NanoPy OS

NanoPy OS is an experimental project to embed a Python interpreter using MicroPython within a minimal kernel for arm64/i386 architecture

See Releases for booting a compiled kernel.

Building the Toolchain

First, set up the toolchain required for cross-compilation.

mkdir -p test-build/toolchain

Build directory for source packages:

mkdir build-dir/

Toolchain will be installed to test-build/toolchain:

export PREFIX=/PATH/test-build/toolchain
export TARGET=aarch64-elf
export PATH=$PREFIX/bin:$PATH

Linux

sudo apt-get install gcc-12 g++-12
export CC=/usr/local/bin/gcc-12
export CXX=/usr/local/bin/g++-12
export LD=/usr/local/bin/gcc-12

Mac

brew install gcc@12
export CC=/opt/homebrew/bin/gcc-12
export CXX=/opt/homebrew/bin/g++-12
export LD=/opt/homebrew/bin/gcc-12

Enter the source directory:

cd build-dir/

Build binutils

wget https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils/binutils-2.42.tar.xz
tar xvf binutils-2.42.tar.xz

Build out of tree:

cd binutils-2.42/
mkdir build && cd build 

../configure --prefix=$PREFIX --target=$TARGET --disable-nls --disable-multilib --disable-werror
make
make install

Build gcc

wget http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-12.3.0/gcc-12.3.0.tar.xz
tar xvzf gcc-12.3.0.tar.xz
cd gcc-12.3.0

get mpfr, gmp and mpc

bash ./contrib/download_prerequisites

gmp (extra, not necessary to build the toolchain)

cd gmp
mkdir build && cd build
../configure --prefix=$PREFIX --build=aarch64-apple-darwin23 --host=${TARGET} --target=${TARGET} --disable-shared

make
make install

mpfr (extra, not necessary to build the toolchain)

cd mpfr
mkdir build && cd build
CFLAGS="-I$PREFIX/include" ../configure --prefix=$PREFIX --host=${TARGET} --target=${TARGET} --with-gmp=$PREFIX/lib
make
make install

Build gcc out of tree

mkdir gcc-build
cd gcc-build

../configure --prefix=${PREFIX} --build=aarch64-apple-darwin23 --target=${TARGET} --disable-shared --disable-multilib --disable-nls --disable-werror --without-headers --without-isl --disable-libsanitizer --enable-languages=c,c++  --with-newlib

make all-gcc
make install-gcc
make all-target-libgcc
make install-target-libgcc

Build newlib

wget ftp://sourceware.org/pub/newlib/newlib-4.4.0.20231231.tar.gz
tar xvf newlib-4.4.0.20231231.tar.gz 
cd newlib-4.4.0.20231231
./configure --prefix=$PREFIX --target=$TARGET --disable-multilib
make
make install

Note: this installs to $PREFIX/$TARGET

Building Python Interpreter

MicroPython

Clone the MicroPython repository:

cd test-build
git clone https://github.com/micropython/micropython.git

See Makefile.micropython

Then: make -f Makefile.micropython all V=1 DEBUG=1 #for gdb

Booting:

qemu-system-aarch64 -nographic -machine virt,virtualization=off -d unimp,int -cpu cortex-a57 -kernel build/firmware.elf  -s -m 8

Debugging:

qemu-system-aarch64 -M virt,virtualization=off -cpu cortex-a57 -kernel build/firmware.elf -nographic -d unimp,int -s -S

#attach gdb:
aarch64-elf-gdb build/firmware.elf
(gdb) target remote localhost:1234

Simple test build: make -f Makefile.simple

Boot with:

qemu-system-aarch64 -nographic -machine virt,virtualization=off -d unimp,int -cpu cortex-a57 -kernel simple-build/firmware.elf

Resources

https://code.google.com/archive/p/cleese/source/default/source