Compiling U-BOOT bootloader on x86 - compilation

Question

I have download and extracted u-boot-1.1.6 on Ubuntu Linux. I just want to compile the source code using GCC (not targeting cross compilation for any embedded platform).
I tried running the provided MAKEALL makefile but "powerpc-linux-gcc : Not Found" is happening.
My understanding is irrespective of platform the source code should compile.
What are the necessary makefile and environment changes I need to do for compilation on x86?
I have taken the recent code. Still facing some issues
I have followed following steps to compile it on x86.
make clean;
make coreboot-x86_config
./MAKEALL -C x86
In step 3 I observed following:
ravitiwari#RAVI-HP-Pavilion-dv2000-GJ175PA-ACJ:~/u-boot-2013.04$ make clean
ravitiwari#RAVI-HP-Pavilion-dv2000-GJ175PA-ACJ:~/u-boot-2013.04$ make coreboot-x86_config
Configuring for coreboot-x86 - Board: coreboot, Options: SYS_TEXT_BASE=0x01110000
ravitiwari#RAVI-HP-Pavilion-dv2000-GJ175PA-ACJ:~/u-boot-2013.04$ ./MAKEALL -C x86
Configuring for coreboot-x86 - Board: coreboot, Options: SYS_TEXT_BASE=0x01110000
make[1]: ** [interrupts.o] Error 127
make: ** [arch/x86/cpu/libx86.o] Error 2
make[1]: ** [coreboot.o] Error 127
make: ** [arch/x86/cpu/coreboot/libcoreboot.o] Error 2
make[1]: ** [bootm.o] Error 127
make: ** [arch/x86/lib/libx86.o] Error 2
size: './u-boot': No such file
/bin/bash: sparse: command not found
make[1]: ** [interrupts.o] Error 127
make: ** [arch/x86/cpu/libx86.o] Error 2
make: ** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
/bin/bash: sparse: command not found
make[1]: ** [coreboot.o] Error 127
make: ** [arch/x86/cpu/coreboot/libcoreboot.o] Error 2
/bin/bash: sparse: command not found
make[1]: ** [bootm.o] Error 127
make: ** [arch/x86/lib/libx86.o] Error 2
make: INTERNAL: Exiting with 4 jobserver tokens available; should be 3!
--------------------- SUMMARY ----------------------------
Boards compiled: 1
Boards with errors: 1( coreboot-x86 )

Answer 1

make clean; make coreboot-x86_config; make
is more likely to be useful to you.
In my experience, u-boot is built for a single specific embedded platform. That would be true even when your host is x86, so you have /usr/bin/gcc already installed.
What you stumbled on (I see it by running ./MAKEALL at top level) wants to build ALL of the embedded platforms available. But it will still build specific platforms, that is inherent to U-Boot mission. It defaulted to using powerpc toolchain (powerpc-linux-gcc) rather than the x86 toolchain. My suggestion instead chooses a specific x86-based platform, and builds it. You will see various compilation outputs at console, showing what's going on.
MAKEALL would build, then throw away build results, for multiple other platforms first. You could do
.MAKEALL -c x86
but that hides compilation outputs. For other CPU you'd need appropriate cross compiler installed.