Picolibc is designed to be cross-compiled for embedded systems on a Linux host using GCC. There is some support for Clang, but that doesn't include the built-in multilib support. Picolibc uses the meson build system, which is a slightly quirky build system designed to replace autotools with a single language.
Picolibc requires meson version 0.50 or newer. If your operating system provides an older version, you can get the latest using pip. For example, on a Debian or Ubuntu system, you would do:
$ sudo apt install pip
$ pip install meson
On POSIX systems, meson uses the low-level 'ninja' build tool and currently requires at least ninja version 1.5. If your operating system doesn't provide at least this version, head over to ninja-build.org to find out how to download and install the latest bits.
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.
These options control some general build configuration values.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| fast-strcmp | true | Always optimize strcmp for performance (to make Dhrystone happy) |
| have-alias-attribute | auto | Compiler supports alias attribute (default autodetected) |
| have-format-attribute | auto | Compiler supports format attribute (default autodetected) |
| multilib | true | Build every multilib configuration supported by the compiler |
| multilib-list | If non-empty, the set of multilib configurations to compile for | |
| native-tests | false | Build tests against native libc (used to validate tests) |
| picolib | true | Include picolib bits for tls and sbrk support |
| picocrt | true | Build crt0.o (C startup function) |
| picocrt-lib | true | Also wrap crt0.o into a library -lcrt0, which is easier to find via the library path |
| semihost | true | Build the semihost library (libsemihost.a) |
| fake-semihost | false | Create a fake semihost library to allow tests to link |
| specsdir | auto | Where to install the .specs file (default is in the GCC directory). If set to none, then picolibc.specs will not be installed at all. |
| sysroot-install | false | Install in GCC sysroot location (requires sysroot in GCC) |
| tests | false | Enable tests |
| tinystdio | true | Use tiny stdio from avr libc |
These options extend support in printf and scanf for additional types and formats.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| io-c99-formats | true | Enable C99 support in IO functions like printf/scanf |
| io-long-long | false | Enable long long type support in IO functions like printf/scanf. For tiny-stdio, this only affects the integer-only versions, the full version always includes long long support. |
| io-pos-args | false | Enable printf-family positional arg support. For tiny-stdio, this only affects the integer-only versions, the full version always includes positional argument support. |
long long support is always enabled for the tinystdio full
printf/scanf modes, the io-long-long option adds them to the limited
(float and integer) versions, as well as to the original newlib stdio
bits.
These options apply when tinystdio is enabled, which is the
default. For stdin/stdout/stderr, the application will need to provide
stdin, stdout and stderr, which are three pointers to FILE
structures (which can all reference a single shared FILE structure,
and which can be aliases to the same underlying global pointer).
Note that while posix-io support is enabled by default, using it will
require that the underlying system offer the required functions. POSIX
console support offers built-in stdin, stdout and stderr
definitions which use the same POSIX I/O functions.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| atomic-ungetc | true | Make getc/ungetc re-entrant using atomic operations |
| io-float-exact | true | Provide round-trip support in float/string conversions |
| posix-io | true | Provide fopen/fdopen using POSIX I/O (requires open, close, read, write, lseek) |
| posix-console | false | Use POSIX I/O for stdin/stdout/stderr |
| format-default | double | Sets the default printf/scanf style ('double', 'float' or 'integer') |
Normally, Picolibc is built with the small stdio library adapted from avrlibc (tinystdio=true). It still has the original newlib stdio bits and those still work (tinystdio=false), but depend on POSIX I/O functions from the underlying system, and perform many malloc calls at runtime. These options are relevant only in that configuration
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| newlib-elix-level | 0 | Extends stdio API based on level |
| newlib-fseek-optimization | false | Enable fseek optimization |
| newlib-fvwrite-in-streamio | false | Enable iov in streamio |
| newlib-global-stdio-streams | false | Enable global stdio streams |
| newlib-have-fcntl | false | System has fcntl function available |
| newlib-io-float | false | Enable printf/scanf family float support |
| newlib-io-long-double | false | Enable long double type support in IO functions printf/scanf |
| newlib-nano-formatted-io | false | Use nano version formatted IO |
| newlib-reent-small | false | Enable small reentrant struct support |
| newlib-stdio64 | true | Include 64-bit APIs |
| newlib-unbuf-stream-opt | false | Enable unbuffered stream optimization in streamio |
| newlib-wide-orient | false | Turn off wide orientation in streamio |
These options control which character sets are supported by iconv.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| newlib-iconv-encodings | Comma-separated list of iconv encodings to be built-in (default all supported). Set to none to disable all encodings. |
|
| newlib-iconv-from-encodings | Comma-separated list of "from" iconv encodings to be built-in (default iconv-encodings) | |
| newlib-iconv-to-encodings | Comma-separated list of "to" iconv encodings to be built-in (default iconv-encodings) | |
| newlib-iconv-external-ccs | false | Use file system to store iconv tables. Requires fopen. (default built-in to memory) |
| newlib-iconv-dir | libdir/locale | Directory to install external CCS files. Only used with newlib-iconv-external-ccs=true |
| newlib-iconv-runtime-dir | newlib-iconv-dir | Directory to read external CCS files from at runtime. |
These options control how much Locale support is included in the library. By default, picolibc only supports the 'C' locale.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| newlib-locale-info | false | Enable locale support |
| newlib-locale-info-extended | false | Enable even more locale support |
| newlib-mb | false | Enable multibyte support |
These control how much support picolibc includes for calling functions at startup and shutdown times.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| lite-exit | true | Enable lightweight exit |
| newlib-atexit-dynamic-alloc | false | Enable dynamic allocation of atexit entries |
| newlib-global-atexit | false | Enable atexit data structure as global, instead of in TLS. If thread-local-storage == false, then the atexit data structure is always global. |
| newlib-initfini | true | Support _init() and _fini() functions in picocrt |
| newlib-initfini-array | true | Use .init_array and .fini_array sections in picocrt |
| newlib-register-fini | false | Enable finalization function registration using atexit |
| crt-runtime-size | false | Compute .data/.bss sizes at runtime rather than linktime. This option exists for targets where the linker can't handle a symbol that is the difference between two other symbols, e.g. m68k. |
By default, Picolibc can uses native TLS support as provided by the compiler, this allows re-entrancy into the library if the run-time environment supports that. A TLS model is specified only when TLS is enabled. The default TLS model is local-exec.
As a separate option, you can make errno not use TLS if necessary.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| thread-local-storage | auto | Use TLS for global variables. Default is automatic based on compiler support |
| 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 |
| errno-function | If set, names a function which returns the address of errno. 'auto' will try to auto-detect. |
Picolibc offers two malloc implementations, the larger version offers better performance on large memory systems and for applications doing a lot of variable-sized allocations and deallocations. The smaller, default, implementation works best when applications perform few, persistent allocations.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| newlib-nano-malloc | true | Use small-footprint nano-malloc implementation |
There are some functions in picolibc that use global data that needs protecting when accessed by multiple threads. The largest set of these are the legacy stdio code, but there are other functions that can use locking, e.g. when newlib-global-atexit is enabled, calls to atexit need to lock the shared global data structure if they may be called from multiple threads at the same time. By default, these are enabled and use the retargetable API defined in locking.md.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| newlib-retargetable-locking | true | Allow locking routines to be retargeted at link time |
| newlib-multithread | true | Enable support for multiple threads |
These either have no effect or should not be enabled in normal use of picolibc, they're left in the library to help users porting from newlib environments.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| newlib-long-time_t | false | Define time_t to long instead of using a 64-bit type |
| newlib-supplied-syscalls | false | Enable newlib supplied syscalls (obsolete) |
| newlib-reentrant-syscalls-provided | false | Underlying system provides reentrant syscall API |
| newlib-missing-syscall-names | false | Underlying system provides syscall names without leading underscore |
There are two versions of many libm functions, old ones from SunPro and new ones from ARM. The new ones are generally faster for targets with hardware double support, except that the new float-valued functions use double-precision computations. On sytems without hardware double support, that's going to pull in soft double code. Measurements show the old routines are generally more accurate, which is why they are enabled by default.
POSIX requires many of the math functions to set errno when exceptions occur; disabling that makes them only support fenv() exception reporting, which is what IEEE floating point and ANSI C standards require.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| newlib-obsolete-math | true | Use old code for both float and double valued functions |
| newlib-obsolete-math-float | auto | Use old code for float-valued functions |
| newlib-obsolete-math-double | auto | Use old code for double-valued functions |
| want-math-errno | false | Set errno when exceptions occur |
newlib-obsolete-math provides the default value for the newlib-obsolete-math-float and newlib-obsolete-math-double parameters; those control the compilation of the individual fucntions.
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'
[properties]
c_args = [ '-nostdlib', '-msave-restore', '-fno-common' ]
# default multilib is 64 bit
c_args_ = [ '-mcmodel=medany' ]
needs_exe_wrapper = true
skip_sanity_check = true
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'
[properties]
c_args = [ '-nostdlib', '-fno-common' ]
needs_exe_wrapper = true
skip_sanity_check = true
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
rv32ea/ilp32e;@march=rv32ea@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
rv32if/ilp32f;@march=rv32if@mabi=ilp32f
rv32ifd/ilp32d;@march=rv32ifd@mabi=ilp32d
rv32ia/ilp32;@march=rv32ia@mabi=ilp32
rv32iaf/ilp32f;@march=rv32iaf@mabi=ilp32f
rv32imaf/ilp32f;@march=rv32imaf@mabi=ilp32f
rv32iafd/ilp32d;@march=rv32iafd@mabi=ilp32d
rv32im/ilp32;@march=rv32im@mabi=ilp32
rv32imf/ilp32f;@march=rv32imf@mabi=ilp32f
rv32imfc/ilp32f;@march=rv32imfc@mabi=ilp32f
rv32imfd/ilp32d;@march=rv32imfd@mabi=ilp32d
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
rv64if/lp64f;@march=rv64if@mabi=lp64f
rv64ifd/lp64d;@march=rv64ifd@mabi=lp64d
rv64ia/lp64;@march=rv64ia@mabi=lp64
rv64iaf/lp64f;@march=rv64iaf@mabi=lp64f
rv64imaf/lp64f;@march=rv64imaf@mabi=lp64f
rv64iafd/lp64d;@march=rv64iafd@mabi=lp64d
rv64im/lp64;@march=rv64im@mabi=lp64
rv64imf/lp64f;@march=rv64imf@mabi=lp64f
rv64imfc/lp64f;@march=rv64imfc@mabi=lp64f
rv64imfd/lp64d;@march=rv64imfd@mabi=lp64d
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 36 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
$ ../scripts/do-riscv-configure
You can select the installation directory by passing it to the meson script:
$ ../scripts/do-riscv-configure -Dprefix=/path/to/install/dir/
Once configured, you can compile the libraries with
$ ninja
...
$ ninja install
...
$