When working with Debian-based systems, cross-compiling allows you to build programs for a different architecture than the one you are currently running on. This can be particularly useful when developing software for embedded systems or when targeting specific hardware platforms. In this blog post, we will explore how to perform cross-compilation on Debian using bash scripting.

Prerequisites

Before we start, we need to ensure that we have the necessary tools installed on our system. Open a terminal and run the following command to install the required packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf

The build-essential package includes basic software development tools, such as gcc and make. The gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf package provides the ARM cross-compiler.

Setting Up the Environment

To begin cross-compiling, we need to set up the environment variables for the cross-compiler. Open a terminal and run the following command:

export CC=arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc

This command sets the CC environment variable to point to the ARM cross-compiler. Now, any build or compilation command that references $CC will use the cross-compiler instead of the default gcc.

Compiling a Simple Program

Let’s compile a simple “Hello, World!” program to test our cross-compilation setup. Create a new file named hello.c and open it in a text editor.

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("Hello, World!\n");
    return 0;
}

Save the file and return to the terminal. Run the following command to compile the program:

$CC -o hello hello.c

This command instructs the cross-compiler ($CC) to compile the hello.c source file and produce an executable named hello.

Testing the Cross-Compiled Program

Now that we have our cross-compiled executable, we can test it on the target platform. Copy the hello executable to the target device using any preferred method, such as secure copy (scp):

scp hello user@target:/path/to/destination

Replace user with the username on the target device, target with the IP address or hostname of the target device, and /path/to/destination with the location where you want to store the executable.

Once the file is copied, log in to the target device and navigate to the destination directory. Run the following command to execute the cross-compiled program:

./hello

If everything is set up correctly, you should see the familiar “Hello, World!” message printed to the console.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned how to perform cross-compilation on Debian-based systems using bash scripting. We installed the necessary packages, set up the environment variables, compiled a simple program, and tested it on the target device. Cross-compilation is a powerful technique that allows developers to efficiently build and deploy software for different architectures, expanding the possibilities of software development beyond the constraints of a single platform.