# Building firmware on Gentoo, the hard way **URL:** \ **Category:** Programming\ **Created:** [January 28, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/building-firmware-on-gentoo-the-hard-way/962 "2018-01-28T00:29:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flussence](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/community.keyboard.io/flussence/32/19_2.png) [@flussence](https://community.keyboard.io/u/flussence)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/building-firmware-on-gentoo-the-hard-way/962/1 "2018-01-28T00:29:26Z")
I know all of this is Doing It Wrong™ but I’d like to see how far I can get with it anyway. ~~I’m only about 75% of the way to doing a successful build~~ _I got it to work, see below_, but hopefully someone will find my rubber duck rambling useful. * * * Okay, so the distro has a pre-existing Arduino package (good!). But it’s 1.0.5, which is incredibly ancient - Kaleidoscope needs 1.6.10 or higher. But I’m in luck because people [have already been working on a 1.8.5 package](https://bugs.gentoo.org/525882) and [it’s already available](https://github.com/maurerpe/arduino-overlay). So I’ve installed that and now have a generic AVR cross-compile toolchain set up, the Arduino IDE runs too but I’ll ignore that for the time being. Let’s try to build the keyboard firmware: ```bash cd kaleidoscope/Kaleidoscope/ make # BOARD_HARDWARE_PATH="/home/ant/Arduino/hardware" /home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/libraries/Kaleidoscope/bin//kaleidoscope-builder build-all # Building output/AppSwitcher/AppSwitcher (0.0.1-gfe71) ... # /home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/libraries/Kaleidoscope/bin//kaleidoscope-builder: line 134: /usr/local/arduino/arduino-builder: No such file or directory # make: *** [/home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/build-tools/makefiles//rules.mk:75: build-all] Error 127 ``` Right, that won’t work because the build script assumes I did the sensible thing and followed the instructions. I can fix most of that by telling it where the binaries really live: ```bash cat > ~/Arduino/rc export ARDUINO_PATH="/usr/share/arduino" export AVR_SIZE="/usr/bin/avr-size" export AVR_NM="/usr/bin/avr-nm" export AVR_OBJDUMP="/usr/bin/avr-objdump" export AVRDUDE="/usr/bin/avrdude" export AVRDUDE_CONF="/etc/avrdude.conf" export ARDUINO_TOOLS_PATH="/usr/bin/" ^D source ~/Arduino/rc ``` That gets me a different error, at least: ```bash make #... # Building output/AppSwitcher/AppSwitcher (0.0.1-gfe71) ... # open /usr/share/arduino/tools-builder: no such file or directory # make: *** [/home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/build-tools/makefiles//rules.mk:75: build-all] Error 1 ``` That’s coming from the `-tools "${ARDUINO_PATH}/tools-builder"` in `bin/kaleidoscope-builder`. But I don’t have/need that folder (all my tools are in `$PATH` already). What happens if I just delete the line entirely (from the repo I’m in and the other copy under `~/Arduino`)? This: ```bash # Building output/AppSwitcher/AppSwitcher (0.0.1-gfe71-dirty) ... # fork/exec /bin/avr-g++: no such file or directory ``` Time to figure out where that’s coming from… ```bash ack 'avr-g\+\+' ~/kaleidoscope/ # Arduino-Boards/platform.txt # 27:compiler.cpp.cmd=avr-g++ ack -o '.*compiler.cpp.cmd' ~/kaleidoscope/ # Arduino-Boards/platform.txt # 27:compiler.cpp.cmd # 57:recipe.cpp.o.pattern="{compiler.path}{compiler.cpp.cmd # 86:recipe.preproc.includes="{compiler.path}{compiler.cpp.cmd # 89:recipe.preproc.macros="{compiler.path}{compiler.cpp.cmd ack 'compiler.path=' ~/kaleidoscope/ # Arduino-Boards/platform.txt # 21:compiler.path={runtime.tools.avr-gcc.path}/bin/ ``` That leads me back to `./etc/kaleidoscope-builder.conf`. I needed to set another thing: ```bash echo 'export AVR_GCC_PREFIX="/usr"' >> ~/Arduino/rc && source ~/Arduino/rc ``` (and then a slight half hour detour because Gentoo doesn’t install avr-g++ by default, oops) ```bash make # Building output/AppSwitcher/AppSwitcher (0.0.1-gfe71-dirty) ... # In file included from /home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/libraries/Kaleidoscope-Macros/src/Kaleidoscope-Macros.h:6: # , # from /tmp/tmp.waMDUiSTff/sketch/Macros.h:22, # from /tmp/tmp.waMDUiSTff/sketch/Macros.cpp:24: # /tmp/tmp.waMDUiSTff/sketch/Macros.cpp: In function ‘const macro_t* macroAppSwitch(uint8_t)’: # /home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/libraries/Kaleidoscope-Macros/src/MacroSteps.h:21:43: error: variable ‘__m’ with # dynamic initialization put into program memory area # #define MACRO(...) ({static const macro_t __m[] PROGMEM = {__VA_ARGS __, MACRO_ACTION_END }; &__ m[0]; }) # ^ # /tmp/tmp.waMDUiSTff/sketch/Macros.cpp:38:12: note: in expansion of macro ‘MACRO’ # return MACRO(Dr(mod), D(Tab)); # ^ ~~~~ # (...bunch more lines like this...) # exit status 1 # make: *** [/home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/build-tools/makefiles//rules.mk:72: build-all] Error 1 ``` A scary-sounding GCC error! At least we’re getting somewhere interesting now, I think I’ve solved most of the self-inflicted environment problems, and this looks like actual bug report territory… so I’ll come back when I make more progress. ---
**Author:** ![flussence](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/community.keyboard.io/flussence/32/19_2.png) [@flussence](https://community.keyboard.io/u/flussence)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/building-firmware-on-gentoo-the-hard-way/962/2 "2018-01-28T01:29:47Z")
After re-reading the instructions, it turns out they’ve changed since I began attempting this (that’s what I get for procrastinating on it so long). It originally only mentioned the Kaleidoscope code. So I tried building Model01-Firmware instead and that went much better: ```bash make # BOARD_HARDWARE_PATH="/home/ant/Arduino/hardware" /home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/libraries/Kaleidoscope/bin//kaleidoscope-builder build-all # Building output/Model01-Firmware/Model01-Firmware (0.0.0-gv1.22-3-gb745) ... # /home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/libraries/KeyboardioScanner/twi.c: In function ‘__vector_36’: # /home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/libraries/KeyboardioScanner/twi.c:446:47: warning: this statement may fall through [-Wimplicit-fallthrough=] # twi_masterBuffer[twi_masterBufferIndex++] = TWDR; # ^ # /home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/libraries/KeyboardioScanner/twi.c:447:3: note: here # case TW_MR_SLA_ACK: // address sent, ack received # ^~~~ # - Size: firmware/Model01-Firmware/Model01-Firmware-0.0.0-gv1.22-3-gb745.elf # /usr/bin/avr-size: invalid option -- 'C' # Usage: /usr/bin/avr-size [option(s)] [file(s)] #... # awk: cmd. line:1: (FILENAME=- FNR=1) fatal: division by zero attempted # make: *** [/home/ant/Arduino/hardware/keyboardio/avr/build-tools/makefiles//rules.mk:72: build-all] Error 2 ``` Despite the error, I compiled a firmware file! It just errors out because (I’m guessing) Arduino bundles a completely different `size` program to the standard one. Let’s hack up `bin/kaleidoscope-builder` again so it runs… ```diff --- a/bin/kaleidoscope-builder +++ b/bin/kaleidoscope-builder @@ -33,11 +33,11 @@ firmware_size () { MAX_PROG_SIZE=28672 - output="$($@ | grep "\\(Program\\|Data\\):" | sed -e 's,^, - ,' && echo)" + output=$("${AVR_SIZE}" "${ELF_FILE_PATH}") - PROGSIZE="$(echo "${output}" | grep Program: | cut -d: -f2 | awk '{print $1}')" + PROGSIZE=$(echo "${output}" | awk 'NR==2 {print $4}') PERCENT="$(echo ${PROGSIZE} ${MAX_PROG_SIZE} | awk "{ printf \"%02.01f\", \$1 / \$2 * 100 }")" - echo "${output}" | sed -e "s/\(Program:.*\)(\([0-9\.]*%\) Full)/\1(${PERCENT}% Full)/" + echo "${PROGSIZE} (${PERCENT}% Full)" } ``` Looks reasonable: ```nohighlight - Size: firmware/Model01-Firmware/Model01-Firmware-0.0.0-gv1.22-3-gb745.elf 20981 (73.2% Full) ``` Run `make flash` and… ```auto Keyboardio Model 01 - Kaleidoscope locally built ``` It works! ---
**Author:** ![aspiers](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/community.keyboard.io/aspiers/32/245_2.png) [@aspiers](https://community.keyboard.io/u/aspiers)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/building-firmware-on-gentoo-the-hard-way/962/3 "2018-03-07T19:57:03Z")
> [@flussence](#): > > That’s coming from the -tools “${ARDUINO\_PATH}/tools-builder” in bin/kaleidoscope-builder. But I don’t have/need that folder (all my tools are in $PATH already). I see the same absence of `tools-builder` when installing [Arduino from packages on openSUSE Leap 42.3](https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/CrossToolchain:avr/Arduino). Can @jesse or anyone comment whether this is really needed? Because this thread suggests it is not. ---
**Author:** ![aspiers](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/community.keyboard.io/aspiers/32/245_2.png) [@aspiers](https://community.keyboard.io/u/aspiers)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/building-firmware-on-gentoo-the-hard-way/962/4 "2018-03-07T20:18:29Z")
> [@flussence](#): > > hopefully someone will find my rubber duck rambling useful. I did indeed; many thanks! I’ve started my own rubber duck thread here: [Building firmware on openSUSE, the hard way](https://community.keyboard.io/t/building-firmware-on-opensuse-the-hard-way/1219)