| Computer Desktop Encyclopedia: toolchain |
A set of software utilities used to perform an operation. For example, in program development, the toolchain to turn source code into a working machine language program includes a compiler, assembler, linker and debugger.
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| Hacker Slang: toolchain |
A collection of tools used to develop for a particular hardware target, or to work with a particular data format (thus ‘the Crusoe development toolchain’, or the ‘DocBook toolchain’). Often used in the context of building software on one system which will be installed or run on some other device; in that case the chain of tools usually consists of such items as a particular version of a compiler, libraries, special headers, etc. May also be used of text-formatting, page layout, or multimedia tools which render from some markup to a variety of production formats. Differs from ‘toolkit’ in that the former implies a collection of semi-independent tools with complementary functions, while ‘toolchain’ implies that each of the parts is a serial stage in a rather tightly bound pipeline. Seems to have become current in early 1999 and 2000; now common.
| Wikipedia: Toolchain |
In software, a toolchain is the set of computer programs (tools) that are used to create a product (typically another computer program or system of programs). The tools may be used in a chain, so that the output of each tool becomes the input for the next, but the term is used widely to refer to any set of linked development tools.
A simple software development toolchain consists of a text editor for editing source code, a compiler and linker to transform the source code into an executable program, libraries to provide interfaces to the operating system, and a debugger. A complex product such as a video game needs tools for preparing sound effects, music, textures, 3-dimensional models, and animations, and further tools for combining these resources into the finished product.
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 | tool (computer jargon) |
| GNU toolchain |
| Distribution (computing) |
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