Creating a (cross-)compiler

This page is about creating a Free Pascal compiler that is able to cross-compile pascal source-code into an AROS compatible executable.

When first entering the realm of compiling the compiler and producing (cross-)compilers, things seems to get complicated pretty fast. One of the reasons for that is the fact that the Free Pascal compiler itself supports many targets (both platform and processor) on and for which you could (cross-)compile your pascal sources. Nowadays even Windows is not targeted to solely run on i386-processors alone anymore (just like AROS/Linux), which makes the whole process of building and setting up a (cross-)compiler a pretty intimidating process (even when that process is semi-automated using makefiles).

This wiki tries to guide you to the process of creating and setting up the Free Pascal compiler for your favorite platform and that is capable of producing AROS compatible executable files.

In order to be able to do so, this wiki describes the use of ALB's branch of the Free Pascal compiler, because without it Free Pascal would have no knowledge at all about AROS being a (valid) target. Eventually the aim is to get the AROS branch integrated into the main stream trunk of Free Pascal, but at the moment this is a long-term goal.

During tests and experiments performed to be able to write this wiki, some experience was obtained and most of that acquired knowledge is written down in this wiki. As such, this wiki does not claim to be an expert guide nor does it implies that everything you read in this wiki is correct. Please feel free to offer or make corrections and/or otherwise make suggestions concerning this wiki.