Compiling CHDK under Windows

To compile CHDK under Windows it is assumed that you have basic knowledge of Windows console usage. Also, it can be useful to have Unix-like environment as Cygwin or Mingw/MSys for advanced tools, but it's absolutely not needed if the 'ready-to-use' working environment is used.

The working environment

There is a 'ready-to-use' environment which you can get here or here. Note that this does not seem to work on Vista, though it works just fine on Windows XP.

A Windows GUI version with support for setting up the environment can be found here It supplies 'creature comforts' like automatic trunk source checking, downloading and compiling, changing menu defaults, and SD card manipulation.

Setting up

The environment

PATH variable

• Create a folder for CHDK project. For example, D:\CHDK.
• Create a subfolder for working environment. For example, D:\CHDK\gcc.
• Unpack the archive with the environment (mirror) into this folder.
• Add the folder with binaries to the PATH environment variable.
  

Open Windows' 'Start' menu -> 'Control Panel' -> 'System', 'Advanced' tab, 'Environment Variables' button. I used User Variables for modifying PATH variable. If there is no PATH variable then just create it and assign 'D:\CHDK\gcc\bin' to it. If PATH variable already exists then append the value ';D:\CHDK\gcc\bin' (don't forget the delimiter ';' (semicolon). Apply the new environment settings. If you get an error while compiling (ie ld.exe crashes), add the lib-directory to PATH too (i.e. D:\CHDK\gcc\lib)

Note

All variables in Windows are case insensitive. So, if there is a variable named 'Path' or 'path' or 'pAtH' just modify the existing one. Do not create a new one in uppercase.

The sources

• Create a working directory. For example, D:\CHDK\src.
• Download the latest sources from SVN-repository: tools.assembla.com into created directory.
  

You can use SVN-client for windows or just download sources as ZIP-archive directly from tools.assembla.com.

If you get the sources through a ZIP-file, open the ZIP-file and extract the contents to D:\CHDK\src\. Then check whether the folder 'bin' exists in the top sources directory (i.e. D:\CHDK\src\branches\grand\bin\). If not, create it.

If you plan to participate in development or have your own version always up-to-date the SVN-client is preferable, because it can apply (merge) changes from/to SVN-repository. The SVN path to the CHDK source code is https://tools.assembla.com/svn/chdk. When using console SVN-client, use the following to check out the sources from the SVN archive:

svn checkout https://tools.assembla.com/svn/chdk/trunk chdk

Compilation process

Change the current directory to top sources directory (i.e. D:\CHDK\src\branches\grand\). Then type:

gmake fir

If you get this error:

cp: cannot create regular file `.//bin/main.bin': No such file or directory

you have to create the folder D:\CHDK\src\branches\grand\bin

By default, CHDK is compiled only for A610, fw1.00e. If you want to compile firmware for an another camera, just execute 'gmake' with PLATFORM and PLATFORMSUB arguments. For example:

 gmake PLATFORM=a620 PLATFORMSUB=100f fir

(Note that 'PLATFORM' & 'PLATFORMSUB' mentioned above should be in uppercase.)

To compile firmware for all cameras just type:

 gmake batch-zip

KP&S

Conflicts with Borland products

If there are Borland compilers in the PATH it can lead to compile failures due to using wrong binaries with same names as for working environment. For example:

>> Entering to platform/a620/sub/100f
boot.c -> boot.o
stubs_min.S -> stubs_min.o
boot.c -> stubs_auto.S
stubs_auto.S -> stubs_auto.o
-> stubs_entry.S
CAUTION! 'stubs_entry.S' is not uptated due to target firmware binary not found!
Touch Version 4.2 Copyright (c) 1998 Borland International

ERROR! There are unresolved addresses in 'stubs_entry.S' (a620-100f) for the following names:
File stubs_entry.S:
free
Please, add them into 'stubs_entry_2.S' manually!

To avoid such messages just isolate Borland products (e.g., by modifying the PATH variable).

Undefined reference to `sub_...'

Suddenly or just after an update, the following message appears:

...
-> main.elf
../platform/a610/sub/100e/libplatformsub.a(boot.o): In function `h_usrInit':
boot.c:(.text+0x4): undefined reference to `sub_FFC019BC'
boot.c:(.text+0x10): undefined reference to `sub_FFEB737C'
boot.c:(.text+0x14): undefined reference to `sub_FFEA3A54'
...

To fix this issue delete the file 'platform/XXX/sub/YYY/stubs_auto.S' and download it from repository again.