pw_toolchain

GN toolchains function both as a set of tools for compilation and as a workspace for evaluating build files. The same compilations and actions can be executed by different toolchains. Each toolchain maintains its own set of build args, and build steps from all toolchains can be executed in parallel.

Toolchains

pw_toolchain provides GN toolchains that may be used to build Pigweed. The following toolchains are defined:

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m0plus_debug

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m0plus_speed_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m0plus_size_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m3_debug

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m3_speed_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m3_size_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m4_debug

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m4_speed_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m4_size_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m4f_debug

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m4f_speed_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m4f_size_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m7_debug

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m7_speed_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m7_size_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m7f_debug

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m7f_speed_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m7f_size_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m33_debug

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m33_speed_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m33_size_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m33f_debug

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m33f_speed_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_arm_gcc.cortex_m33f_size_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_host_clang.debug

  • pw_toolchain_host_clang.speed_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_host_clang.size_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_host_clang.fuzz

  • pw_toolchain_host_gcc.debug

  • pw_toolchain_host_gcc.speed_optimized

  • pw_toolchain_host_gcc.size_optimized

Note

The documentation for this module is currently incomplete.

Non-C/C++ toolchains

pw_toolchain/non_c_toolchain.gni provides the pw_non_c_toolchain template. This template creates toolchains that cannot compile C/C++ source code. These toolchains may only be used to execute GN actions or declare groups of targets in other toolchains. Attempting to compile C/C++ code with either of these toolchains results in errors.

Non-C/C++ toolchains can be used to consolidate actions that should only occur once in a multi-toolchain build. Build targets from all toolchains can refer to these actions in a non-C/C++ toolchain so they only execute once instead of once per toolchain.

For example, Pigweed runs protobuf compilation and Python package actions like installation and Pylint in toolchains created with pw_non_c_toolchain. This allows all toolchains to cleanly share the same protobuf and Python declarations without any duplicated work.

Testing other compiler versions

The clang-based toolchain provided by Pigweed can be substituted with another version by modifying the pw_toolchain_CLANG_PREFIX GN build argument to point to the directory that contains the desired clang, clang++, and llvm-ar binaries. This should only be used for debugging purposes. Pigweed does not officially support any compilers other than those provided by Pigweed.

Running static analysis checks

clang-tidy can be run as a compiler replacement, to analyze all sources built for a target. pw_toolchain/static_analysis_toolchain.gni provides the pw_static_analysis_toolchain template. This template creates toolchains that execute clang-tidy for C/C++ sources, and mock implementations of the link, alink and solink tools.

Additionally, generate_toolchain implements a boolean flag static_analysis (default false) which generates the derived toolchain ${target_name}.static_analysis using pw_generate_static_analysis_toolchain and the toolchain options.

Excluding files from checks

The build argument pw_toolchain_STATIC_ANALYSIS_SKIP_SOURCES_GLOB is used used to exclude source files from the analysis. The list must contain POSIX-style globs for individual files, rather than directories. For example, provide "the_path/**/*" to exclude all files in all directories under the_path.

The build argument pw_toolchain_STATIC_ANALYSIS_SKIP_INCLUDE_PATHS is used used to exclude header files from the analysis. This argument must be a list of POSIX-style path suffixes for include paths. For example, passing the_path/include excludes all header files that are accessed from include paths ending in the_path/include.

Provided toolchains

pw_toolchain provides static analysis GN toolchains that may be used to test host targets:

  • pw_toolchain_host_clang.debug.static_analysis

  • pw_toolchain_host_clang.speed_optimized.static_analysis

  • pw_toolchain_host_clang.size_optimized.static_analysis

  • pw_toolchain_host_clang.fuzz.static_analysis (if pw_toolchain_OSS_FUZZ_ENABLED is false)

  • pw_toolchain_arm_clang.debug.static_analysis

  • pw_toolchain_arm_clang.speed_optimized.static_analysis

  • pw_toolchain_arm_clang.size_optimized.static_analysis

For example, to run clang-tidy on all source dependencies of the default target:

generate_toolchain("my_toolchain") {
  ..
  static_analysis = true
}

group("static_analysis") {
  deps = [ ":default(my_toolchain.static_analysis)" ]
}

Warning

The status of the static analysis checks might change when any relevant .clang-tidy file is updated. You should clean the output directory before invoking clang-tidy.