GNU Toolchain 4.1.1 and GDB for the Cell BE's PPU/SPU

The Cell BE's PPU (Power Processor Unit) uses the same instruction set as the PowerPC 970 processor. The toolchain includes a GCC compiler for PPU to cross-compile on x86 and as a replacement for the native GCC compiler on ppc platforms. The GCC compiler for the PPU is preferred and the make files are configured to use it when building the Libraries and Samples. This release also includes a Fortran compiler for PPU as a replacement for the native Fortran compiler on ppc platforms. The GCC compiler also contains a separate SPE cross-compiler that supports the standards defined in the SPU C/C++ Language Extensions V2.4, SPU Application Binary Interface Specification V1.7, and Synergistic Processor Unit (SPU) Instruction Set Architecture V1.11 documents. The associated assembler and linker additionally support the SPU Assembly Language Specification V1.5. The toolchain is based on a port of GCC, GDB and the GNU binutils to the Cell Broadband Engine Architecture (CBEA) provided by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

What's new

  • GNU GCC support for an enhanced CBEA compliant processor with a fully pipelined, double precision SPE.
  • Upgraded binutils version to 2.17.50 release.
  • Upgraded GDB version to 6.6.
  • Upgraded newlib version to 1.15.0.

The cross-compiling GNU Toolchain is installed into the /opt/cell/ directory while the ppc toolchain will be installed into /usr.


Binary Packages


 
PowerPC
x86 cross-compiler
 
PPU
SPU
PPU
SPU
GNU Binutils
ppc
ppc
i686
i686
GNU GCC Compiler
ppc
ppc
i686
i686
GNU GCC C++ Compiler
ppc
ppc
i686
i686
GNU Fortran Compiler
ppc
N/A
i686
N/A
GNU GDB
ppc
ppc
i686
i686
GNU newlib C library
N/A
ppc
N/A
i686
GNU GCC debuginfo
ppc
ppc
i686
i686
GNU GDB debuginfo
ppc
ppc
i686
i686

To install the GNU Toochain in a x86 box in order to cross-compile applications, you need to install the two following rpms:

File Description
ppu-sysroot-fc6-1.noarch.rpm Basic libraries and headers for cross-compiling to Cell Broadband Engine's PPU.
ppu-sysroot64-fc6-1.noarch.rpm Basic libraries and headers for cross-compiling to Cell Broadband Engine's PPU (64-bit).


GNU Toolchain Source distribution and build files

To rebuild the GNU toolchain, We provide the source rpms that can be easily installed but also the source tarballs and the set of patches that were used to build the binary distribution.


Source RPM packages

 

File Description
ppu-gcc-4.1.1-10.src.rpm GNU GCC source package for the Cell BE's PPU.
spu-gcc-4.1.1-9.src.rpm GNU GCC source package for the Cell BE's SPU.
ppu-binutils-2.17.50-8.src.rpm GNU Binutils source package for the Cell BE's PPU.
spu-binutils-2.17.50-8.src.rpm GNU Binutils source package for the Cell BE's SPU.
ppu-gdb-6.6-15.src.rpm GNU GDB source package for the Cell BE's PPU.
spu-gdb-6.6-12.src.rpm GNU GDB source package for the Cell BE's SPU.
ppu-sysroot-fc6-1.src.rpm PPU sysroot toolchain source package.
spu-newlib-1.15.0-7.src.rpm GNU newlib source package for the Cell BE's SPU.

Source tarball, patches and spec files


File Description
toolchain-3.4-src.tar.bz2 GNU Toolchain base source tarball for both PPU and SPU toolchain.
gdb-6.6.tar.bz2 GNU GDB base source tarball.
gcc-fortran-4.1.1.tar.bz2 GNU Fortran base source tarball for PPU toolchain.
newlib-1.15.0.tar.gz GNU newlib base source tarball.
binutils-2.17.50-20070112.tar.bz2 GNU Binutils source tarball for both PPU and SPU toolchain.

PPU Sysroot


File Description
ppu-sysroot.spec PPU Toolchain SPEC file.

To rebuild the PPU sysroot rpms you can install the source rpm and run the rpm_build.sh script:

                  rpm -ivh ppu-sysroot-fc6-1.src.rpm
                  rpm_build.sh --none --pputoolchain

or if you prefer to do it manually you have to:

  1. Download and copy to /usr/redhat/SOURCES the following FC6 rpms:
  2. Copy the ppu-sysroot.spec file to /usr/redhat/SPECS
  3. Move to /usr/redhat/SPECS directory and type: 
         rpmbuild -ba ppu-sysroot.spec --target noarch

PPU Toolchain


File Description
ppu-gcc.spec PPU GNU GDB SPEC file.
ppu-gcc-patches.tar.gz Patches to enable GNU GCC for Cell BE's PPU.
ppu-binutils.spec PPU Binutils SPEC file.
ppu-binutils-patches.tar.gz Patches to enable GNU Binutils for Cell BE's PPU.
ppu-gdb.spec PPU GDB SPEC file.
ppu-gdb-patches.tar.gz Patches to enable GNU GDB debugger for Cell BE's PPU.

To rebuild the PPU toolchain rpms you can install the source rpm and run the rpm_build.sh script:

     rpm -ivh ppu-gcc-4.1.1-10.src.rpm ppu-binutils-2.17.50-8.src.rpm
              ppu-gdb-6.6-15.src.rpm
                  
     rpm_build.sh --none --pputoolchain

SPU Toolchain


File Description
spu-gcc.spec SPU GNU GDB SPEC file.
spu-gcc-patches.tar.gz Patches to enable GNU GCC for Cell BE's SPU.
spu-binutils.spec SPU Binutils SPEC file.
spu-binutils-patches.tar.gz Patches to enable GNU Binutils for Cell BE's SPU.
spu-newlib.spec SPU newlib SPEC file.
spu-newlib-patches.tar.gz Patches to enable GNU Newlib for Cell BE's SPU.
spu-gdb.spec SPU GDB SPEC file.
spu-gdb-patches.tar.gz Patches to enable GNU GDB debugger for Cell BE's SPU.

To rebuild the SPU toolchain rpms you can install the source rpms and run the rpm_build.sh script:

     rpm -ivh spu-gcc-4.1.1-9.src.rpm spu-binutils-2.17.50-8.src.rpm
              spu-gdb-6.6-12.src.rpm  spu-newlib-1.15.0-7.src.rpm               
     rpm_build.sh --none --sputoolchain