Question : i386's crt0 ?

[Joel Sherrill]

On 4/29/2013 11:51 AM, Jeff Johnston wrote:
> On 04/22/2013 03:26 PM, Julio Guerra wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I am trying find out why crt0.S is not provided for i386 target as it
>> is the case with, for example, powerpc's. If we consider it is
>> supposed to initialize the C runtime, I don't understand why I should
>> write it myself since every i386's crt0 will do the same : stack
>> pointer initialization, constructor calls, etc. I really need hints
>> about that, it looks like I missed something...
>>
>> Thank you !
>>
>> --
>> Julio Guerra
>>
> Well, the short answer is that no one has submitted one.
>
> The long answer is that historically, newlib started out as a C Library
> for embedded tool ports by Cygnus Solutions.  Native platforms such as
> i386 Linux were expected to use glibc with gcc supplying crt0.o.
>
> An x86-linux port has been added for for newlib (see libc/sys/linux) if
> you are using Linux.  There is also a Cygmon port of libgloss in
> libgloss/i386.
>
> So, you could certainly put something together from the Cygmon
> cygmon-crt0.S or use the crt0.o from gcc (which the sys/linux port uses).
>
> For the other minimum newlib syscalls required, you can use libnosys if
> you do not have an OS.  This will create failure stubs for most things
> except for sbrk which expects you to set up a variable in your linkage
> script.  For _exit, you can cause an exception to occur (e.g. divide by
> zero).
I would add that RTEMS is also an option on x86 hardware. That would give
you bare metal with RTOS capabilities. Plus you wouldn't have to write a
crt0 or any of the device drivers.
> -- Jeff J.


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Joel Sherrill, Ph.D.             Director of Research & Development
joel.sherrill@OARcorp.com        On-Line Applications Research
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