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+Title: Intro to GCC bootstrap in RISC-V
+Date: 2022-02-14
+Category:
+Tags: Bootstrapping GCC in RISC-V
+Slug: bootstrapGcc0
+Lang: en
+Summary:
+    Introduction to my new adventure bootstrapping GCC for RISC-V. Why, how,
+    and who is going to pay for it.
+
+You probably already know about how I spent more than a year having fun with
+RISC-V and software bootstrapping from source.
+
+As some may know from my [FOSDEM talk][fosdem22], [NLNet / NGI-Assure put the
+funds][nlnet] to make me spend more time on this for this year and I decided
+to work on GCC's bootstrapping process for RISC-V.
+
+[nlnet]: https://nlnet.nl/project/GNUMes-RISCV/
+[fosdem22]: https://fosdem.org/2022/schedule/event/riscvadventures/
+
+### Why GCC
+
+GCC is probably the most used compiler collection, period.  With GCC we can
+compile the world and have a proper distribution directly from source, but who
+compiles the compiler?[^1]
+
+[^1]: *wHo wATcHes tHE wAtchMEN?*
+
+Well, someone has to.
+
+### The bootstrap
+
+Bootstrapping a compiler with a long history like GCC for a new architecture
+like RISC-V involves some complications, starting on the fact that the first
+version of GCC that supports RISC-V needs a C++98 capable compiler in order to
+build. C++98 is a really complex standard, so there's no way we can bootstrap a
+C++98 compiler at the moment for RISC-V. The easiest way we can think of at
+this point is to use an older version of GCC for that, one of those that are
+able to build C++98 programs but they only require a C compiler to build. Older
+versions of GCC, of course, don't have RISC-V support so... We need a
+*backport*[^2].
+
+[^2]: Insert "Back to the Future" music here.
+
+So that's what I'm doing right now. I'm taking an old version of GCC that only
+depends on C89 and is able to compile C++98 code and I'm porting it to RISC-V
+so we can build newer GCCs with it.
+
+Only needing C to compile it's a huge improvement because there are *Tiny C
+Compilers* out there that can compile C to RISC-V, and those are written using
+simple C that we can bootstrap with simpler tools of a more civilized world.
+
+In summary:
+
+- C++98 is too complex, but C89 is fine.
+- GCC is the problem and also the solution.
+
+### What about GNU Mes?
+
+When *we*[^3] started with this effort we wanted to prepare GNU Mes, a small C
+compiler that is able to compile a *Tiny C Compiler*, to work with RISC-V so we
+could start to work in this bootstrap process from the bottom.
+
+[^3]: "*We*" means I shared my thoughts and plans with other people who have a
+  much better understanding of this than myself.
+
+Some random events, like someone else working on that part, made us rethink our
+strategy so we decided to start from the top and try to combine both efforts at
+the end. We share the same goal: full source bootstrap for RISC-V.
+
+### Tiny C Compilers?
+
+There are many small C compilers out there that are written in simple C and are
+able to compile an old GCC that is written in C. Our favorite is TinyCC (Tiny C
+Compiler).
+
+[^4]: But there are some others that are really interesting (see
+[cproc](https://sr.ht/~mcf/cproc/), for example)
+
+GNU Mes is able to build a patched version of TinyCC, which already supports
+RISC-V (RV64 only), and we can use that TinyCC to compile the GCC version I'm
+backporting.
+
+We'd probably need to patch some things in both projects to make everything
+work smoothly but that's also included in the project plan.
+
+### Binutils
+
+Binutils is also a problem mostly because GCC, as we will talk about in the
+future, does not compile to binary directly. GCC generates assembly code and
+coordinates calls to `as` and `ld` (the GNU Assembler and Linker) to generate
+the final binaries. Thankfully, TinyCC can act as an assembler and a linker,
+and there's also the chance to compile a modern binutils version because it is
+written in C.
+
+In any case, the binary file generation and support must be taken in account,
+because GCC is not the only actor in this film and RISC-V has some weird things
+on the assembly and the binaries that have to be supported correctly.
+
+### Conclusion
+
+This is a very interesting project, where I need to dig in **BIG** stuff, which
+is cool, but also has a huge level of uncertainty, which scares the hell out of
+me. I hope everything goes well...
+
+In any case, I'll share all I learn here in the blog and I keep you all posted
+with the news we have.
+
+That's all for this time. If you have any question or comment or want to share
+your thoughts and feelings with me[^5] you can find my
+[contact information here](https://ekaitz.elenq.tech/pages/about.html).
+
+[^5]: Or even hire me for some freelance IT stuff 🤓
+
+---
+
+> PS: Big up to NlNet / NGI-Assure for the money.
+
+<style>
+.container{
+    display: flex;
+    flex-flow: row wrap;
+    justify-content: center;
+    gap: 40px;
+}
+.no-side-margin{
+    margin:  0px;
+}
+</style>
+<div class="container">
+<img class="no-side-margin" src="{attach}/bootstrapGcc/nlnet.svg"     width=200px>
+<img class="no-side-margin" src="{attach}/bootstrapGcc/NGIAssure.svg" width=200px>
+</div>