armlinuxgnueabihf

armlinuxgnueabihf is a GNU triplet used to identify a cross compilation target for ARM-based Linux systems that employ the hard-float ABI. In cross compiling, a triplet encodes the architecture, operating system, and binary interface that the toolchain targets, guiding the compiler, assembler, linker, and libraries.

The name can be parsed as follows: arm indicates the 32-bit ARM architecture; linux specifies the Linux kernel as the target OS; gnueabihf denotes GNU EABI with hard-float support, where hf stands for hard floating point. The hard-float ABI uses hardware floating point units for floating point operations, as opposed to soft-float variants that emulate floating point in software. The gnueabihf variant is commonly associated with the armhf architecture, widely used on ARMv7 and newer devices.

armlinuxgnueabihf appears in various build scripts, toolchains, and packaging configurations as a target alias or variant of the more common arm-linux-gnueabihf triplet. It effectively serves the same purpose: enabling cross compilation of binaries for Linux on ARM hardware that provides a hard-float ABI. In practice, distributions like Debian and Ubuntu distinguish armhf as a separate architecture for prebuilt libraries and packages, reflecting the need to link against the appropriate C libraries and ensure compatibility with the hard-float ABI.

Notes of caution include the fact that triplet spellings can vary between toolchains and documentation. When setting up a cross compile, it is important to verify the exact target string supported by the chosen GCC, binutils, and sysroot to ensure correct ABI compatibility.