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getting_started:host_and_target

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Host and Target

It is important to distinguish between the machine where the development is done (the host) and the machine where the program will be running (the target). These two can be the same but very often you write the program on one machine and execute it on another. And very often the architecture of the target machine is not identical to the one of the host machine, which means that programs cannot be simply copied from the host to the target. If the architectures of target and host don't match, cross compilation is necessary.

Determine the Architecture of your Machine

On a Linux system the following command displays the hardware plattform of your machine:

$ uname -m

On a PC the result is usually:

x86_64

On the target machine it's probably different. Some examples are: x86, x86_64, armv7l, powerpc, …

Cross Compilation

A compiler that runs on one platform and generates code for another platform is called a cross compiler. We encourage to use our prebuilt software development kits (SDK) with built-in cross compiler. This SDK is installed on the host and contains exactly the same environment as is present on the target.

getting_started/host_and_target.1613143986.txt.gz · Last modified: 2021/02/12 16:33 by ursgraf