How to use native newlib on x86_64-linux-gnu or i386-linux-gnu?

[Zygmunt Krynicki]

Hello.

I'm trying to use native build of newlib (currently on x86_64-linux-gnu) 
to build simple programs. My goal is to allow application developers to 
use native newlib as a target for developing applications that could be 
later ported (rebuilt) for some embedded target.

I noticed that there is an Ubuntu package for newlib (called 
libnewlib-dev and libnewlib0) so my guess was that it's the least-effort 
method of building simple application that could link with newlib 
instead of glibc.

I attempted to build this simple hello-world program:

zyga@XXX:~/newlib-sample-prog$ cat test.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) {
    printf("Hello newlib!\n");
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

I understand that I don't need a cross compiler in this case so I tried 
building with various combination of -nostdlib -nostdinc -nostartfiles 
-nodefaultlibs to prevent gcc from using glibc but then I get undefined 
references (I'm trying to do a static build) to various functions like 
sbrk(), write(), close() etc. All those references come from 
/usr/lib/newlib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lib/libc.a which leads me to believe 
that native newlib simply depends on some other libc and is not using 
linux syscalls to implement everything directly. Doing a simple nm 
--defined | grep write; seems to confirm that. I apparently do something 
wrong.

I tried googling, read couple of years of newlib's mailing list archive 
but apparently nobody has this issue which leads me to believe that 
either nobody is doing it or I made some incredibly basic mistake. Could 
someone please tell me what should I do to be able to build, link and 
run native programs on either x86_64-linux-gnu or i386-linux-gnu that 
depend on newlib instead of glibc?

Best regards

Zygmunt Krynicki