This repository contains a dockerfile and build scripts to compile gdb and gdbserver statically for multiple architectures. Currently, the supported architectures are:

x86_64
arm
aarch64
powerpc (32bit) You can easily expand it to support more architectures by adding the appropriate cross compilers to the dockerfile, and other build scripts.

NOTE: You don't need to interact with the dockerfile directly, as the Makefile will take care of everything for you.

Building for a specific architecture

To build for a specific architecture, you can use the following command:

make build-<ARCH>

For example, to build for arm:

make build-arm

The resulting binaries will be placed under the build/artifacts/ directory. Each architecture will have its own directory under build/artifacts/. For example, the arm architecture will have the following directory structure:

build/
    artifacts/
        arm/
            ...

Building for all architectures

To build for all architectures, you can use the following command:

make build

Cleaning the build

To clean the build, you can use the following command:

make clean

Notes about this file - read before proceeding!

While i already provided the gdb/gdbserver-15 statically compiled binaries handed out to you, some people might want to compile it to a different architecture, or compile a newer version of gdb in the future :). This rest of the file contains my compilation documentation so that you could save yourself some time and do it yourself, if you wish.

in the script

When specifying the compilation dir throughout the compilation process (specified as <COMPILATION_DIR_PATH> in this file), DO NOT use relative pathing, or bash characters such as ~. They will not get parsed correctly! Instead, use absolute paths only.

Examples to the throughout the script: <CROSS_COMPILER_C> - arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc <CROSS_COMPILER_CPP> - arm-linux-gnueabi-g++ <HOST_NAME> - arm-linux-gnueabi <COMPILATION_DIR_PATH> - /home/username/projects/libgmp-x.y.z/build-arm/

Environment info:

glibc version: 2.39-0ubuntu8.3 (NOTE: When i compiled gdb-15 using an older glibc, such as the one i had in my ubuntu-20.04 machine, i received a segfault in gdb...).

Compiling gdb statically to the host platform

1) Compiling iconv

While compiling iconv is not a must, the libc-provided iconv (a utility to convert between encodings) may fail on different architectures, at least in my experiance. Thus, I recommended using a custom libiconv and compiling it into gdb.

Download the source from https://github.com/roboticslibrary/libiconv.git Make sure to check out to a stable tag (in my case - v1.17).

Work according to the following steps: I) run ./gitsub.sh pull II) run ./autogen.sh to create the configure script from configure.sh. III) create a build dir (e.g build), and then cd into it. IV) run ../configure --enable-static V) run cp -r ./include ./lib/.libs/ VI) run mkdir ./lib/.libs/lib/ VII) run cp ./lib/.libs/libiconv.a ./lib/.libs/lib/

2) Compiling gdb

Clone gdb from sourceware - https://sourceware.org/git/binutils-gdb.git. I checked out to the 15.2 tag.

Work according to the following steps: I) Apply my patches (gdb_static.patch). If you are not on the exact tag i used (15.2) - you might need to apply them manually, and change some stuff. II) create a build dir. III) run ../configure --enable-static --with-static-standard-libraries --disable-tui --disable-inprocess-agent --with-libiconv-prefix=<COMPILATION_DIR_PATH>/lib/.libs/ --with-libiconv-type=static IV) run make all-gdb -j$(nproc) - for gdbserver, run make all-gdbserver -j$(nproc).

gdb will sit under gdb/gdb. gdbserver will sit under gdbserver/gdbserver.

Cross compiling gdb statically to other architectures.

Cross compiling gdb statically is a bit more complicated then regular static compilation. In order to cross compile gdb statically, we will need to compile libgmp and libmpfr as well as iconv.

1) Compiling iconv

Work according to the same process as described under the compilation to the host platform, aside from the configure script: IV) run ../configure --enable-static CC=<CROSS_COMPILER_C> CXX=<CROSS_COMPILER_CPP> --host=<HOST_NAME>

2) Compiling libgmp

Download and extract the latest edition from https://gmplib.org/. I used the 6.3.0 edition.

Work according to the following steps: I) Create a build dir and cd into it. II) run ../configure CC=<CROSS_COMPILER_C> CXX=<CROSS_COMPILER_CPP> --enable-static --host=<HOST_NAME> III) run make -j$(nproc) IV) run mkdir ./.libs/include/ V) run cp gmp.h ./.libs/include/ VI) run mkdir ./.libs/lib VII) run cp ./.libs/libgmp.a ./.libs/lib

3) Compiling libmpfr

Download and extract the latest edition from https://www.mpfr.org/. I used the 4.2.1 edition.

Work according to the following steps: I) Create a build dir and cd into it. II) run ../configure CC=<CROSS_COMPILER_C> CXX=<CROSS_COMPILER_CPP> --enable-static --with-gmp-build=<COMPILATION_DIR_PATH> --host=<HOST_NAME> III) run make -j$(nproc) IV) run mkdir ./src/.libs/lib V) run cp ./src/.libs/libmpfr.a ./src/.libs/lib VI) run mkdir ./src/.libs/include VII) run cp ../src/mpfr.h ./src/.libs/include/

4) Compiling gdb

Work according to the same process as described under the compilation to the host platform, aside from the configure script: III) run ../configure --enable-static --with-static-standard-libraries --disable-tui --disable-inprocess-agent --with-libiconv-prefix=<COMPILATION_DIR_PATH>/lib/.libs/ --with-libiconv-type=static --with-gmp=<COMPILATION_DIR_PATH>/.libs/ --with-mpfr=<COMPILATION_DIR_PATH>/src/.libs/ CC=<CROSS_COMPILER_C> CXX=<CROSS_COMPILER_CPP> --host=<HOST_NAME>