I found the instructions at Ngine and Hitmen to be an excellent start. But as I progressed I found that these just weren't enough help to be completely useful because I needed C++ as well as C.

At work, I did start using CygWin (later installed Linux at work) and although it is very good (for what it is), the best platform to use for development is Linux. I say this, because the tools you will be using were developed on Linux and were meant for a Unix(ish) environment. So, the instructions here will be aimed at Linux users.

First, get the following software:

• binutils-2.11 (ftp.sunsite.org.uk)
• gcc-core-3.0 (ftp.sunsite.org.uk)
• gcc-g++-3.0 (ftp.sunsite.org.uk)
• newlib-1.9.0 (ftp.funet.fi)

Alternately, you can get GCC from GNU and Newlib from RedHat.

I got these patches originally from MRBrown, but they didn't apply cleanly; so I applied them by hand and created some newer patches for the above packages. I have compiled the libdream 320x240 demo using these patches and they seem to work, so here they are:

• binutils-2.11 Patch
• gcc-3.0 Patch
• newlib-1.9.0 Patch

1. Specify the environment variables:

   BASH$ target=sh-elf; prefix=/usr/local; i=$prefix/bin

2. Compile binutils for SH4:

   First, you want to make a directory to put all of your source code into. It's probably better to log in as root and do in /usr/src. We'll call our directory xgcc.

   Make your /usr/src/xgcc directory and cd into it. Then type the following commands:

   • BASH$ tar -xzvpf binutils-2.11.tar.gz
   • BASH$ mkdir build-binutils-sh4
   • BASH$ cd build-binutils-sh4
   • BASH$ ../binutils-2.11/configure --target=$target --prefix=$prefix
   • BASH$ make all install

   At this point you will want to export the path to your new tools: export PATH=/usr/src/xgcc/bin, this will stop the gcc build failing halfway through.

3. Compile GCC for SH4:

   • BASH$ tar -xzvpf gcc-core-3.0.tar.gz
   • BASH$ tar -xzvpf gcc-g++-3.0.tar.gz
   • BASH$ mkdir build-gcc-sh4
   • BASH$ cd build-gcc-sh4
   • BASH$ ../gcc-3.0/configure --target=$target --prefix=$prefix --without-headers --with-newlib --enable-languages=c
   • BASH$ make all-gcc
   • BASH$ make install-gcc

4. Compile Newlib for SH4:

   • BASH$ tar -xzvpf newlib-1.9.0.tar.gz
   • BASH$ mkdir build-newlib-sh4
   • BASH$ cd build-newlib-sh4
   • BASH$ ../newlib-1.9.0/configure --target=$target --prefix=$prefix
   • BASH$ make all install CC_FOR_TARGET=$i/${target}-gcc AS_FOR_TARGET=$i/${target}-as LD_FOR_TARGET=$i/${target}-ld AR_FOR_TARGET=$i/${target}-ar RANLIB_FOR_TARGET=$i/${target}-ranlib

5. At this point you will want to export the path to your new tools: export PATH=/usr/src/xgcc/bin, this will stop the gcc build failing halfway through.

   Compile GCC for SH4:

   • BASH$ cd build-gcc-sh4
   • BASH$ make clean
   • BASH$ ../gcc-3.0/configure --target=$target --prefix=$prefix --without-headers --with-newlib --enable-languages=c,c++
   • BASH$ make all install

I have a simple script to handle this compile, you can get that here.

That's almost it! You still need a couple more files to be ready to compile:

• I have a modified version of the sh-dcbin.noddh.x from Ngine's basis.zip.
• Also, I have created a C++ source file containing the new/delete operators. cppmemory.cc.
• Finally, I have used this (modified from Ngine) startup file . This one doesn't reset the Dreamcast after the program has executed.

Now, you need to assemble the startup file and install it in the correct place:

• BASH$ sh-elf-as -little crt0.clean.s -o /usr/local/xgcc/sh-elf/lib/ml/m4-single-only/crt0.o

That's it! You should now have a complete (C/C++) installation of the cross tools for SH4 in /usr/local!