neostrap

bootstrap a full clang toolchain from a single 400KB tcc binary. no nix, no bullshit, no 300MB seed pile.

fork of bootstrap-from-tcc with the nix cancer surgically removed.

what it does

tcc seed (400KB) 
 → protomusl + stable tcc
 → binutils + gcc4
 → gcc10
 → clang (intermediate)
 → musl + clang (self-hosted) + busybox + gnumake

you get a fully self-hosted clang toolchain linked against musl. the entire compiler ascension takes 4-8 hours depending on your hardware. touch grass.

requirements

• a statically linked tcc binary at ./tcc-seed
• linux x86_64
• ~8GB free for the build tmpfs
• patience

usage

./build.sh

or if you want incremental builds for debugging:

make all-pkgs
make all-tests

why

because you don't know what's in your compiler. every toolchain you've ever used was built by a compiler that was built by a compiler that was built by a compiler. neostrap lets you verify the whole chain from a 400KB seed you can actually audit.

or you just want a musl-linked clang and don't trust prebuilts. both valid.

differences from upstream

• nix completely removed, pure sh
• stops at stage 2b (clang + musl + busybox + gnumake)
• no ISO generation, no rebootstrap, no stage 3/4/5 nix infra
• used by Static Linux as the reference bootstrap

getting tcc-seed

you need to supply it yourself. grab a statically linked tcc from your distro or build one. yes this is intentional. no we're not holding your hand.

license

MIT (upstream), modifications same.