Re: different alpha cpu compatibility issues?

[David Huggins-Daines <dhd linuxcare com>]

Eric Ding <ericding@applix.com> writes:

> OK, so here's the followup question -- how to compile specifically for EV4?

To quote the info file:

`-mcpu=CPU_TYPE'
     Set the instruction set, register set, and instruction scheduling
     parameters for machine type CPU_TYPE.  You can specify either the
     `EV' style name or the corresponding chip number.  GCC supports
     scheduling parameters for the EV4 and EV5 family of processors and
     will choose the default values for the instruction set from the
     processor you specify.  If you do not specify a processor type,
     GCC will default to the processor on which the compiler was built.

That's not exactly true though, you just have to be careful to
configure the compiler with 'alpha-linux' instead of, say,
'alphaev6-linux' as the target.  Just typing './configure && make
bootstrap' isn't good enough. If your distribution doesn't do this,
then you might want to find a new one.

To be sure, compile with -mcpu=ev4 or -mcpu=ev5.  You probably want
-mcpu=ev5, because the only difference is the instruction scheduling,
and EV5 scheduling is better for the majority of machines out there
these days.

-- 
David Huggins-Daines, Senior Linux Consultant, Linuxcare, Inc.
613.562.1239 desk, 613.223.0225 mobile
dhd@linuxcare.com, http://www.linuxcare.com/
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