Cross-Compilation for ARM

Build ARM binaries on x86 systems using cross-compilation toolchains.

Toolchain Setup

Install ARM cross-compiler:

# Debian/Ubuntu
apt-get install gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf

# For bare-metal ARM
apt-get install gcc-arm-none-eabi

Basic Compilation

# Compile C program for ARM Linux
arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc -o hello hello.c

# Compile with static linking
arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc -static -o hello hello.c

# Bare-metal compilation
arm-none-eabi-gcc -mcpu=cortex-a9 -o program.elf program.c

Cross-Compilation Variables

export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf-
export ARCH=arm
export CC=${CROSS_COMPILE}gcc
export CXX=${CROSS_COMPILE}g++

Kernel Cross-Compilation

make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf- defconfig
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf- zImage -j$(nproc)
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf- modules

CMake Cross-Compilation

Create toolchain file arm-toolchain.cmake:

set(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME Linux)
set(CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR arm)
set(CMAKE_C_COMPILER arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc)
set(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++)
set(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH /usr/arm-linux-gnueabihf)

Build with:

cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=arm-toolchain.cmake ..
make

Verify Binary Architecture

file hello
# Output: hello: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, ARM, EABI5...

arm-linux-gnueabihf-readelf -h hello | grep Machine
# Output: Machine: ARM