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Building TinyGCalc

This document describes how to set up your environment, configure your toolchain, and build TinyGCalc for various platforms.

Prerequisites

  • CMake 3.13 or later
  • Git (with submodule support)
  • SDL2 (for mock platform)
  • A C compiler:
    • Windows: MinGW-w64
    • Linux/macOS: GCC/Clang
  • picotool (optional but recommended, see below)

Cloning the Repository

Make sure to clone with submodules:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/ApexDevelopment/TinyGCalc.git
cd TinyGCalc

If you forgot --recursive, you can run:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Platform Targets

TinyGCalc supports multiple platforms. Use the build script to select a target:

./build [platform]       # Linux/macOS/WSL
build.bat [platform]     # Windows

Supported platforms:

  • mock (default): Desktop SDL2 build
  • pico: Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040)
  • picow: Raspberry Pi Pico W (RP2040 + Wi-Fi)
  • stm32: Experimental; build system is present but the platform is not yet functional

Cleaning Builds

  • build clean – removes all platform build directories
  • build [platform] clean – cleans only that platform’s build directory

Installing picotool

If you're building for a Pico target, installing picotool is strongly recommended.

Windows (MinGW)

  1. Clone and build it:

    git clone --recursive https://github.com/raspberrypi/picotool.git
cd picotool
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" ..  # or use Ninja if preferred
mingw32-make                   # or make / ninja

  2. Copy the binary to a folder in your PATH (e.g., C:\Tools\picotool.exe)

Linux / macOS / WSL

  1. Clone and build it:

    git clone --recursive https://github.com/raspberrypi/picotool.git
cd picotool
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install  # Optional, installs to /usr/local/bin

This allows TinyGCalc to skip rebuilding the SDK’s bundled picotool every time you run a clean build.

Common Pitfalls

mbedtls CMake version errors

Some versions of pico-sdk (as a submodule) include a bundled copy of mbedtls with a deprecated cmake_minimum_required() directive in its CMakeLists.txt. This can cause CMake configuration to fail with unclear errors during pico_sdk_init().

To fix this:

  • Make sure your CMake is at least 3.13
  • Open pico-sdk/lib/mbedtls/CMakeLists.txt
  • Locate the cmake_minimum_required(...) line near the top
  • Manually update it to cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.13) or higher

Once patched, re-run your build.

Alternatively, installing picotool globally (see above) avoids this issue entirely by disabling the SDK's internal picotool build.

Questions?

If you hit something unexpected, open an issue!