Build and link µIP library with no OS

Question

I'm relitavely new to embedded development and I have a question, or more of a feedback, on building and linking the µIP library on an embedded device. For what it's worth, the following is using a FOX G20 V board with an ATMEL AT91SAM9G20 processor with no OS. I have done some research, and the way I see myself building and linking the library on the board is one of the following two options.

Option 1: The first option would be to compile the whole library (the .c files) in order to have a built static library in the form of a .a file. Then, I can link the created static library with my application code, before loading it on the device. Of course, the device driver will have to be programmed in order to allow the library to work on the platform (help was found here). This first option is using a Linux machine. For this first option as well, in order to load the static library linked with my application code, do I do so with an "scp"?

Option 2: The second option would be to compile and link the library to my application code directly without going through an intermediate static library. However, since my platorm does not contain an OS, I would need to install an appropraite GCC compiler in order to compile and link (if anyone has any leads for such an installation, that would be very helpful as well). However I'm quite unfamilier with the second option, but I've been told that it is easier to implement so if anyone as an idea on how to implement it, it would be very helpful.

I would appreciate some feedback along with the answers as to whether these options seem correct to you, and to be sure that I have not mentioned something that is false.

Answer 1

There is no real difference between these options. In any case, the host toolchain is responsible for creating a binary file that contains a fully linked executable with no external dependencies, so you need a cross compiler either way, and it is indeed easiest to just compile uIP along with the rest of the application.

The toolchain will typically have a cross compiler (if you use gcc, it should be named arm-eabi-gcc or arm-none-eabi-gcc), cross linker (arm-eabi-ld), cross archiver (arm-eabi-ar) etc. You would use these instead of the native tools. For Debian, you can find a cross compiler for ARM targets without an OS in testing/unstable.

Whether you build a static library

arm-eabi-gcc -c uip.c
arm-eabi-ar cru uip.a uip.o
arm-eabi-ranlib uip.a
arm-eabi-gcc -o executable application.c uip.a

or directly link

arm-eabi-gcc -c application.c
arm-eabi-gcc -c uip.c
arm-eabi-gcc -o executable application.o uip.o

or directly compile and link

arm-eabi-gcc -o executable application.c uip.c

makes no real difference.

If you use an integrated development environment, it is usually easiest to just add uip.c as a source file.