Port Portable C Compiler (pcc) to HelenOS

[Jakub Jermář]

Port the Portable C Compiler to HelenOS.

Details

The Portable C Compiler (pcc) is a multiplatform, BSD-licensed, simple and fast compiler of the C99 language. The origins of the compiler reach back to 1970's, but it is being actively developed even today. Its current version is now nearing the 1.0 release. Integrate a reasonably recent version of pcc into HelenOS so that it can be used to compile C programs from within HelenOS. In the absence of tools such as assembler and linker, focus on porting pcc to the extent that it can compile a C source file into an assembly output (skip the assembler and linking phase).

What Gains and Benefits will this bring?

One of the strategic goals for HelenOS is becoming self-hosting. Since most of the HelenOS code is written in C, having a native C compiler is a prerequisite to reaching this goal. With a C compiler in place, the usability of HelenOS will also benefit as it will become possible to compile user programs from within HelenOS itself.

Difficulty

medium

Required skills

A successful applicant will have good skills of programming in the C language and the ability to survive in a non-standard non-POSIX application environment. The applicant should also be familiar with the basic concepts behind compilers and the build toolchain.

Documentation

• DeveloperDocs
• ​Portable C Compiler

Possible mentors

HelenOS Core Team, Jakub Jermar, Jiri Svoboda