Thread: C Cross Compiler Terminology Question

Target Triplet - OSDev Wiki

A, B, and C are three different Triplets

Build Platform: This is the platform on which the compilation tools are executed.
Host Platform: This is the platform on which the code will eventually run.
Target Platform: If this is a compiler, this is the platform that the compiler will generate code for.

Code:

Case    Build     Host    Target    Compiler type
1       A         A       A         Native
2       A         B       C         Canadian Cross
3       A         C       C         ??
4       A         A       C         Cross

Is case 3 above a cross compiler?

Thanks

I am trying to build GCC version 4.6 as a Cross Compiler; but,
before that I am just trying to build an MSys2 package that calls itself an cross compiler to get the bugs not related to the m6809 target fixed. m6809 AKA MC6809 is a 1980s CPU that was last supported in GCC version 4.6. The MSys2 package is like case 3 above and I am wondering if trying to build it is a waste of time if it is not really a cross compiler.

Edit: Correction: GCC 4.6 is that last version to support m68hc11 and I have found patches to add m6809 support.


Tim S.

A cross compiler generates code for one machine and runs on another. That's all the term means.
However there's also a problem in "boostrapping" compilers. Compilers are often written in the language they compile. So there's a chicken and egg situation. If you already have a compiler for another platform, you can compile your compiler once, using that compiler. It then becomes a cross compiler, which is used, once, to compile itself. You then have a native compiler.