Introduction

The GNUPro Toolkit for eCos is a complete solution for C and C++ development for the VR4300. The tools include the compiler, assembler, linker, and interactive debugger. Linker and debugger support is also included for the NEC evaluation board. In addition to this manual, please read " Getting started with eCos ." This document consists of the following sections:
An introduction to the features of the GNUPro Toolkit for eCos.
Describes the EABI and VR4300-specific attributes of the main GNUPro tools.

Tool naming conventions

Cross-development tools in the Cygnus GNUPro Toolkit normally have names that reflect the target processor and the object file format output by the tools


(for example, ELF). This makes it possible to install more than one set of tools in the same binary directory, including both native and cross-development tools.

The complete tool name is a three-part hyphenated string. The first part indicates the processor family ('mips64vr4300 '). The second part indicates the file format output by the tool ('elf '). The third part is the generic tool name ('gcc '). For example, the GCC compiler for the VR4300 is 'mips64vr4300-elf-gcc '.

The VR4300 package includes the following supported tools:
 
Tool Description
Tool Name
GCC compiler
mips64vr4300-elf-gcc
C++ compiler
mips64vr4300-elf-c++
GAS assembler
mips64vr4300-elf-as
GLD linker
mips64vr4300-elf-ld
Binary Utilities
mips64vr4300-elf-ar
mips64vr4300-elf-nm
mips64vr4300-elf-objcopy
mips64vr4300-elf-objdump
mips64vr4300-elf-ranlib
mips64vr4300-elf-size
mips64vr4300-elf-strings
mips64vr4300-elf-strip
GDB debugger
mips64vr4300-elf-gdb

The binaries for a Windows NT hosted toolchain are installed with an '.exe ' suffix. However, the '.exe ' suffix does not need to be specified when running the executable.

Toolkit features

The following describes features of the GNUPro Toolkit for the NEC VR4300.

Processor version(s)

NEC VR4300

Targets Supported

NEC VR4300 evaluation board
The evaluation board is little-endian. The toolchain is little-endian by default. Compiler and assembler options are available to produce big-endian code.

Hosts Supported

CPU
Operating System
Vendor
x86
Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft

Object file format

The VR4300 tools support the ELF object file format. Refer to Chapter 4, System V Application Binary Interface (Prentice Hall, 1990.). Use 'ld ' (refer to Using LD in GNUPro Utilities ) or 'objcopy ' (refer to The GNU Binary Utilities in GNUPro Utilities ) to produce S-records.

GNUPro on Windows NT

Windows environment settings

The Windows NT hosted toolchain requires the following environmental settings to function properly. Assuming the release is installed in:
C:\cygnus\gnupro\i686-cygwin32\mips64vr4300-elf\ecos-99r1-991015
SET PROOT=C:\cygnus\gnupro\i686-cygwin32\mips64vr4300-elf\ecos-99r1-991015
SET PATH=%PROOT%\H-i686-cygwin32\bin;%PATH%
SET INFOPATH=%PROOT%\info
REM Set TMPDIR to point to a ramdisk if you have one
SET TMPDIR=C:\TEMP
A working environment can be established by using the following shortcut from the Windows Start menu:
 
Programs->Cygnus eCos->eCos Development Environment
 
This will bring up a window running "bash", and your Windows environment will be automatically set up.

Case Sensitivity

The following strings are case sensitive under Unix and Windows NT:
The following strings are not case sensitive under Unix or Windows NT:
Case sensitivity for Windows NT is dependent on system configuration. By default, file names under Windows NT are not case sensitive.