Compiling PE executables using linux hosted gcc

Compiling PE executables using linux hosted gcc

[Jay]

Hi! I'm developing a cross-platform framework and now it's time to port
it to Win32. I found that i can compile an executable for a certain
platform specifying -b command-line option however what i found further
just confused me so i'm here asking you this dumb question: how to
compile a pe executable using a linux hosted gcc? I run ubuntu 7.10 and
gcc 4.2.1. Many thanks in advance.

Re: Compiling PE executables using linux hosted gcc

[Brian Dessent]

Jay wrote:

> Hi! I'm developing a cross-platform framework and now it's time to port
> it to Win32. I found that i can compile an executable for a certain
> platform specifying -b command-line option however what i found further
> just confused me so i'm here asking you this dumb question: how to
> compile a pe executable using a linux hosted gcc? I run ubuntu 7.10 and
> gcc 4.2.1. Many thanks in advance.

You need to build a cross toolchain (cross compiler, cross linker, cross
assembler.)  Note that gcc is just a compiler, it does not include the
linker or assembler which are part of binutils.

Just because Linux and Win32 both run on the same ia32 hardware does not
mean you can use the same tools, they are significantly different
targets/platforms (e.g. the PE assembler directives are not the same as
the ELF assembler, the linker is totally different, etc.)

The MinGW site has some scripts that will build such a set of cross
tools which is a good place to start since there can be a lot of minor
details to get right.  Also, those scripts will use gcc sources with
MinGW patches integrated, which fix a number of things that are broken
or unsupported in FSF gcc.  Therefore if you have trouble with the
scripts, post on the MinGW list.

Brian

Re: Compiling PE executables using linux hosted gcc

[Jay]

Thank you Brian. Now i've got the clue. When i wrote 'gcc' i ment
everything that's installed when you select gcc package in software
manager and click Apply/Ok a couple of times. My mistake was that i
thought gcc can produce different types of executables depending on a
command line switch - some time ago i was playing with nasm that has
such a switch so i was misled by that experience.
On Sat, 2008-04-12 at 23:24 -0700, Brian Dessent wrote:
> Jay wrote:
> 
> > Hi! I'm developing a cross-platform framework and now it's time to port
> > it to Win32. I found that i can compile an executable for a certain
> > platform specifying -b command-line option however what i found further
> > just confused me so i'm here asking you this dumb question: how to
> > compile a pe executable using a linux hosted gcc? I run ubuntu 7.10 and
> > gcc 4.2.1. Many thanks in advance.
> 
> You need to build a cross toolchain (cross compiler, cross linker, cross
> assembler.)  Note that gcc is just a compiler, it does not include the
> linker or assembler which are part of binutils.
> 
> Just because Linux and Win32 both run on the same ia32 hardware does not
> mean you can use the same tools, they are significantly different
> targets/platforms (e.g. the PE assembler directives are not the same as
> the ELF assembler, the linker is totally different, etc.)
> 
> The MinGW site has some scripts that will build such a set of cross
> tools which is a good place to start since there can be a lot of minor
> details to get right.  Also, those scripts will use gcc sources with
> MinGW patches integrated, which fix a number of things that are broken
> or unsupported in FSF gcc.  Therefore if you have trouble with the
> scripts, post on the MinGW list.
> 
> Brian

Re: Compiling PE executables using linux hosted gcc

[Kai Ruottu]

Jay wrote:
> Hi! I'm developing a cross-platform framework and now it's time to port
> it to Win32. I found that i can compile an executable for a certain
> platform specifying -b command-line option however what i found further
> just confused me so i'm here asking you this dumb question: how to
> compile a pe executable using a linux hosted gcc? I run ubuntu 7.10 and
> gcc 4.2.1. Many thanks in advance.

Ubuntu should be Debian, Debian provides a prebuilt MinGW-targeted 
crosstoolchain, so your problem should be how to install those Debian
packages for MinGW target... For instance :

ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/linux/mirrors/debian/pool/main/m/mingw32
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/linux/mirrors/debian/pool/main/m/mingw32-binutils
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/linux/mirrors/debian/pool/main/m/mingw32-runtime