什么是交叉编译

Compiling a program takes place by running a compiler on the build platform. The compiled program will run on the host platform. Usually these two are the same; if they are different, the process is called cross-compilation.
对一个程序进行编译的过程要通过在一个操作系统平台(编译平台)上运行编译器而完成。被编译的程序也将运行在一个操作系统平台(运行平台)上，这二个平台通常是相同的，如果二者不同，则这个编译过程被称为交叉编译。

Typically the hardware architecture differs, like for example when compiling a program destined for the MIPS architecture on an x86 computer; but cross-compilation is also applicable when only the operating system environment differs, as when compiling a FreeBSD program under Linux; or even just the system library, as when compiling programs with uClibc on a glibc host.
一般来说交叉编译被应用在硬件结构不同的机器上，如在x86的计算机上为MIPS体系的机器编译程序。但交叉编译也适用于硬件结构相同而操作系统不同的情况，比如在Linux操作系统下为FreeBSD编译程序。交叉编译甚至也可以应用于只有系统库不同的情况下，如在使用glibc的机器上用uClibc编译程序。

Cross-compilation is typically more involved and prone to errors than with native compilation. Due to this, cross-compiling is normally only utilized if the target is not yet self-hosting (i.e. able to compile programs on its own), unstable, or the build system is simply much faster. For many embedded systems, cross-compilation is simply the only possible way to build programs, as the target hardware does not have the resources or capabilities.
交叉编译通常比本地编译更容易引发错误。因此，交叉编译一般只用于目标平台不能自洽(比如说，目标平台无法完成程序编译)，不稳定或者编译平台速度更快的情况下。对大多数嵌入式系统来说，由于目标平台的执行能力或系统资源有限，交叉编译是唯一可行的编译方式。