CODEWITHSUNDEEP
picxc32mplab-x
Christopher Theriault
Christopher Theriault

Reputation: 131

How to develop for PIC32MM without either MPLABX or XC32

While working for just one month with the MPLABX5.5 + XC32 3.01 I've already had 3 separate instances where code compiled incorrectly, causing my program to fail after either the stack or frame pointer began using an incorrect address. I would like to dump these tools and try something else as tracking down compiler errors is sucking up too much of my time. Is there anything else available that I can use to work with a PIC32MM? Even access to a different compiler than XC32 might help.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 621

Answers (1)

Stark
Stark

Reputation: 29

I would like to do the same thing. Maybe we can collect the best options for how to get there, as after many many tries, I haven't yet been successful. As one starting point, I'd also like to be able to recompile xc32-gcc from source to understand exactly what it's doing, and to be able to compile xc32 binaries for other architectures (like, as insane as it may sound, I'd like to compile some code for the pic32mm platform with clang or gcc running on a raspberry pi.)

  1. I would love to be able to even just compile xc32-gcc from source. I know this is possible, but I've not been successful. Some links and starts: https://github.com/zeha/xc32 This seems to be the most recent grouping of source I've found, but I haven't yet figured out how to compile it.

  2. ChipKit is cited a lot, but, I haven't gotten to the bottom of getting that to build for me either. There are numerous projects here, and I'm not sure how they all fit together yet: https://github.com/chipKIT32 I suspect somebody (maybe someone who will see this post) knows the formula or script or docker file, or whatever to make this simple.

  3. https://gitlab.com/spicastack/pic32-parts-free This project seems close to what we're talking about, but, the recommended way to install is with podman and gentoo. I'm not a gentoo person (yet?), and the docker version failed for me. It's probably a simple fix to the dockerfile for a gentoo person, but.. I didn't get there yet. (I did try installing gentoo and started down the path but holy cow, talk about being down a rabbit hole when what I'm trying to do is get a pic cross-compiler working.. when emerge on my new gentoo install failed with a python error, I gave up.)

  4. https://github.com/andeha/Twinbeam This project also says some of the "right things" about building pic32 code using llvm, and has references to llvm2pic32 in this project: https://github.com/andeha/Sprinkle I've also not yet managed to get this to make viable intel hex files that I can use on a pic just yet, but there's promise.

  5. Use clang/llvm to generate code. I think it will compile C and generate mips out of the box and I've gotten that far, but I can't get it to link and produce a valid hex file yet. The linker scripts from microchip seem sort of ok, but the hex files end up putting the code in the wrong place, I think. I should probably put together a blinky-light example and try to push it farther, and share it with others to figure out what the deal is, but even stepping one step further back and just trying to get a super simple mips assembly program to get linked and be uploadable to a PIC32MM part would be a great success to me.

Maybe others have better references and links?

Upvotes: 2

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