Picolibc is designed to be cross-compiled for embedded systems on a Linux host using GCC. Picolibc uses the meson build system, which is a slightly quirky build system designed to replace autotools with a single language.
Use -D= on the meson command line to change from the default value. Many of these options set configuration values for the newlib code base and should match that configuration system. The defaults should be reasonable for small embedded systems.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| fast-strcmp | true | Always optimize strcmp for performance (to make Dhrystone happy) |
| multilib | true | Build every multilib configuration supported by the compiler |
| picolib | true | Include picolib bits for tls and sbrk support |
| thread-local-storage | true | Use TLS for global variables |
| tls-model | local-exec | Select TLS model (global-dynamic, local-dynamic, initial-exec or local-exec) |
| newlib-global-errno | false | Use single global errno even when thread-local-storage=true |
| newlib-initfini-array | true | Use .init_array and .fini_array sections in picocrt |
| newlib-initfini | true | Support _init() and _fini() functions in picocrt |
| hw-fp | false | Turn on hardware floating point math |
| have-alias-attribute | true | Compiler supports alias attribute |
| tests | false | Enable tests |
| newlib-tinystdio | true | Use tiny stdio from avr libc |
| specsdir | auto | Where to install the .specs file (default is in the GCC directory) |
| newlib-mb | false | Enable multibyte support |
| newlib-iconv-encodings | false | Enable specific comma-separated list of bidirectional iconv encodings to be built-in |
| newlib-iconv-from-encodings | false | Enable specific comma-separated list of "from" iconv encodings to be built-in |
| newlib-iconv-to-encodings | false | Enable specific comma-separated list of "to" iconv encodings to be built-in |
| newlib-iconv-external-ccs | false | Enable capabilities to load external CCS files for iconv |
| newlib-register-fini | false | Enable finalization function registration using atexit |
| newlib-atexit-dynamic-alloc | false | Enable dynamic allocation of atexit entries |
| newlib-global-atexit | false | Enable atexit data structure as global |
| newlib_wide_orient | false | Turn off wide orientation in streamio |
| newlib-nano-malloc | true | Use small-footprint nano-malloc implementation |
| lite-exit | true | Enable light weight exit |
| newlib-retargetable-locking | false | Allow locking routines to be retargeted at link time |
| newlib-long-time_t | false | Define time_t to long |
| newlib-multithread | false | Enable support for multiple threads |
| newlib-iconv | false | Enable iconv library support |
| newlib-locale-info | false | Enable locale support |
| newlib-locale-info-extended | false | Enable even more locale support |
Normally, Picolibc is built with the small stdio library adapted from avrlibc (newlib-tinystdio=true). It still has the original newlib stdio bits and those might still work (newlib-tinystdio=false). These options are relevant only in that configuration
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| newlib-reent-small | false | Enable small reentrant struct support |
| newlib-io-pos-args | false | Enable printf-family positional arg support |
| newlib-io-c99-formats | false | Enable C99 support in IO functions like printf/scanf |
| newlib-io-long-long | false | Enable long long type support in IO functions like printf/scanf |
| newlib-io-long-double | false | Enable long double type support in IO functions printf/scanf |
| newlib-global-stdio-streams | false | Enable global stdio streams |
| newlib-fvwrite-in-streamio | false | Disable iov in streamio |
| newlib-fseek-optimization | false | Disable fseek optimization |
| newlib-unbuf-stream-opt | false | Enable unbuffered stream optimization in streamio |
| newlib_nano_formatted_io | false | Use nano version formatted IO |
| newlib-io-float | false | Enable printf/scanf family float support |
| newlib-supplied-syscalls | false | Enable newlib supplied syscalls |
Meson sticks all of the cross-compilation build configuration bits in a separate configuration file. There are a bunch of things you need to set, which the build system really shouldn't care about. Example configuration settings for RISC-V processors are in cross-riscv64-unknown-elf.txt:
[binaries]
c = 'riscv64-unknown-elf-gcc'
ar = 'riscv64-unknown-elf-ar'
as = 'riscv64-unknown-elf-as'
ld = 'riscv64-unknown-elf-ld'
strip = 'riscv64-unknown-elf-strip'
[host_machine]
system = 'unknown'
cpu_family = 'riscv'
cpu = 'riscv'
endian = 'little'
Settings for ARM processors are in cross-arm-none-eabi.txt:
[binaries]
c = 'arm-none-eabi-gcc'
ar = 'arm-none-eabi-ar'
as = 'arm-none-eabi-as'
ld = 'arm-none-eabi-ld'
strip = 'arm-none-eabi-strip'
[host_machine]
system = 'none'
cpu_family = 'arm'
cpu = 'arm'
endian = 'little'
If those programs aren't in your path, you can edit the file to point wherever they may be.
The PicoLibc configuration detects the processor configurations
supported by the compiler using the --print-multi-lib command-line option:
$ riscv64-unknown-elf-gcc --print-multi-lib
.;
rv32e/ilp32e;@march=rv32e@mabi=ilp32e
rv32em/ilp32e;@march=rv32em@mabi=ilp32e
rv32eac/ilp32e;@march=rv32eac@mabi=ilp32e
rv32emac/ilp32e;@march=rv32emac@mabi=ilp32e
rv32i/ilp32;@march=rv32i@mabi=ilp32
rv32im/ilp32;@march=rv32im@mabi=ilp32
rv32imf/ilp32f;@march=rv32imf@mabi=ilp32f
rv32iac/ilp32;@march=rv32iac@mabi=ilp32
rv32imac/ilp32;@march=rv32imac@mabi=ilp32
rv32imafc/ilp32f;@march=rv32imafc@mabi=ilp32f
rv32imafdc/ilp32d;@march=rv32imafdc@mabi=ilp32d
rv64i/lp64;@march=rv64i@mabi=lp64
rv64im/lp64;@march=rv64im@mabi=lp64
rv64imf/lp64f;@march=rv64imf@mabi=lp64f
rv64iac/lp64;@march=rv64iac@mabi=lp64
rv64imac/lp64;@march=rv64imac@mabi=lp64
rv64imafc/lp64f;@march=rv64imafc@mabi=lp64f
rv64imafdc/lp64d;@march=rv64imafdc@mabi=lp64d
$ arm-none-eabi-gcc --print-multi-lib
.;
thumb;@mthumb
hard;@mfloat-abi=hard
thumb/v6-m;@mthumb@march=armv6s-m
thumb/v7-m;@mthumb@march=armv7-m
thumb/v7e-m;@mthumb@march=armv7e-m
thumb/v7-ar;@mthumb@march=armv7
thumb/v8-m.base;@mthumb@march=armv8-m.base
thumb/v8-m.main;@mthumb@march=armv8-m.main
thumb/v7e-m/fpv4-sp/softfp;@mthumb@march=armv7e-m@mfpu=fpv4-sp-d16@mfloat-abi=softfp
thumb/v7e-m/fpv4-sp/hard;@mthumb@march=armv7e-m@mfpu=fpv4-sp-d16@mfloat-abi=hard
thumb/v7e-m/fpv5/softfp;@mthumb@march=armv7e-m@mfpu=fpv5-d16@mfloat-abi=softfp
thumb/v7e-m/fpv5/hard;@mthumb@march=armv7e-m@mfpu=fpv5-d16@mfloat-abi=hard
thumb/v7-ar/fpv3/softfp;@mthumb@march=armv7@mfpu=vfpv3-d16@mfloat-abi=softfp
thumb/v7-ar/fpv3/hard;@mthumb@march=armv7@mfpu=vfpv3-d16@mfloat-abi=hard
thumb/v7-ar/fpv3/hard/be;@mthumb@march=armv7@mfpu=vfpv3-d16@mfloat-abi=hard@mbig-endian
thumb/v8-m.main/fpv5-sp/softfp;@mthumb@march=armv8-m.main@mfpu=fpv5-sp-d16@mfloat-abi=softfp
thumb/v8-m.main/fpv5-sp/hard;@mthumb@march=armv8-m.main@mfpu=fpv5-sp-d16@mfloat-abi=hard
thumb/v8-m.main/fpv5/softfp;@mthumb@march=armv8-m.main@mfpu=fpv5-d16@mfloat-abi=softfp
thumb/v8-m.main/fpv5/hard;@mthumb@march=armv8-m.main@mfpu=fpv5-d16@mfloat-abi=hard
On RISC-V, PicoLibc is compiled 19 times, while on ARM, the library is compiled 20 times with the specified compiler options (replace the '@'s with '-' to see what they will be).
Because Picolibc targets smaller systems like the SiFive FE310 or ARM Cortex-M0 parts with only a few kB of RAM and flash, the default values for all of the configuration options are designed to minimize the library code size. Here's the do-riscv-configure script from the repository that configures the library for small RISC-V systems:
#!/bin/sh
ARCH=riscv64-unknown-elf
DIR=`dirname $0`
meson "$DIR" \
-Dincludedir=picolibc/$ARCH/include \
-Dlibdir=picolibc/$ARCH/lib \
--cross-file "$DIR"/cross-$ARCH.txt \
"$@"
This script is designed to be run from a build directory, so you'd do:
$ mkdir build-riscv64-unknown-elf
$ cd build-riscv64-unknown-elf
$ ../do-riscv-configure
Once configured, you can compile the libraries with
$ ninja
...
$ ninja install
...
$