Downloads

The current release line is xcc 0.6. One install contains the whole toolchain: the driver (xcc), the front end, seven code generators, xcc’s own assemblers and linkers, the simulators (xcc-sim-6502, xcc-sim-68k), the complete standard library, and the Linux (musl) and Windows (mingw) link pools. A single machine can cross-build native binaries for every target with no other toolchain installed.

Platform	Download	Size
macOS (Apple silicon)	xcc-osx-0.6.tar.bz2	13 MB
Linux (x86_64)	xcc-linux-0.6.tar.bz2	67 MB
Windows (x64)	xcc-win64-0.6.zip	78 MB
arm9 sysroot (any host)	xcc-arm9-sysroot-0.6.tar.bz2	830 KB

Every archive contains the same compiler. Each host build cross-compiles to all targets, so the platform you download for decides only where the compiler runs.

The arm9 sysroot is the one extra piece, and only for -A arm9: that target links against the XTOS loader’s libc.so and reads the C library out of its DWARF, so that one file has to be on the library search path. Every other target is complete in the host archive.

macOS

tar xjf xcc-osx-0.6.tar.bz2
export PATH="$PWD/xcc-osx-0.6/bin:$PATH"
xcc -v

The compiler finds its libraries relative to its own binary, with no flags, environment variables or fixed install path, so you can move the directory anywhere. The binaries are not notarised, so the first run on a fresh macOS install may need a one-time Gatekeeper override (xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine xcc-osx-0.6/).

arm9 sysroot

Needed only for -A arm9. Unpack it anywhere and point -L at it:

tar xjf xcc-arm9-sysroot-0.6.tar.bz2
xcc -A arm9 -L path/to/xcc-arm9-sysroot-0.6 -o prog.so prog.xc

It holds one file: libc.so, newlib 4.4.0.20231231 rebuilt as position-independent code for the Cortex-A9, plus the loader’s directory and malloc-lock support. BSD-style licensed throughout — COPYING.NEWLIB and NOTICE are in the archive — so linking against it places no obligation on your program.

Compiling is what this archive is for. Running an arm9 binary also needs an XTOS kernel to host it, which is not distributed here.

make install also vendors a sysroot into lib/xc/arm9-sysroot/ when it can find one, and then -A arm9 needs no -L at all.

Linux

tar xjf xcc-linux-0.6.tar.bz2
export PATH="$PWD/xcc-linux-0.6/bin:$PATH"
xcc -v

The binaries are static (musl), so they run on any x86_64 distribution with no library dependencies.

Windows

Unzip xcc-win64-0.6.zip anywhere and add the folder to PATH (or invoke xcc.exe by path). The binaries are self-contained; no runtime installer is needed.

First build

// hello.xc — no imports needed: Log is ambient on every target.
void main(void) {
    Log.info("hello from %s", "xcc");
}

xcc -o hello hello.xc      # native binary for this machine, like cc
./hello

The same file cross-compiles to every target by picking an architecture:

xcc -A x86_64 -o hello-linux hello.xc    # static Linux ELF (musl)
xcc -A win64  -o hello.exe    hello.xc   # Windows PE
xcc -A wasm32 -o hello        hello.xc   # hello.wasm + a Node/browser loader
xcc -A 6502   -o hello.xex    hello.xc   # banked 6502 executable (run: xcc-sim-6502 -m xt hello.xex)

Next, Compiler usage → CLI reference covers the common flags, and Install covers a system-wide make install.

Older archives are on the Historical Releases page, and the ChangeLog lists what changed per version.