pw_toolchain#

Embedded toolchains for GN-based Pigweed projects

Stable GN

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.

C/C++ toolchain support libraries#

pw_toolchain provides some toolchain-related C/C++ libraries.

std:abort wrapper#

The std::abort function is used to terminate a program abnormally. This function may be called by standard library functions, so is often linked into binaries, even if users never intentionally call it.

For embedded builds, the abort implementation likely does not work as intended. For example, it may pull in undesired dependencies (e.g. std::raise) and end in an infinite loop.

pw_toolchain provides the pw_toolchain:wrap_abort library that replaces abort in builds where the default behavior is undesirable. It uses the -Wl,--wrap=abort linker option to redirect to abort calls to PW_CRASH instead.

arm-none-eabi-gcc support#

Targets building with the GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain (arm-none-eabi-gcc) should depend on the pw_toolchain/arm_gcc:arm_none_eabi_gcc_support library. In GN, that target should be included in pw_build_LINK_DEPS. In Bazel, it should be added to link_extra_lib or directly to the deps of any binary being build with that toolchain:

cc_binary(
   deps = [
     # Other deps, omitted
   ] + select({
     "@platforms//cpu:armv7e-m": [
       "@pigweed//pw_toolchain/arm_gcc:arm_none_eabi_gcc_support",
     ],
     "//conditions:default": [],
   }),
)

Newlib OS interface#

Newlib, the C Standard Library implementation provided with arm-none-eabi-gcc, defines a set of OS interface functions that should be implemented. Newlib provides default implementations, but using these results in linker warnings like the following:

readr.c:(.text._read_r+0x10): warning: _read is not implemented and will always fail

Most of the OS interface functions should never be called in embedded builds. The pw_toolchain/arg_gcc:newlib_os_interface_stubs library, which is provided through pw_toolchain/arm_gcc:arm_none_eabi_gcc_support, implements these functions and forces a linker error if they are used. It also automatically includes a wrapper for abort for use of stdout and stderr which abort if they are called.

If you need to use your own wrapper for abort, include the library directly using pw_toolchain/arm_gcc:newlib_os_interface_stubs.

Freestanding support#

While Pigweed largely works with -ffreestanding, Pigweed has observed issues where newlib-nano loses PRIx64 and the other 64-bit PRI* macros due to gcc’s stdint-gcc.h being pulled in rather than newlib-nano’s stdint.h (see https://pwbug.dev/382484307).

Additionally, -ffreestanding isn’t often correctly supported well, and most embedded toolchains and libc implementations have been designed around the assumption that -ffreestanding is not set. This partial support can cause confusing errors/behaviors that wouldn’t be encountered under normal conditions.

For these reasons, Pigweed recommends most projects do not use -ffreestanding.

API reference#

Moved: pw_toolchain

builtins#

builtins are LLVM’s equivalent of libgcc, the compiler will insert calls to these routines. Setting the dir_pw_third_party_builtins gn var to your compiler-rt/builtins checkout will enable building builtins from source instead of relying on the shipped libgcc.

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