Newbie Problem

[Luca Zonta]

Hi
i follow the guide https://github.com/nerves-project/nerves-sdk to build nerves into the BBB but when i try to do "make", I get this error message. What can i do?

root@beaglebone:~/nerves/nerves-sdk# make
make -C buildroot BR2_EXTERNAL=/root/nerves/nerves-sdk
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/nerves/nerves-sdk/buildroot'
>>> toolchain-external undefined Configuring
Cannot execute cross-compiler '/path/to/toolchain/usr/bin/arm-linux-gcc'
make[1]: *** [/root/nerves/nerves-sdk/buildroot/output/build/toolchain-external-undefined/.stamp_configured] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/nerves/nerves-sdk/buildroot'
make: *** [br-make] Error 2
root@beaglebone:~/nerves/nerves-sdk#

[Frank Hunleth]

Hi Luca,

Just to make sure that your directory is in a good state, could you do:

rm -fr buildroot .build*

then

make nerves_bbb_defconfig # assuming that you're building for the
Beaglebone Black
make

Also, you don't need to build as root. I don't believe that it will
fix your problem, but it's usually better to run as a normal user and
only run "sudo" the few times that you need root permissions.

If this still doesn't fix the problem, could you let me know what
Linux distro that you're using?

Thanks,
Frank

[Luca Zonta]

I tried to do what you told me, but the problem persists. This is the Linux distribution that is installed on the BBB.

Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Debian GNU/Linux 7.4 (wheezy)
Release:        7.4
Codename:       wheezy

[Frank Hunleth]

I understand now. I've never built nerves on a BBB. It is meant to be
built on a regular x86-based PC. I think that even if you get past
this error that the build time will be so painfully slow that you'll
give up. I would suggest using the native Debian erlang package
instead even though it's slightly out of date from what I heard.
Erlang Solutions has an updated package for Raspbian if the RPi is an
option, and I thought that they had a generic ARM A8 one somewhere.

Nerves is intended for cross-compiled Erlang setups where you do most
development on your PC since the target device isn't good for regular
development. That makes it a little harder to get started, but if you
need to produce something small and focused on a specific app, it can
be the way to go. If you're coming at this totally new to embedded
development, it can be a lot easier to prototype your app on the BBB
or RPi and then at some point switch to Nerves.

Frank

[Luca Zonta]

Thanks