ITK/Cross Compiling

This page describes the procedure to follow when cross compiling ITK for another system.

In this page, we will refer to the system as:

• Target System: The system where the executables are intended to run.
• Build System: The system where the executables are built.

In Linux Host for Mac Target

In this particular case we illustrate

• Target System = Mac
• Build System = Linux

Major steps

1. Build your tool chain in the build system
   • This is the set of compiler and linker that must be build in the build system, but will know how to generate code for the Target system.
2. Create a TryRun ... file in the native system
   • This could be generated (as a skeleton) with the following commands

Building the ToolChain for Darwin

The following is a script developed by Johannes Schindelin (originally intended for FIJI)

Script for Building the Darwing Toolchain in Linux

Gathering Configuration settings in the target system

Following the advice of the CMake Wiki [1]

Put the following in a file called ToolChain.cmake

 # this one is important
 SET(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME Linux)
 #this one not so much
 SET(CMAKE_SYSTEM_VERSION 1)
 # specify the cross compiler
 SET(CMAKE_C_COMPILER   /usr/bin/gcc)
 SET(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER /usr/bin/g++)
 # where is the target environment
 SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH  /usr)
 # search for programs in the build host directories
 SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_PROGRAM NEVER)
 # for libraries and headers in the target directories
 SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_LIBRARY ONLY)
 SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE ONLY)

and run it with CMake using the command (in an empty directory)

 cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=./ToolChain.cmake   ~/src/ITK

This will generate (among many other things) a File called

              TryRunResults.cmake

Then, manually populate, the values of each one of the fields.

The values to be put in this file can be taken from the CMakeCache.txt file of a native build in Darwin.

Finally, copy this file to the build system.

Using the Configuration in the Host

Now that you have copied the TryRunResuls.cmake file to the host system, you can use it as an initial cache for configuring the build.

Do the command in the build system.

   cmake -C ~/TryRunResults.cmake   ~/src/ITK

once the configuration is completed you can proceed to build ITK by simply typing

   make

The full process scripted

The process as a whole has been scripted in the file below

Script for configuring a cross-compilation build

Thanks to Johannes Schindelin for contributing the script.

In Linux Host for Windows Target

In this particular case we illustrate

• Target System = Windows
• Build System = Linux

Major steps

1. Build your tool chain in the build system
   • This is the set of compiler and linker that must be build in the build system, but will know how to generate code for the Target system.
   • In this case we use MinGW as the tool chain
2. Create a TryRun ... file in the native system
   • This could be generated (as a skeleton) with the following commands

Building the ToolChain for Windows

The following is a script developed by Johannes Schindelin (originally intended for FIJI)

Script for Building the Windows (MinGW) Toolchain in Linux

Gathering Configuration settings in the target system

Following the advice of the CMake Wiki [2]

Put the following in a file called ToolChain.cmake

 # this one is important
 SET(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME Linux)
 #this one not so much
 SET(CMAKE_SYSTEM_VERSION 1)
 # specify the cross compiler
 SET(CMAKE_C_COMPILER   /usr/bin/gcc)
 SET(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER /usr/bin/g++)
 # where is the target environment
 SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH  /usr)
 # search for programs in the build host directories
 SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_PROGRAM NEVER)
 # for libraries and headers in the target directories
 SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_LIBRARY ONLY)
 SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE ONLY)

and run it with CMake using the command (in an empty directory)

 cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=./ToolChain.cmake   ~/src/ITK

This will generate (among many other things) a File called

              TryRunResults.cmake

Then, manually populate, the values of each one of the fields.

The values to be put in this file can be taken from the CMakeCache.txt file of a native build in Windows.

Finally, copy this file to the build system.

Using the Configuration in the Host

Now that you have copied the TryRunResuls.cmake file to the host system, you can use it as an initial cache for configuring the build.

Do the command in the build system.

   cmake -C ~/TryRunResults.cmake   ~/src/ITK

once the configuration is completed you can proceed to build ITK by simply typing

   make