Windows Based Firmware Build Tools

1. Download the tools: sdcc_ok_7jun02_win32.zip (2 megabytes) and extract (using WinZIP) to C:\SDCC.   See figure 1 for correct placement of the directories and files.
2. Download source code from the firmware page. WinZIP can unpack the .tar.gz archives. The source code must be on the same drive as SDCC, in this example C:\MP3 was used. Do not use spaces in the directory name for the source code.
3. Open a Command Prompt or MS-DOS Prompt window, and add C:\SDCC\BIN to your PATH
   • You can manually do this by typing: PATH=%PATH%;C:\SDCC\BIN at the command prompt in the window. You can skip the rest of this step and return when you are tired of manually typing this command each time you start a new command window.
   • Windows 98: Create a shortcut to the MS-DOS Prompt, and edit the shortcut properties, and under the "Program" tab, specify batch file C:\SDCC\SDCCPATH.BAT. See figure 2 for details.
   • Windows XP: Create a command prompt shortcut, edit the shortcut properties, and add " /K PATH=%PATH%;C:\SDCC\BIN" after "cmd.exe" in the "Target". See figure 3 for details.
   • Windows XP alternate: In the command prompt shortcut, specify the target as: %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe /k "c:\sdcc\sdccpath.bat" (suggested by Fabrizio, Oct 15, 2002)
   Type "PATH" at the prompt to verify that C:\SDCC\BIN appears in the list of directories.
4. Navigate to C:\MP3 by typing "CD \MP3". You may also need to type "C:" if you start on a different drive. The command prompt should show "C:\mp3>" to let you know you're in the correct directory. You can also edit the "Working" or "Start in" setting within the MS-DOS/Command Prompt shortcut properties, so that you will start in the correct directory and not need to do this step.
5. Type "make". After some time and many messages scrolled off the window, you should end up with mp3player.hex (and many other intermediate files). Figure 4 shows what you should see after a successful build. If you get an error, see the troubleshooting section. You can type "make clean" to delete all the non-source files.

Please help me to improve this page. I personally use a Redhat Linux system for firmware development, so I really depend on your feedback to improve these Windows instructions.   -Paul

More Information

• Newbie Developer Guide by Bernie Pallek. Has many useful bits of advise, and Cygwin-based instructions.
• Older Version Of This Page, by Chris Brinton. Many windows users felt cygwin was too difficult (which is why it was replaced with this newer version).

Details For The Installation Steps

Figure 1: Correctly Placed Installation In C:\SDCC (26 EXE and 2 DLL files in C:\SDCC\BIN)

Figure 2: Windows 98 MS-DOS Prompt Shortcut Properties To Run SDCCPATH.BAT

In Windows 98, to set up a shortcut (figure 2) that automatically runs the SDCCBAT.BAT batch file, follow these steps:

1. Launch Windows Explorer, Start -> Programs -> Windows Explorer
2. Navigate to C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
3. Right click, hold and drag the "MS-DOS Prompt" shortcut to the desktop
4. Select "Copy Here" when the popup menu appears as you release
5. Right click on the new shortcut, and select Properties
6. Select the Program tag
7. Set "Batch file:" to "C:\SDCC\SDCCPATH.BAT"
8. Set "Working:" to "C:\SDCC" (or whatever directory your project code will be in).
9. Click Apply and OK to save your changes.

Figure 3: Windows XP, Adding PATH To Command Prompt Properties

In Windows XP, to create a shortcut (figure 3) which automatically sets up the PATH properly, follow these steps:

1. Start Menu, Click "All Programs", and then "Accessories"
2. Right click, hold and drag the "Command Prompt" to the desktop
3. Select "Copy Here" when the popup menu appears as you release
4. Right click on the new shortcut, and select Properties
5. The "Shortcut" tab should be displayed (if not, click on that tab)
6. Add this text to "Target:"   /K PATH=%PATH%;C:\SDCC\BIN
      There must be a space between the end of cmd.exe and the /K, and there is a space
      between the "/K" and "PATH=%PATH%;C:\SDCC\BIN" The /K is a forward slash,
      and the slashes in the PATH part are backwards. The %PATH% and C must be
      separated by a semicolon (;). C and \SDCC\BIN are separated by a full colon (:).
7. Optional: Set "Start in:" to the directory where you copied the mp3 player source code.
8. Click Apply and OK to save your changes.
9. Run the command prompt, type "PATH" and check that C:\SDCC\BIN appears in the list.

Figure 4: Successful Compile in Windows 98 (many lines scrolled off top)

Troubleshooting The Windows Build Tools

• Bad Command Or File Name, when you type "make". This means the C:\SDCC\BIN directory is not listed correctly in your PATH. Type PATH at the command prompt and verify that the C:\SDCC\BIN directory is indeed listed correctly. Syntax is critical, so check the direction of those slashs, colons and semicolons, and so on. Also, make sure that the 26 executables and 2 DLLs are in C:\SDCC\BIN (and not something like C:\SDCC\SDCC\BIN). SDCC as supplied from the official SDCC web site does not contain the extra utilities (Make, Perl). If you installed a non-recommended SDCC version (which might have other problems) you will probably need to manually copy these other required programs. In some versions of windows, the PATH must not include and directories with spaces in their names. If any directory in the list (even one not associated with SDCC) has a space in its name, it could cause trouble. In such a case, you may need to type a complete path command without that directory, or using its short 8.3 name.
• Clock Skew Detected. This occurs when one or more source code files have a timestamp in the future (relative to your PC's clock... a common problem if your PC's clock is not accurate). To solve this problem, type "touch *" to update the timestamps on all files, and then "make clean" to delete all the unnecessary files. When you build again with "make", you should not see this error.
• process_begin: CreateProcess((null) some command here...) failed. This means "make" was unable to run one of the required programs (which should have been installed in C:\SDCC\BIN). The name of the missing program should appear immediately after "CreateProcess((null)".
• get_mp3_mcs_files is the program mentioned by the process_begin: CreateProcess(...) error: This is normal, as this is a special script used by developers working on the FPGA. Make is supposed to ignore this error. If the build stops because of this error, it is quite likely that you have more than one copy of make.exe on your hard drive, and you are not running the one provided here.
• '.' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file in the middle of the build process. This can also appear as "Bad Command Or File Name" and it occurs after "./hexfmt", "./merge", or something similar. The older firmware revs ran the perl scripts as "./<ScriptName>" in the Makefile, which is a syntax that depends on a unix compatible shell. The Makefiles in newer firmware always use "perl <ScriptName>", that works in both unix and windows. You can edit the Makefile, or just download the newer firmware.
• Access is denied. This error can occur in Windows 2000 and XP if a file that is written (such as lcd.hex or mp3player.hex) already exists from a previous build and is read-only or is owned by a different user. TODO: any XP users out there with some good suggestions for a sentence to put here describing how to fix this problem??
• [exact error unknown] If the Borland C compiler is installed, you may be running Borland's Make utility instead of GNU Make. A sure sign is many borland directories in the PATH before C:\SDCC\BIN. If you type "make" in an empty directory, Borland's Make will print a message with its version and a Borland copyright notice. GNU make (the one you need) will print the message "C:\SDCC\BIN\MAKE.EXE: *** No rule to make target `makefile'. Stop.". You can solve this problem by removing the borland directories from your path, by moving C:\SDCC\BIN to the beginning of the path, or by simply copying the GNU MAKE.EXE file to the directory with the mp3 player source code (MSDOS always searches the current directory before the directories in the path).

WinCVS Software For Access To The Latest Developer Firmware

4. Configure cvs and checkout the source.

You do not need CVS if you only want to compile the firmware source archives that are available on the website. In that case, just download and unpack the firmware code, and skip this step. But remember, to download the very latest code that is in development (not release on the web site yet), you must use CVS.

Note: cvs uses for 2401 to communicate. If you are behind a firewall, be aware of this.

    install wincvs v1.2 - www.wincvs.org
    a. click download, click x86 version 1.2
        typical install, default location.
    b. start wincvs
    c. under admin->preferences set:
           cvs root: :pserver:anonymous@pjrc.com:/usr/local/cvs
           authentication: passwd file on cvs server
           cvs version 1.1

    d.select admin->login,
            enter appropriate home dir
            enter nothing for the password.
            you should now be logged in.

    e.for first time checkout:
            select Create->checkout module.
            for module name, use mp3
            enter a directory where you want the module to go
            under checkout options, select Force using CVSROOT (-d)
            hit ok

This should work for a little while and populate the directory with the cvs files.

To update to the most recent set of files, select the module directory in the cvs browser and hit Modify->Update selection, then hit ok.