aside from the `-B' option, the compiler options should be the same as when you made the stage 2 compiler. But the LANGUAGES option need not be the same. The command shown above builds compilers for all the supported languages; if you don't want them all, you can specify the languages to build by typing the argument `LANGUAGES="list"', as described above.

      If you do not have to install any additional GNU tools, you may use the command

      make bootstrap LANGUAGES=language-list BOOT_CFLAGS=option-list
      

      instead of making `stage1', `stage2', and performing the two compiler builds.

    14. Then compare the latest object files with the stage 2 object files---they ought to be identical, aside from time stamps (if any).

      On some systems, meaningful comparison of object files is impossible; they always appear ``different.'' This is currently true on Solaris and probably on all systems that use ELF object file format. On some versions of Irix on SGI machines and OSF/1 on Alpha systems, you will not be able to compare the files without specifying `-save-temps'; see the description of individual systems above to see if you get comparison failures. You may have similar problems on other systems.

      Use this command to compare the files:

      make compare
      

      This will mention any object files that differ between stage 2 and stage 3. Any difference, no matter how innocuous, indicates that the stage 2 compiler has compiled GNU CC incorrectly, and is therefore a potentially serious bug which you should investigate and report (see Bugs).

      If your system does not put time stamps in the object files, then this is a faster way to compare them (using the Bourne shell):

      for file in *.o; do
      cmp $file stage2/$file
      done
      

      If you have built the compiler with the `-mno-mips-tfile' option on MIPS machines, you will not be able to compare the files.

    15. Build the Objective C library (if you have built the Objective C compiler). Here is the command to do this:
      make objc-runtime CC="stage2/xgcc -Bstage2/" CFLAGS="-g -O"
      
    16. Install the compiler driver, the compiler's passes and run-time support with `make install'. Use the same value for CC, CFLAGS and LANGUAGES that you used when compiling the files that are being installed. One reason this is necessary is that some versions of Make have bugs and recompile files gratuitously when you do this step. If you use the same variable values, those files will be recompiled properly.

      For example, if you have built the stage 2 compiler, you can use the following command:

      make install CC="stage2/xgcc -Bstage2/" CFLAGS="-g -O" LANGUAGES="list"
      

      This copies the files `cc1', `cpp' and `libgcc.a' to files `cc1', `cpp' and `libgcc.a' in the directory `/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/target/version', which is where the compiler driver program looks for them. Here target is the target machine type specified when you ran `configure', and version is the version number of GNU CC. This naming scheme permits various versions and/or cross-compilers to coexist.

      This also copies the driver program `xgcc' into `/usr/local/bin/gcc', so that it appears in typical execution search paths.

      On some systems, this command causes recompilation of some files. This is usually due to bugs in make. You should either ignore this problem, or use GNU Make.

      Warning: there is a bug in alloca in the Sun library. To avoid this bug, be sure to install the executables of GNU CC that were compiled by GNU CC. (That is, the executables from stage 2 or 3, not stage 1.) They use alloca as a built-in function and never the one in the library.

      (It is usually better to install GNU CC executables from stage 2 or 3, since they usually run faster than the ones compiled with some other compiler.)

    17. Install the Objective C library (if you are installing the Objective C compiler). Here is the command to do this:
      make install-libobjc CC="stage2/xgcc -Bstage2/" CFLAGS="-g -O"
      
    18. If you're going to use C++, it's likely that you need to also install the libg++ distribution. It should be available from the same place where you got the GNU C distribution. Just as GNU C does not distribute a C runtime library, it also does not include a C++ run-time library. All I/O functionality, special class libraries, etc., are available in the libg++ distribution.