What is GNU ARM Eclipse? Well, Eclipse is an open source, integrated-development environment that can be configured for any toolchain. This is achieved, typically, by an extensible system of plug-ins that allows the environment to be customized. Eclipse is written mostly in Java, but plug-ins are available allowing it to be configured for a variety of languages. GNU ARM Eclipse plug-ins provide Eclipse CDT (C/C++ Development Tooling) extensions for GNU ARM toolchains, such as GNU Tools for ARM Embedded Processors, and others such as Linaro (https://www.linaro.org/), YAGARTO (http://www.yagarto.org/), and so on.
To install GNU ARM Eclipse, we need the following components:
- The Eclipse IDE: This is the IDE itself, and it can be found at https://www.eclipse.org/
- GCC ARM Embedded Toolchain: This is the GNU toolchain, and it an be found at https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded
- Windows Build Tools: These are the tools for make, rm, and so on (native to Linux), and they can be found at https://github.com/gnuarmeclipse/windows-build-tools
- GNU ARM Eclipse plug-ins: These are the plug-ins, and thy can be found at https://github.com/gnuarmeclipse/plug-ins
- GNU ARM Eclipse QEMU Emulator plug-in: This is an embedded processor emulator, and it can be found at http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/qemu/
- GNU ARM OpenOCD Debugging plug-in: This is a debugging tool, and it can be found at http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/openocd/
- MDK-ARM Eclipse plug-in: This is support for the U-Link debugger, and it can be found at http://www.keil.com/support/man/docs/ecluv/default.htm
Mostly, these are installed by downloading the latest version of their Windows installer .exe file. As the MDK-ARM Eclipse plug-in only works with the Windows 32-bit version of Eclipse, we chose 32-bit versions of the toolchain. The installation documentation provided is comprehensive, so the following recipe (GNU_ARM_Eclipse_Install_c9v0) just gives us an overview and links to the relevant web pages.
- Follow the instructions at http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/toolchain/install/ and install the latest version (currently
gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_9-2015q3-20150921-win32.exe) of the prebuilt GNU toolchain for ARM Embedded Processors. Execute the installer (in the final window, be sure to disable adding the toolchain path to the environment). - Test the gcc compiler by typing
"C:Program Files (x86)GNU Tools ARM Embedded4.9 2015q3inarm-none-eabi-gcc.exe" --versionin a command window:
- Refer to http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/windows-build-tools/download/; download and run the latest version (currently
gnuarmeclipse-build-tools-win32-2.6-201507152002-setup.exe) of Windows Build Tools from this link. - Check whether Windows Build Tools is functional by opening a command window in the folder where it was installed (that is,
"C:Program FilesGNU ARM EclipseBuild Tools2.6-201507152002") and runmake --versionas follows:
- Refer to http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/qemu/install/, then download and run the latest version of the installer (currently
gnuarmeclipse-qemu-win32-2.3.50-201508041609-dev-setup.exe) from this link. Refer to http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/openocd/install/, then download and run the latest version of the installer (currentlygnuarmeclipse-openocd-win32-0.9.0-201505190955-setup.exe) from this link. Note that the documentation advises using theSEGGER J-Linkdebugger; other hardware is more difficult to set up.- Refer to http://www.keil.com/support/man/docs/ecluv/default.htm and install MDK Version 5 - Legacy Support.
- Refer to https://www.eclipse.org, then download and run the latest version of the installer (currently Eclipse Mars. 1) from this link. Choose the version for C/C++ developers:
- Refer to http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/eclipse/workspace/preferences/ and set the Eclipse preferences.
- Refer to http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/plugins/install/ and install the GNU ARM Eclipse plug-ins using the standard Eclipse installer in the Help → Install New Software menu. Note that, as we are working with Mars and we installed Eclipse configured for C/C++, then we may find that we already have some CDT tools (by default, plug-ins that are already installed are not displayed).
- Refer to http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/plugins/packs-manager/. To install packs, we need to select the pack perspective and find available packs, then install the ones that we want (make local copies). We're going to test our Eclipse IDE with the emulator configured as Discovery Board. So, we'll need the STM32F4 support pack:
- Refer to http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/tutorials/blinky-arm/ and use the wizard to create a Blinky ARM test project:
- Refer to http://gnuarmeclipse.github.io/tutorials/blinky-arm/. Build the project and run the program on the Discovery Board emulator:
