PowerPC Tutorial

Chapter 2: Software Installation

Before we can continue any further, we need to install some packages on your Linux Machine. Perform the following in your Linux terminal...

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gcc-powerpc-linux-gnu binutils-powerpc-linux-gnu binutils-powerpc-linux-gnu-dbg qemu-user qemu-user-static gdb-multiarch build-essential

This will install an Assembler, Debugger, and PowerPC-Emulation Software. The Assembler is technically 3 sub-components which are as follows...

powerpc-linux-gnu-as (The actual Assembler, what we use to make what's called an object file out of a source text file written in PowerPC Assembly)
powerpc-linux-gnu-ld (Called the Linker. In the most basic terms, it creates an executable file out of an object file; the executable file is the PPC32 Program)
powerpc-linux-gnu-objdump (What we use to see the Assembly Instructions contained within an Object file)

gdb-multiarch is our debugging tool. It allows you to step, run, and diagnose a PowerPC Program. qemu-ppc is emulation software to allow your Linux machine to run PowerPC Programs even if your Linux Machine is not of the PowerPC architecture.

We will revisit the Assembler in Chapter 6, and revisit GDB+QEMU in Chapter 9.

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