Nios® II Software Developer Handbook

ID 683525
Date 8/28/2023
Public
Document Table of Contents

5. Nios® II Software Build Tools

This chapter describes the Nios® II Software Build Tools (SBT), a set of utilities and scripts that creates and builds embedded C/C++ application projects, user library projects, and board support packages (BSPs). The Nios® II SBT supports a repeatable, scriptable, and archivable process for creating your software product.

You can invoke the Nios® II SBT through either of the following user interfaces:

  • The Eclipse™GUI
  • The Nios® II Command Shell

The purpose of this chapter is to make you familiar with the internal functionality of the Nios® II SBT, independent of the user interface employed.

Before reading this chapter, consider getting an introduction to the Nios® II SBT by first reading one of the following chapters:
  • "Getting Started with the Graphical User Interface"
  • "Getting Started from the Command Line"

This chapter assumes you are familiar with the following topics:

  • The GNU make utility. Intel FPGA recommends you use version 3.80 or later. On the Windows platform, GNU make version 3.80 is provided with the Nios® II EDS.

    You can obtain general information about GNU make from the Free Software Foundation, Inc. website.

  • Board support packages.

Depending on how you use the tools, you might also need to be familiar with the following topics:

  • Micrium MicroC/OS-II.

    For information, refer to MicroC/OS-II - The Real Time Kernel by Jean J. Labrosse (CMP Books).

  • Tcl scripting language.