Update your existing GCC / PRC-Tools 2.0 installation for use with CASLide 4.3

If you prefer a more simplistic approach to installing the components on this page, we recommend using the CASL Component installer. However, if prefer detailed instructions for manually installing GCC / PRC-Tools, etc. then please read below.

The only change is to switch from Palm OS SDK 3.1 to SDK 5.0. See step 4 below.

Full GCC/PRC-Tools Installation

You'll perform the following steps to set up a GCC development environment on Windows for CASLpro.

Uninstall any prior installation
Download and install Cygwin b20.1
Download and install GCC/PRC-Tools 2.0
Download and install Palm OS SDK 5.0
Step up DOS environment for c_build.bat

NOTE: PRC Tools and the GNU C Compiler (GCC) is an open source compiler tool chain for building Palm OS applications in C or C++. It's distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, and is freely available with full source code and documentation at the GCC web page. It's NOT a part of the CASLpro tool, and you're NOT paying anything for its use. We provide downloadable files of everything you need to use with CASLpro on this page for your convenience.

NOTE: The 4.3 CASLpro generated 'makefile' is now compatible with the latest GCC/PRC-Tools (ver 2.3), The compiler is actually generating two 'makefiles' for a CASLpro application today, one that is compatible with the 2.0 GCC/PRC-Tools (name.MAK) and one that is compatible with the 2.3 version of GCC/PRC-Tools (name.MK). The c_build.bat now makes use of a batch file created by the compiler, called find_tools_path.bat. This file sets up environment variables indicating whether the newer (ver 2.3) or older (ver 2.0) PRC-Tools/GCC is installed. The c_build.bat file makes a decision about which 'makefile' to use based on these environment variables. If a CASL developer has both versions of PRC-Tools/GCC installed, the system will choose the newer. If (for some reason) the CASL developer wants to use the older one when both are installed, simply 'commenting out' the call to 'find_tools_path.bat' in c_build.bat will cause the use of the older PRC-Tools/GCC. The newer PRC-Tools does not require a symbolic link or directory renaming to locate the SDK header and library files, but provides a program, 'palmdev-prep' to control this. This page still includes instructions for using GCC/PRC-Tools 2.0. We'll update as more of our beta testers let us know how their installations go, as we want the installation process to be painless. For those who already have the newer Cygwin and PRC-Tools, the new CASLpro compiler is compatible, and you needn't install the files on this page.

If you've already download these file, and you're having problems, see the CASLpro Troubleshooting Page.

Step 1-Completely de-install the previous GNU PalmPilot GCC tools, PRC-Tools 0.5.0 (if present):

Ensure that any 'autoexec.bat' modifications that were made by the earlier install of 0.5.0. are removed. These include the setting of the environment variable GCC_EXEC_PREFIX, and any path settings that include references to the previous GCC program directories.

The PRC-Tools package is intended to be installed once. If you re-install PRC-Tools, you will create multiple entries in your system's Windows registry. To remove an existing installation of PRC-Tools, you must do the following:

Remove all references to PRC-Tools from the Windows registry. Generally, the PRC-Tools entries are in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Palm Computing -> PRC-Tools

Unmount PRC-Tools by opening your Cygwin bash shell and typing this command: umount /PRC-Tools

Remove the Cygnus registry HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->Cygnus Solutions

Step 2-Download Cygnus Package

Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows, provides user tools, and a PRC Make facility for building Palm OS applications. The PRC-Tools package including GCC runs on the Cygwin environment.

Download and install the Cygnus package for Windows:

cygwin-b20.1-full.exe (13.5 MB) is the full Cygwin and includes the PRC make utility.

Or

cygwin-b20.1-usertools.exe (3 MB) is just the Cygnus users tools and cygwin-make.zip (55 kB) is the PRC make tool. The make tool should be unzipped into the C:\CYGNUS\CYGWIN-B20\H-I586-CYGWIN32\BIN directory assuming the Cygnus tools where installed in C:\CYGNUS.

NOTE: Some users have reported problems when installing this package to any drive other than their boot drive (normally drive c:). We strongly suggest you install only to your boot drive.

Step 3-Download and Install GCC/PRC Tools

The PRC-Tools package contains all of the GCC tools specific to Palm OS. The Palm OS specific parts of PRC-Tools were originally written by D. Jeff Dionne, Kresten Krab Thourp, they are currently maintained by John Marshall, and many other people have made contributions over the years.

Download and install the GCC/PRC Tools:

prc-tools-2.0.exe (7 MB) is the GCC compiler and multi-segment linker tools.

NOTE: Some users have reported problems when installing this package to any drive other than their boot drive (normally drive c:). We strongly suggest you install only to your boot drive.

Step 4-Download and install the PalmOS SDK 5.0

The Palm OS SDK package contains C header files and libraries required for developing Palm OS applications.

Download and install the Palm OS SDK 5.0:

The Palm OS Software Development Kit version 5 is free, but requires acceptance of the PALMSOURCE END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT. Download the file, and review the license before installing.

palmos-sdk-5.0r3-1.tar.gz ...(457 kB) contains the SDK header files and static libraries needed for the CASLpro generated C code to interface with the Palm OS. The SDK should be unzipped into the C:\PalmDev directory assuming that is what was specified during the PRC Tools install in step 3, (WinZip supports the unpacking of tar-gzip files). After extracting, all of the Palm OS 5.0 SDK files should reside in the sub-directories beneath your 'C:\Palmdev\sdk-5r3' directory.

Inform GCC/PRC-Tools that the Palm OS 5.0 SDK in the 'PalmDev' directory is the one to be used:

Rename the 'sdk-5r3' directory to 'sdk'

Step 5-Step up DOS environment for c_build.bat

If using a unique installation path for Cygwin or PRC-Tools:

If and only if you installed Cygnus and PRC-Tools into other directories, then the CASL43\C_Build\c_build.bat file needs to be changed. Look for these three lines near the top of the "c_build.bat" file:

@set cygwinpath=C:\CYGNUS\CYGWIN-B20\… Change this to match your Cygnus package install directory set in Step 2.

@set prctoolspath=C:\PROGRAM FILES\PRC-TOOLS\… Change this to match your PRC Tools install directory set in Step 3.

If using Windows ME:

Windows Me users must first setup the MS-DOS environment space for c_build.bat. Double click on the c_build.bat file that is in the CASLsoft\CASL43\C_build directory then:
1) Right click the title bar of the MS-DOS window and select properties.
2) Click the Memory tab.
3) In the Initial Environment box, set the initial environment size to 4096.
4) Click OK.
5) Close the MS-DOS window.
The CASLide "Show C build window" checkbox in the Tools->IDE Settings must also be checked for Windows Me users.

If using other versions of Windows and get "Out of Environment Space" error:

For all other versions of Windows, if the execution of 'c_build.bat' generate "Out of Environment Space" error messages, consult the following steps to resolve this (does not apply to Windows Me):
1) Take a look at your autoexec.bat file, and remove all of the environment settings related to the old GCC environment. If any are removed, reboot.
2) If step 1 had no effect, this means you were REALLY close to the edge to begin with in terms of environment space and the PATH statement in c_build.bat put you over the limit.
If that is the case, add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS file:
shell=c:\command.com /e:4096 /p
After rebooting, that should give you enough environment space to setup the path correctly.

More Help

If you've already download these file, and you're having problems, see the CASLpro Troubleshooting Page.

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Last Modified 01/15/2007