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Asked: 2026-05-17T23:07:21+00:00

I have some basic knowledge about compiling C but need to get a couple

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I have some basic knowledge about compiling C but need to get a couple of generic cross-compilation questions answered. In my case, I am trying to cross-compile a program on my Fedora Linux box that is going to be run on an ARM single board computer.

  1. My first question is about headers. I have downloaded the arm Linux tools package and it contains headers files such as stdio.h in an include directory. Am I supposed to use this “target” include directory as opposed to my system include directories when I am cross-compiling? Or is it OK to point to my system’s include dirs such as /usr/include? (These header files seem to be different when I diff them.)

  2. What happens if a header file does not exist. In my case, I am also planning to utilize the cURL library on the ARM board. Can I simply point to the include directory present in the curl source package that I downloaded without worrying about the target architecture? If yes, does this mean my first question is irrelevant?

  3. Let’s say I want to statically link to a library. Does this static library need to be compiled for the target ARM platform before this happens? Or can I use the static libraries installed on my system directly (hoping that the cross compilation process takes care of business)?

  4. If I decide to dynamically link to a library, the only requirement would be that the target system has this library compiled for ARM and installed in one of the LD_LIBRARY_PATH directories on the ARM board, am I correct?

Thanks for the help.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team
    1. Always use the target headers. They may differ from your host headers. The compiler should already have them as part of its default include path for the standard issue, such as libc.
    2. You will need to build cURL using the cross compiler into a fake “target” system directory, and build your application with cURL in this target directory. As you need a cURL library as well, you MUST use the cross compiler. For compiles which are not cross compile friendly (such as building programs and running then as part of the compile), you will need to modify the build process. Sometimes fakeroot can be helpful for dirty build systems.
    3. You can’t arbitrarily use a static library for a different architecture from your system. They must be built by the cross compiler.
    4. Incorrect. The library generally must be present.
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