How to make a Cross-toolchain to compile from Win7+Eclipse+MinGW+wxWidgets to Beaglebone Black with Debian?

Question

I've got some experience in programming for Windows environment but I need to develop a "Kiosk" (I've heard that this is the right name) on a BeagleBone Black. I'm totally new to Linux and also new to the tools I'm going to use. Until the last couple of months, I developed with VB6 and C++Builder only.

Right now I have Eclipse, MinGW and wxWidgets working on my Windowns 7 64-bits PC, and the BeagleBone Black booting a Debian 7.8 with LXDE.

I need to setup a tool-chain to compile for the BeagleBone Black. I tried really hard and have read at least hundred pages, but still I've not figured it out.

From This Site I've learnt that it's possible to compile for Linux from Windows, which could be the perfect solution. If not possible, I already have a Virtual Machine running Ubuntu (but I can change it if needed) ready for Eclipse and other stuff installation.

I'm still lost about what tool-chain to use/build with. This site seems to have already built a tool-chain, but there's no indication to where to go from there. I understand that I should now compile the wxWidgets with this tools, but I'm unsure and also I don't want to mess-up my current working setup in Windows 'cause I missed a switch or a path.

I see how this question was asked more than one time, but I didn't find one that is up-to-date so I'm asking it again.

How to make a tool-chain to compile a GUI application, from Windows using Eclipse, MinGW and wxWidget for a BeagleBone Black running Debian and LXDE?

Bullard

Also: is this Eclipse plugin useful for me? – Bullard

all you need is a cross compiler and using that you need to compile all the libraries and tools you want to use to build your application and then you must integrate them with your favorite IDE (if you want to use one) and use that to produce the binary image and upload it to your board. This is a very broad topic and there's no single ultimate way to do it. It largely depends on the specific use case (that's why it's called embedded after all.). BeagleBone Black is a very nicely documented project. Why don't you follow their help or ask them directly? they have a very active forum. – Affranchise

'cause any guide/tutorial i followed failed. Some are outdated, some just does'nt work. I donwloaded the linaro toolchain binaries, but gcc crashes when invoked by configure. I don't know if it crashes 'cause i pass wrong parameters or 'cause it is just bugged. I'm stuck in the "build wxwidgets" step and i don't know what's wrong. – Bullard

I'd argue also the "very nicely documented" part of your comment but i could have missed something so i can't be sure why i don't agree with you (even if, after about 100 bookmarks saved to try to get some clue, i'm pretty sure that it is not so well documented :) ). Thanks for your comment, i'd be happy if you could guide me, – Bullard

Well, since you say "You" have "failed" or "stuck" in build wxwidgets part of the hundred plus pages you have read, I suggest you post that error message and the article you followed as a link so we can see what we can do about it. This is why stackoverflow is build for. I've been using BeagleBone and BeagleBoard for a long time without any trouble and I have created working environments for both Windows and Linux. Also those documentations are written for professionals so most beginners will find it difficult to follow or simply won't be able to debug / rectify if anything goes wrong. – Affranchise

Also there's a flag for questions that are too broad and if you do not include the results of your research or efforts it will be in concluded as belonging to such categories. – Affranchise

Answer 1

1. You need a compiler that runs on Windows and produces binaries for the target platform (Debian arm).
2. You need a SDK (headers, libs) for the target platform.

The MinGW-64w wiki describes how to build MinGW cross-compiler and build environment.

You can also look at SO: C++ cross-compiler from Windows to Linux.

Another technique is Canadian Cross, like Google makes its Android NDK for Windows host. At first you should setup Linux build machine. Then build GCC and binutils that will run on Windows machine and will produce binaries for Debian arm. Then copy built toolchain to Windows Cygwin or MSYS environment.

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