Setup Guide for Development Environment on Linux for LLVM/Clang

Table of Contents

• Install Basic Tools and Dependencies

• Install CMake

• Install Ninja Build System

• Install Python

• Install the Arm GNU Toolchain

• Install the LLVM Toolchain

• Install OpenOCD

• Debug Steps

Install Basic Tools and Dependencies

First, update your package manager and install essential tools required for building and managing software projects:

sudo apt-get update -y && sudo apt-get -y install git wget make python3 zip unzip python-is-python3

Install CMake

Download CMake 4.1.2 for Linux. CMake is vital for configuring, generating, and managing build processes in a platform-independent manner:

wget https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v4.1.2/cmake-4.1.2-linux-x86_64.sh
sudo bash ./cmake-4.1.2-linux-x86_64.sh --skip-license --exclude-subdir --prefix=/usr/local

Install Ninja Build System

Ninja is a small build system with a focus on speed, which CMake can utilize to manage builds:

wget https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/releases/download/v1.13.1/ninja-linux.zip
unzip ninja-linux.zip
mkdir /opt/ninja
mkdir /opt/ninja/bin
sudo cp ninja /opt/ninja/bin/
sudo chmod a+x /opt/ninja/bin/*

Add Ninja to PATH:

export PATH=/opt/ninja/bin:$PATH

Make it permanent:

echo 'export PATH=/opt/ninja/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Install Python

Python 3.13.x or newer is required to run configuration tools (menuconfig, kconfig) and to execute scripts used during SDK build and setup.

Choose one of the options below:

Option A: System Python (if already 3.13.x+)

python3 --version

Option B: pyenv (recommended if you need to install Python 3.13.x)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential zlib1g-dev libncurses5-dev libgdbm-dev \
libnss3-dev libssl-dev libreadline-dev libffi-dev wget curl

curl https://pyenv.run | bash
export PATH="$HOME/.pyenv/bin:$PATH"
eval "$(pyenv init -)"
eval "$(pyenv virtualenv-init -)"

pyenv install 3.13.7
pyenv local 3.13.7
python3 --version

Optional: make pyenv available in future shells (skip this if you prefer to enable pyenv manually per shell):

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.pyenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(pyenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(pyenv virtualenv-init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc

If you chose the optional lines above, restart your shell or run source ~/.bashrc to apply them.

Install the Arm GNU Toolchain

wget -O gcc-arm-none-eabi.tar.xz https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Files/downloads/gnu/13.2.rel1/binrel/arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi.tar.xz
mkdir -p /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi
sudo apt-get -y install xz-utils tar
tar -xf gcc-arm-none-eabi.tar.xz --strip-components=1 -C /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi
export PATH=/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi/bin:$PATH
export GCC_TOOLCHAIN_ROOT=/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi

Make it permanent:

echo 'export PATH=/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export GCC_TOOLCHAIN_ROOT=/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Note: LLVM builds require GCC_TOOLCHAIN_ROOT for the GCC sysroot and libstdc++.

Install the LLVM Toolchain

The SDK expects LLVM_TOOLCHAIN_ROOT to point to a directory that contains at least:

• clang

• clang++

• ld.lld

• llvm-ar

• llvm-ranlib

• llvm-objcopy

x86_64 hosts

wget https://apt.llvm.org/llvm.sh
chmod +x llvm.sh
sudo ./llvm.sh 21
sudo mkdir -p /opt/llvm/bin

for tool in clang clang++ llvm-ar llvm-nm llvm-objcopy llvm-objdump llvm-ranlib llvm-readelf llvm-size llvm-strip llvm-addr2line lld ld.lld; do
  sudo ln -sf "/usr/bin/${tool}-21" "/opt/llvm/bin/${tool}"
done

export PATH=/opt/llvm/bin:$PATH
export LLVM_TOOLCHAIN_ROOT=/opt/llvm/bin

aarch64 / arm64 hosts

On ARM Linux hosts, apt.llvm.org may not provide the required binaries. Use distro packages instead:

sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get install -y clang-21 lldb-21 lld-21 llvm-21
sudo mkdir -p /opt/llvm/bin

for tool in clang clang++ llvm-ar llvm-nm llvm-objcopy llvm-objdump llvm-ranlib llvm-readelf llvm-size llvm-strip llvm-addr2line lld ld.lld; do
  sudo ln -sf "/usr/bin/${tool}-21" "/opt/llvm/bin/${tool}"
done

export PATH=/opt/llvm/bin:$PATH
export LLVM_TOOLCHAIN_ROOT=/opt/llvm/bin

If versioned LLVM 21 packages are not available on your ARM distribution, install the default packages and update the symlinks accordingly:

sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get install -y clang lldb lld llvm
sudo mkdir -p /opt/llvm/bin

for tool in clang clang++ llvm-ar llvm-nm llvm-objcopy llvm-objdump llvm-ranlib llvm-readelf llvm-size llvm-strip llvm-addr2line lld ld.lld; do
  sudo ln -sf "/usr/bin/${tool}" "/opt/llvm/bin/${tool}"
done

export PATH=/opt/llvm/bin:$PATH
export LLVM_TOOLCHAIN_ROOT=/opt/llvm/bin

Verify the installation:

clang --version
ld.lld --version
llvm-ar --version
llvm-objcopy --version

Make it permanent:

echo 'export PATH=/opt/llvm/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export LLVM_TOOLCHAIN_ROOT=/opt/llvm/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Install OpenOCD

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y openocd
openocd --version

Debug Steps

For debug capabilities - download debian file of Ozone debugger from: Ozone Debugger

Then install it using the commands below:

sudo apt install build-essential
sudo dpkg --install Ozone_Linux_V334_x86_64.deb

Note: LLVM compiler support is currently available only for SR110.