Subversion Repositories openrisc_2011-10-31

                eCos Host-side Software

                =======================

This README file only describes the eCos host-side software. For

details of the eCos target-side software or the required toolchains,

please see other documentation. A good starting point is

http://sources.redhat.com/ecos

There are two categories of host-side software. The host subdirectory

contains generic software, primarily related to the eCos configuration

technology. All eCos users will need to use some of this technology to

configure and build eCos, either using pre-built binaries or by

building the host-side software from source. The generic software

should be portable to a wide range of host platforms.

There is also package-specific host-side software. Much of this is I/O

related. For example the generic USB-slave package contains some

programs related to testing; a test application is run on a target

with suitable USB slave-side hardware, and needs to interact with

another program running on the USB host; the latter is

package-specific host-side software and can be found in the

subdirectory packages/io/usb/slave. Code like this may have

significant platform dependencies and may only work on a single

platform or on a small number of platforms. There may also be

special requirements, for example it may be necessary to install some

programs suid root so that they have appropriate access to the

hardware.

The host subdirectory includes the following:

infra/

    This is an implementation of the eCos infrastructure that can be

    used on the host-side, and provides assertion, tracing and

    testcase support.

    NOTE: the eCos infrastructure facilities are not especially

    well-suited to host-side development, in particular they are not

    C++-oriented. There are plans to remove the current infrastructure

    completely and replace it with something more suitable. People

    planning new projects should be aware of this, and may wish to

    avoid using the current infrastructure.

libcdl/

    The CDL library lies at the heart of the eCos configuration

    technology.

tools/configtool/

    The sources to the various configuration tools can be found here.

tools/configtool/common/common/

    Contains sources related to makefile generation, shared by the

    command line and graphical tools.

tools/configtool/standalone/common/

    Contains the command line ecosconfig tool.

tools/configtool/standalone/wxwin/

    Contains sources for the wxWindows-based, Linux and Windows graphical

    configuration tool. The Windows version can currently only be

    built with Visual C++, not with cygwin g++.

tools/configtool/common/win32/

tools/configtool/standalone/win32/

    Contains sources for the older, MFC-based, Windows-only graphical

    configuration tool. Again this can currently only be built with

    Visual C++.

The two graphical configuration tools have their own build procedures,

described in tools/configtool/standalone/wxwin/ReadMe and

tools/configtool/standalone/win32/ReadMe respectively.

Package-specific host-side code lives in the host subdirectory of the

appropriate package, for example packages/io/usb/slave//host.

Most packages only provide target-side code and hence will not have a

host subdirectory. Users can install various packages from a variety

of sources, and where a package does have host-side software the

package documentation should be consulted for further information.

Installing on Linux, Other Unix Systems, and Cygwin

---------------------------------------------------

Both generic host-side software (infra, libcdl and ecosconfig) and

package-specific software can be built with the conventional

"configure/make/make install" sequence. However the code does not

conform fully to GNU coding standards so some operations such as "make

dist" are not supported. There is limited support for DejaGnu-based

testing.

Much of the host-side software has a dependency on Tcl. This is not

supplied with the sources since many users will already have a

suitable installation, for example it is shipped as standard with all

major Linux distributions. The generic host-side software should work

with any release of Tcl from 8.0 onwards. The package-specific

software requires a more recent version, 8.3 or later. If no suitable

Tcl installation is available then the configure step will still

succeed but some of the package-specific software will not be built.

There are two main approaches to building the host-side software:

1) build the generic and the package-specific code in one build tree.

   This uses the top-level configure script. The script automatically

   invokes the configure script in the main host subdirectory. In

   addition it searches the packages hierarchy for host subdirectories

   containing their own configure scripts and will invoke those.

   Note: the search for host subdirectories happens during configure

   time, not during the make. If new packages with host-side code are

   added to the repository then it will be necessary to re-run the

   toplevel configure script.

2) build the generic code in one build tree, using the configure

   script in the toplevel's host subdirectory. Then build some or all

   of the package-specific code in separate build trees, using the

   configure scripts in each package's host subdirectory.

The first approach is generally simpler. However some of the

package-specific code requires special installation, for example a

program may have to be installed suid root so that it has the right

privileges to access hardware, and hence the "make install" step has

to be run by the superuser. Also some of the package-specific code is

rather specialized and may be of no interest to many users. For

example, the USB testing code is only useful when developing

USB-based applications. Hence some users may prefer the second

approach, building just the generic code and a subset of the

package-specific code.

It is necessary to use a separate build tree rather than build

directly in the source tree. This is enforced by the configure scripts.

  $ mkdir build

  $ cd build

The next step is to run the desired configure script. To build all

the host-side software this means the toplevel configure script:

  $ /configure 

Alternatively to build just the generic host-side software, use the

configure script in the host subdirectory.

  $ mkdir host

  $ cd host

  $ /host/configure 

Or, to build just one package's host-side code:

  $ mkdir -p packages/io/usb/slave/current/host

  $ cd packages/io/usb/slave/current/host

  $ /packages/io/usb/slave/current/host/configure 

(It is not actually necessary to use the same directory structure in

the build tree as in the source tree, but doing so can avoid

confusion).

A list of all the command-line options can be obtained by running

"configure --help". The most important ones are as follows:

1) --prefix. This can be used to specify the location of the install

   tree, defaulting to /usr/local, so the ecosconfig program ends up

   in /usr/local/bin/ecosconfig and the CDL library ends up in

   /usr/local/lib/libcdl.a. If an alternative location is preferred

   this can be specified with --prefix, for example:

   $ /configure --prefix=/usr/local/ecos 

2) --enable-debug. By default all assertions and tracing are disabled.

   When debugging any of the generic host-side software these should

   be enabled. Some package-specific code may not have any extra

   debug support, in which case --enable-debug would be ignored.

   $ /configure --enable-debug

   It is also possible to control most of the assertion and tracing

   macros at a finer grain. This is intended mainly for use by the

   developers.

   --disable-asserts        disable all assertions

   --disable-preconditions  disable a subset of the assertions

   --disable-postconditions disable a subset of the assertions

   --disable-invariants     disable a subset of the assertions

   --disable-loopinvariants disable a subset of the assertions

   --disable-tracing        disable tracing

   --disable-fntracing      disable function entry/exit tracing

3) --with-tcl=

   --with-tcl-version=

   The host-side tools have a dependency on Tcl, which is not supplied

   with the sources because many people will already have a suitable

   installation. Specifically it is necessary to have the header file

   tcl.h and appropriate libraries such that -ltcl will work - this

   can involve either static or shared libraries. Some tools may require

   Tk as well as Tcl.

   Unfortunately there is considerable variation in Tcl installations.

   In theory all Tcl installations have a file tclConfig.sh which

   defines exactly how to compile and link code that uses Tcl, and Tk

   has a similar file tkConfig.sh. The eCos configure scripts look for

   these files, first in $(prefix)/lib, then in /usr/lib. If the system

   already has a Tcl installation in /usr then the configure script will

   automatically find /usr/lib/tclConfig.sh and it is not necessary

   to pass additional options when configuring the eCos host-side

   software. Alternatively, if for example you have installed a more

   recent version of Tcl/Tk in the same place that you want to install the

   eCos software, e.g. /usr/local, then $(prefix)/lib/tclConfig.sh

   will be read in.

   It is also possible that a more recent version of Tcl has been installed

   in a different location. For example, you may wish to install the eCos host

   tools in /opt/ecos but use a version of Tcl installed in /usr/local. The

   eCos configure scripts need to be told explicitly where to look for

   the Tcl:

   $ /configure --with-tcl=/usr/local ...

   Some systems, for example Debian Linux 3.0, do not install tclConfig.sh

   in /usr/lib because that makes it more difficult to have several different

   versions of Tcl installed at the same time. Instead tclConfig.sh is found

   in a versioned directory such as /usr/lib/tcl8.3. Since several versions

   may be installed the desired one must be specified explicitly.

   $ /configure --with-tcl-version=8.3

   The --with-tcl and --with-tcl-version options are combined to give a search path:

      /lib/tclConfig.sh

      /lib/tcl/tclConfig.sh

      /lib/tclConfig.sh

      /lib/tcl/tclConfig.sh

      /usr/lib/tclConfig.sh

      /usr/lib/tcl/tclConfig.sh

   If tclConfig.sh cannot be found in any of these places then it is assumed

   that Tcl has not been properly installed and the eCos configure script will

   fail. The --with-tcl and --with-tcl-version are also used to give a search

   path for tkConfig.sh

      /lib/tkConfig.sh

      /lib/tk/tkConfig.sh

      /lib/tkConfig.sh

      /lib/tk/tkConfig.sh

      /usr/lib/tkConfig.sh

      /usr/lib/tk/tkConfig.sh

   Again, the configure scripts must be able to find tkConfig.sh

   Once tclConfig.sh and tkConfig.sh have been found and read in, the eCos

   configure scripts should have all the information needed to compile and

   link code that uses Tcl. First the location of key headers such as

    is needed. A tclConfig.sh file may define TCL_INC_DIR to give

   a specific location, otherwise the header files should be in

   $(TCL_PREFIX)/include. If  cannot be found then the eCos configure

   scripts will fail.

   Next it is necessary to work out how to link applications with Tcl. This

   information should be provided by a tclConfig.sh variable TCL_LIB_SPEC.

   Unfortunately not all Tcl installations set this, for example the cygwin

   Tcl 8.4 release. If TCL_LIB_SPEC is not defined then instead the

   configure script will look for a library libtcl.a, where  is

   specified using --with-tcl-version, then for a library libtcl.a

Following the configure step the build tree should be set up

correctly. All that remains is the actual build and install:

   $ make

   $ make install

This should result in an ecosconfig executable, plus appropriate

libraries and header files. If the install prefix is a system

location, for example /usr/local/, then "make install" will normally

require root privileges. Also some of the package-specific software

has special installation requirements, for example programs that need

to be installed suid root, and this will also need root privileges.

Installing with Visual C++

--------------------------

Under Windows it is possible to build the generic host-side software

(infra, libcdl and ecosconfig) with Visual C++ but this is deprecated.

Building with g++ under cygwin is preferred.

It is still necessary to run the configure script and a suitable make

utility. That requires a shell and a Unix-like environment, as

provided by cygwin. The Visual C++ compiler cl.exe needs to be on the

shell's search path, and some environment variables such as INCLUDE

and LIB may need to be set to point at the Visual C++ installation -

the details may vary depending on the version of the compiler. Then

the configure command should be run like this:

  $ CC=cl CXX=cl /host/configure 

Note that the path should be a cygwin path: cygwin mount points are

accepted and forward slashes should be used. The various configure

scripts now detect that Visual C++ should be used, and adapt

accordingly.

Depending on what cygwin mount points are set up, /usr/local may or

may not be an appropriate install location for VC++ applications.

If not, the install location should be specified with --prefix:

  $ CC=cl CXX=cl /configure --prefix= 

It is also necessary to use the right version of Tcl. For a VC++ build

the cygwin release of Tcl should not be used. Instead a suitable

prebuilt Tcl package can be obtained from http://www.tcl.tk/.

It is necessary to tell the configure script where this has been

installed, for example:

  $ CC=cl CXX=cl /configure --prefix= \

    --with-tcl=/cygdrive/d/local/scriptics/Tcl/tcl8.1 

The library name will be of the form tcl81.lib, and there will not be

a symbolic link from tcl.lib to the appropriate version. It will be

necessary to specify the Tcl version explicitly since the default

version is currently 8.0.

  $ CC=cl CXX=cl /configure --prefix= \

    --with-tcl=/d/local/scriptics/Tcl/tcl8.1 --with-tcl-version=81 

Following a successful configure, the tools can be built and installed

in the normal fashion:

  $ make

  $ make install

More Information

================

Please see the eCos web site, http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/, for

further details. This includes the FAQ, a form for reporting problems,

and details of the various mailing lists

(http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/intouch.html) At the time of writing

there are no separate mailing lists for the eCos host-side sources,

the main mailing list ecos-discuss@sources.redhat.com should be used

instead.

//####COPYRIGHTBEGIN####

//

//----------------------------------------------------------------------------

// Copyright (C) 2002 Bart Veer

// Copyright (C) 2000, 2001 Red Hat, Inc.

//

// This file is part of the eCos host tools.

//

// This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it

// under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free

// Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)

// any later version.

//

// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

// ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or

// FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for

// more details.

//

// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with

// this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,

// 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.

//

// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

//

//####COPYRIGHTEND####