Docker GBA Complier

Windows people have had a particularly rough time getting up and running with GBA development. Since installing cygwin + devkitPro, updating system paths, and updating the Makefile to match has proven difficult time and time again, this Dockerfile (+ default Makefile) represents an attempt to unify things cross-platform in a less brittle way.

If you're using the latest version, note that the gcc version included in the 1.3+ container is significantly stricter than the older version. -fpermissive and similar options may need to be added to the CFLAGS definition in your fork of the example Makefile.

Requirements

Docker for Desktop: https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/

Note: Even if you can't get Docker running locally, I now have instructions for how to leverage the docker container from this repo via GitHub Actions! If you're in that camp, please see: docs/UsingGitHubActions.md

Building your own Docker Container (not required)

Ths following docker build command is only required if you plan to create your own version of this docker container. The one in this repo is available on Docker Hub as aaaronic/gba-compiler:1.3.

Once docker is installed, you could choose to do a one-time build of the Dockerfile on your machine (from the folder containing the Dockerfile):

    docker build . -t gba-compiler

A few minutes later, you should have a docker image named gba-compiler that you should not need to rebuild (hopefully ever again).

Running a GBA project build (aka, compiling your GBA project)

1. Run from your GBA project's directory (with all your .h and .c files).i

• You can optionally provide your own Makefile (ideally based on the one in this repo)

2. Run the docker image we built above with the following special sauce:

    docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/gba aaaronic/gba-compiler:1.3

or, alternatively (if you chose to do your own docker build locally):

    docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/gba gba-compiler

If the compilation succeeded, you should now see a my_project.gba (or whatever you renamed it to) in your non-default Makefile.

Setting it and forgetting it for a project in Visual Studio Code

Copy the included .vscode folder (containing tasks.json) into your project folder. Update tasks.json's "build" command to point to your mGBA installation:

Windows example:

    "command": "C:/Users/Aaron/Desktop/mGBA.exe ./my_project.gba",

Mac Example:

    "command": "open -a /Applications/mGBA.app ./my_project.gba",

Note: If you've renamed my_project.gba, you should fix that part of the command as well. Also Note: if you did a local docker build and want to use that image, update the docker commands for build and clean accordingly (basically just remove the "aaaronic/" and the ":1.3").

Once that's all set up and happy, the Terminal -> Run Build Task... command in the menu should now compile your project and open the emulator with the result (if the compile succeeds).

Terminal -> Run Task should provide 3 options:

• run: build and run the project
• build: just build the project (but don't run anything).
• clean: remove all the intermediate files from builds so the next build is from scratch. This is helpful if something buggy is going on or if you've only changed header files and aren't seeing your expected changes in the build.
• audio: convert .wav files (8-bit format) to .c / .h files.

Acknowledgements

The provided Dockerfile is a fork/combination of the Dockerfiles provided by devkitPro: https://github.com/devkitPro/docker. I have included the GPLv3 License in this repository to match theirs, as this work is derivative.

The example main.c is a nice little demo and I have no clue where it came from. I will provide an acknowledgement here once I know its original author.