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"Hello World" program using native Ubuntu toolchain

This short tutorial will show you how to install and setup native toolchain on ESPRESSObin running Ubuntu 14.04 or Ubuntu 16.04. We will then use the toolchain to compile a simple "Hello World" program on the board. For this tutorial your ESPRESSObin should have Ubuntu flashed on it (as shown in Boot from removable storage - Ubuntu tutorial) as well as have basic routing enabled in order to download necessary components.

Installation


All we need to do in order to install the compiler, binutils and C library components of Ubuntu native toolchain is to connect to ESPRESSObin via console and there install build-essential package:

root@localhost:~# apt-get update
root@localhost:~# apt-get upgrade
root@localhost:~# apt-get install build-essential


With this command we will install Ubuntu native toolchain. In short, this includes:

  • gcc and g++
  • binutils
  • libc6-dev
  • other related utilities (make, dpkg-dev, patch and others)


You can view other installed utilities by running:

root@localhost:~# cat /usr/share/build-essential/essential-packages-list


In order to complete the toolchain installation we must also — if they are not installed already — install kernel headers for userspace development:

root@localhost:~# apt-get install linux-libc-dev


Optionally, the gdb debugger tool can also come in handy in such an environment. Install it with:

root@localhost:~# apt-get install gdb


and we are now all set up to write and compile our basic "Hello World" program. Open a text editor (we will name the file hello.c) and in it insert:

#include <stdio.h>

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


after which we save the file and exit editor. Finally, we compile the program with GCC as follows:

root@localhost:~# gcc -o hello hello.c


and run the program with:

root@localhost:~# ./hello
Hello, world!


That is it, you have successfully run a simple "Hello, world" program using native Ubuntu toolchain.

Instructions from above can also be seen in the following video:

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