Zephyr build fail with Microchip XC16 Compiler tool chain on Windows

[ks-bobban]

We are currently working on porting Zephyr RTOS to the Microchip dsPIC33EV256GM106 MCU. We have set up Zephyr using the zephyr-sdk-0.16.5-1 and are integrating the Microchip XC16 Compiler (v2.10) as our toolchain.
Board & Toolchain Setup:
MCU: dsPIC33EV256GM106 (Microchip Product Page)
Compiler: Microchip XC16 v2.10
Zephyr SDK Version: zephyr-sdk-0.16.5-1
Custom Additions:
Created arch/, boards/, soc/, drivers/, and samples/ for dsPIC33EV256GM106
Integrated XC16 compiler into the toolchain
Issue Faced:
When attempting to build for our board using:
west build -p -b dspic33ev256gm106 samples/basic/blinky

we encounter the following error:
**

Log_Error1_Dspic.txt

**

we encounter the following error:
CMake Error at C:/Users/emira/zephyrproject/zephyr/cmake/modules/extensions.cmake:2429 (message):
Assertion failed: The toolchain is unable to build a dummy C file.

The full build log is attached below . The error suggests that the toolchain is not able to compile a basic C file, even though XC16 is detected and configured correctly.

We are using Windows 11 OS system.

Request for Support:
We would appreciate any guidance on resolving this toolchain compatibility issue, specifically:
Are there known compatibility issues between Zephyr and the XC16 toolchain?
What modifications are required to ensure proper integration of the XC16 compiler?
How can we debug this "dummy C file" failure further?
Any insights or recommendations from the community would be greatly appreciated!

[henrikbrixandersen]

From a quick glance, dsPIC33EV256GM106 looks like a 16-bit CPU? Zephyr does not support 16-bit architectures, only 32- and 64-bit.

[henrikbrixandersen]

Also, please see #85391

[ks-bobban]

dsPIC33EV256GM106 looks like a 16-bit CPU? yes

[ks-bobban]

Can i know the reason, why it is not supported?