I have a working gcc and make on the device.

The device is crippled (ram) so it doesn't matter what you have on it

Best option is to cross compile,

I imagine that is loading a virtual machine on a desktop with enough ram to handle the job

Then you can share a tarball/rpm/whatever to the package repository

Because I hate cross-compiling and something may go complex with dependencies, can I ask why not make more RAM by adding SWAP from a USB?

Lot's of options if no USB port is available: e.g. mount a remote filesystem and make the SWAP on mounted disk. Or mount a USB from a remote host and use that as SWAP.

bw, bliako

It's a very slow device, even compared to a 15 year old netbook (trust me, I'm using one now), RAM isn't the only issue, the CPU is also weak. Adding SWAP to an embedded device, local or remote is going to be slower than cross compiling. The wrt docs on cross compiling are straight forward. Given that time is arguably the most valuable commodity AM suggesting this solution is a valid point.