Toolchain
A toolchain is a set of distinct software development tools that are linked together by specific stages to perform a complex software development task or to create a software product. A simple software development toolchain may consist of a compiler and linker, libraries, and a debugger.
Last update: 2022-06-04
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GNU Toolchain#
A toolchain is a set of distinct software development tools that are linked (or chained) together by specific stages to perform a complex software development task or to create a software product. A simple software development toolchain may consist of a compiler and linker (which transform the source code into an executable program), libraries (which provide interfaces to the operating system), and a debugger (which is used to test and debug created programs).
The GNU toolchain is a broad collection of programming tools produced by the GNU Project. These tools form a toolchain (a suite of tools used in a serial manner) used for developing software applications and operating systems.
The GNU toolchain plays a vital role in development of Linux, some BSD systems, and software for embedded systems.
Components included in the GNU toolchain are:
- GNU make: an automation tool for compilation and build
- GNU Compiler Collection (GCC): a suite of compilers for several programming languages
- GNU C Library (glibc): core C library including headers, libraries, and dynamic loader
- GNU Binutils: a suite of tools including linker, assembler and other tools
- GNU Bison: a parser generator, often used with the Flex lexical analyzer
- GNU m4: an m4 macro processor
- GNU Debugger (GDB): a code debugging tool
- GNU Autotools (GNU Build System): Autoconf, Automake and Libtool