What exactly is a toolchain?

Question

I searched it on google and got the below result.

a toolchain is a set of programming tools that are used to perform a complex >software development task or to create a software product, which is typically >another computer program or a set of related programs

From the above paragraph, I understood that toolchain or compiler toolchain is used in developing any software product such as OS (I am not sure please correct if I was wrong )

If so, I am presently using Ubuntu 16.04. And I found a compiler toolchain preinstalled on it. But OS is already developed completely so what is need of a toolchain here until and unless a separate software product is built?

Peltate

Can I know the reason for -1? – Peltate

Answer 1

It's true that a full toolchain (compiler, assembler, linker, etc) is required to build the OS itself, but it is also necessary for building other software packages. If you download a software package on Linux whose installation instructions say to do some variant on ./configure && make && make install, then you will be using that toolchain to do the compilation. Likewise, Linux (and all the GNU/Ubuntu packages) are developed on a GNU/Linux system themselves, and so will need a toolchain to support that work on the next version of the operating system.

Trackandfield

Thanks, So, Can I build a separate os in ubuntu right compiling with the same toolchain?? – Peltate

Yes, you can use your Ubuntu install as a base to build other operating systems. If you're interested in learning how this process works, I would recommend the Linux From Scratch project (linuxfromscratch.org), which is a set of instructions for building your own GNU/Linux distribution totally from source. It's not the easiest or fastest way to get a working Linux system, but you'll learn a lot about Unix and GNU/Linux in particular along the way. – Trackandfield