Compiling BeagleRT projects in Eclipse¶

This document contains information on how to compile the BeagleRT software and upload it onto the BeagleBone Black.

Required tools¶

This document assumes you have the following tools installed:

On Linux

• Working Linux system, either running natively or on a virtual machine
• Mercurial version control system (http://mercurial.selenic.com). Available as a package in most Linux distributions.
• arm-gcc hardfp compiler toolchain (i.e. arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc and similar. On Ubuntu, these can be installed from packages:
  

  sudo apt-get install gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf
  sudo apt-get install g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf
  

• Eclipse IDE (http://www.eclipse.org), including the C/C++ development tools
• Xenomai libraries compiled for ARM hardfp (details to come) ( you can probably do something similar to what described below for MacOS, make sure you use the appropriate paths, which might differ from the ones below)

On a 64bit MacOS X¶

• You can get the arm cross-compiler toolchain from here http://www.welzels.de/blog/projekte/arm-cross-toolchain/, which will place the binaries into your /usr/local/linaro/arm-linux-gnueabihf/bin/ folder
• xenomai libraries and include files are already on the BBB's SD card. You can copy them over to your machine as follows:
  

  cd ~
  ssh root@192.168.7.2 "cd /usr/; tar -zcvf ~/xenomai.tar.gz xenomai" 
  rsync -avz --remove-source-files bbb:xenomai.tar.gz .
  cd  /usr/local/linaro/arm-linux-gnueabihf/include/
  sudo tar -xvf ~/xenomai.tar.gz
  rm ~/xenomai.tar.gz
  

• Make sure that the following line is in your Eclipse project's includes
  

  /usr/arm-linux-gnueabihf/include/xenomai/include

  
  and the following line is in your Eclipse project's libraries search path
  

  /usr/local/linaro/arm-linux-gnueabihf/include/xenomai/lib/

Other operating systems¶

You have several options:

1. find your own way and share it here
2. use the Ubuntu VirtualBox image provided [ask for link].
3. compile on the board: Compiling BeagleRT projects on the board

Getting started¶

1. Make sure you own a copy of the BeagleRT files, if you do not already:
   

   hg clone https://code.soundsoftware.ac.uk/hg/beaglert
   

2. Launch Eclipse and select a workspace (creating one if necessary).
3. In the Eclipse menu bar, choose File -> Import.... Within the dialog box that appears, choose General -> Existing Projects into Workspace. Click Next.
4. Click the button Select root directory and choose the path to the BeagleRT repository you just cloned.
5. Make sure the BeagleRT project is selected, and under Options, untick Copy projects into workspace. Click Finish to complete the project import.

Compiling the BeagleRT project¶

1. In Eclipse, right-click on the BeagleRT project folder in the left-hand column, and choose Build Project. (If you don't see the list of projects, make sure the C/C++ Perspective is active in Eclipse, and choose Window -> Show View -> Project Explorer.)
2. The project should compile without errors, and the results should be visible in the Console tab (typically in the bottom pane of the window)
3. If any errors arise, check that you have all the dependencies installed, both header files and libraries.

Copying BeagleRT projects to the BeagleBone Black¶

Once the project has compiled, Eclipse should automatically copy it over to the Beaglebone in the ~/beaglert folder, prompting you twice for the password in case you did not set up the ssh keys.
If the project is not copied automatically:

1. open a terminal window and cd to the directory where the binary was compiled. For example, if you installed BeagleRT in your home directory: cd ~/BeagleRT/Release
2. Copy the BeagleRT executable to the BeagleBone Black using scp (entering your BeagleBone Black password when prompted; you may need to create the beaglert directory first):
   

   scp BeagleRT root@192.168.7.2:~/beaglert/
   

Selecting different BeagleRT examples within the Eclipse project¶

The Eclipse project contains several examples within the projects directory. Follow these steps to choose which one to compile:

1. Only one of the folders within projects should be enabled at a time. This one will be in solid black text; the remainder will be grey.
2. Right-click on the folder which is currently enabled (solid black). Choose Resource Configurations -> Exclude from Build...
3. Click Select All to disable the code in this folder. Click OK.
4. Now right-click on the folder which you want to enable. Choose Resource Configurations -> Exclude from Build...
5. Click Deselect All to enable the code in this folder. Click OK.

Creating a new executable within the BeagleRT project¶

Duplicate one of the existing project folders using the following steps:

1. Right-click the project folder you want to duplicate and select Copy.
2. Right-click on the projects folder and select Paste. It will ask you to type in a new name.
3. Follow the steps above (Resource Configurations) to enable compiling this new project rather than any of the others.