Re: [avr-libc-dev] Is there interest in an arm-libc?

[Markus Hitter]

Am 02.11.2014 um 12:14 schrieb Ambroz Bizjak:
> Actually I'm wondering if you're
> really interested in a HAL as opposed to a pure libc.

I think there should be a libc with hardware definitions. avr-libc does this 
quite well, you can hack away as if you were on a high level OS.

A HAL would be interesting as well, but as a distinct part. Especially as 
developers tend to have different ideas about how a HAL should be coded.

> I use this in my APrinter firmware [1], for different platforms:
> AT91SAM3X83 (Arduino Due), AT91SAM3U4E (4pi board), Teensy3. For each
> platform I rely on a third-party package for the chip-specific things
> (in particular ASF, and teensy-cores for the Teensy3). [...]
> Regarding setting up the build environment, I provide Nix expressions,

You see? Lots of additional complexity, no less than four third party packages 
plus gcc plus half baked libc to support just three chips (of about 50 
available) on a single build host. Stuff which every developer has to learn, 
has to adjust to his own project, has to be made working on all hosting 
platforms (Linux, OS X, Windows, etc.). Not so much a problem for 
single-developer projects like APrinter, but collaborative development becomes 
almost impossible, because adjusting to one platform almost ineviteably breaks 
another, so the maintainers are left with the integration part, which is 
currently more work than the port its self.

Excellent target for a combined, collaborative effort, IMHO. Time should be 
spent on writing unique code, not on reinventing the wheel.


Markus

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