Hi,

Is there needed something special to setup when I want compile for my Symbol MC9200 device, which has Windows Embedded Compact 7 and Dual core 1GHz OMAP 4 processor (ARM Cortex-A9).

When I set up simplest project with only few lines of code and compile for OS="WinCE", CPU family="arm" and I run this application I get Access Violation on target device. I have tested with target CPU = (default), ARMv3, ARMv4 but other CPUs like ARMv5,... does not compile ("Error while assembling exitcode 1").

Is ARM Cortex-A9 supported in Free Pascal compiler and does "Access violation" can be caused by wrong cross compiler setup? What to do to get working solution?

Thanks in advance

-Laco.

Answering my own question:

When I build cross compiler using FpcUpDeluxe, where I set "Cross Build Options Override" to "-Cparmv7A" (The Cortex -A9 cores implement the ARMv7-A architecture) then I can sucessfully compile my application for WinCE 7.

Drawback is that I must now maintain 2 FPC installations/cross-compilers (Win32-WinCE): one for targer WinCE 5,6 with CPUs ARMv5 and another for WinCE 7 with ARMv7 CPU (It is not sufficient to setup build modes in project ... also all units must be pre-compiled ... at least I do not know how to bypass this limitation)

-Laco.

I suspect your problem is related to this feature request: https://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=30294

Note that you probably don't need two different cross compilers if your cpu-OS target is the same, only two different versions of the RTL (and perhaps packages) in a way that enables the compiler to pick the correct version. For avr-embedded I change the unit output folder name to avr-embedded-SUBARCH and add the subarch macro to fpc.cfg. For arm you may also need to handle different ABI versions (I don't cross compile for arm).

Yes seems so ...

Note that you probably don't need two different cross compilers if your cpu-OS target is the same

Target CPU family is same: "arm", but Target processor is not the same: "ARMv4" versus "ARMv7" ...

So I do not know if this requires two pre-compiled cross-compilers or not?

I can set in Project Options "Unit Output Directory", but how to set where RTL/packages are located ...

Perphas recompilation RTL/packages for given target processor from sources is okay for me, but is it doable in one Lazarus with one cross compiler?

-Laco.

LacaK schrieb am Fr., 5. Apr. 2019, 13:18:

You only need different compilers if you have different ABIs (e.g. Soft Float vs. Hard Float). For WinCE that isn't applicable however.

Regards,
Sven

So it does not matter how I build cross-compiler using FpcUpDeluxe: wheter I use "-Cparmv5" or "-Cparmv7A" ?

Then there is still problem with precompiled RTL/packages?

Because when I only change "Target processor" (in Lazarus build using FpcUpDeluxe) I can compile application, but I can not run it on target system (so I guess, that resulting EXE is not compiled for target processor).

When I add to Custom options: -CfVFPV2 then I get error while compiling: Fatal: Can't find unit system used by Test1

When I download and install default Lazarus and cross-compiler then when I change "Target processor" to "ARMv5" or "ARMv7A" I get: "project1.lpr(22,0) Error: Error while assembling exitcode 1"

-Laco.

LacaK schrieb am Fr., 5. Apr. 2019, 14:56:

Correct.

Then there is still problem with precompiled RTL/packages?

As said by Christo you need to select the correct set of compiled units. Also you need to select the correct processor type when building your application.

Regards,
Sven

I did this test:

1. I have precompiled units for "-Cparmv5" and "-Cparmv7A"and I have saved these precompiled units
2. Then I copy "v5" units to expected directory (of FpcUpDeluxe structure) fpc\units\arm-wince
3. Then I run Lazarus and try build for Target processor ARMv5 and run on target system ... works

4. Then I have copied "v7" units over prior "v5" units
5. I repeated step 3 ... works on target system with ARMv7 processor

Until now only question is :
Can I set somewhere (in Project Options), in inteligent way, where compiler will look for precompiled units ... to be able in one project switch between Build modes, where each build mode will look in other directory ?

But when I try set also "-CfFPV2" (in Project Options / Custom Options ) then I get:

Fatal: Cannot find system used by fcllaz. Make sure all ppu files of a package are in its output directory. ppu in wrong
directory=D:\TEMP\fpcupdeluxe\fpc\units\arm-wince\rtl\system.ppu..

I can resolve this error (beside using precompiled units with same flag set) by adding "-CfFPV2" also in fpc.cfg after:
#IFDEF FPC_CROSSCOMPILING
#IFDEF WINCE
#IFDEF CPUARM

So in this use case it is not sufficient only have two (or third) distinct sets of precompiled units ...

So can these problems be solved somehow using only Project Options without need to modify fpc.cfg ?

Btw. in fpc.cfg I have:
# searchpath for units and other system dependent things -FuD:\TEMP\fpcupdeluxe\fpc/units/$fpctarget
-FuD:\TEMP\fpcupdeluxe\fpc/units/$fpctarget/*
-FuD:\TEMP\fpcupdeluxe\fpc/units/$fpctarget/rtl

Can this be avoided in fpc.cfg and transfered to Project Options ? (is /* supported in Lazarus, becuase Lazarus complains about non-existent directory)

TIA

-Laco.

You can use IDE macros in path names at Project Options.