Bootstrapping FreeBASIC

 



FreeBASIC can rebuild itself, but the path depends on what compiler and bootstrap
sources are already available. The current make system keeps bootstrap logic in
mk/bootstrap/ and exposes named targets for the common states.

Common bootstrap targets

(sh)
make prereqs-fbc
make bootstrap-minimal
make bootstrap-seed-peer
make bootstrap-emit
make bootstrap-dist-target

The right target depends on whether the host already has a usable fbc, a
system package compiler, or target-specific generated bootstrap sources.

How to debug bootstrap problems

Start with make print-config and make prereqs-fbc. Bootstrap failures are
usually easier to understand after confirming the selected host, target,
bootstrap compiler, backend, binary names, and output directories.

If a new platform cannot even run a previous FreeBASIC compiler, generate or
stage bootstrap sources from a platform that can. Avoid changing parser or code
generation behavior just to make a bootstrap step pass until the failure has
been traced to the real portability problem.