ARM cross compilers [WAS: Re: 200+ packages up for grabs]

Lennert Buytenhek buytenh at wantstofly.org
Wed Apr 23 08:27:31 UTC 2008


On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 10:11:43AM +0200, Hans de Goede wrote:

> >>>>>As for bochs you are very welcome to take over maintainership of that 
> >>>>>I never use it, just say the word and I'll release it in pkgdb.
> >>>>I'll mull it over. I don't use it much myself tbh, but it's the kind of
> >>>>thing I'm interested in in general so wouldn't mind. Will let you know.
> >>>I have a set of Fedora -> Fedora cross toolchains, built for ARM (one
> >>>toolchain targeting Fedora/ARM glibc, and one targeting ARM/uClibc), but
> >>>it can also build x86 -> ia64 cross toolchains for example:
> >>>
> >>>	http://ftp.linux.org.uk/pub/linux/arm/fedora/cross/latest/
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>Wiki page detailing the ARM side of it:
> >>>
> >>>	http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM/CrossToolchain
> >>>
> >>Nice,
> >>
> >>I would like to give this a try to see if it can replace the upper 
> >>(glibc, binutils, gcc) part of the arm-gp2x-linux chain.
> >>
> >>The current normal way to build gp2x binaries is to statically link them 
> >>as the glibc included in the gp2x firmware is ancient.
> >>
> >>This thus only leaves the kernel as a potential problem, which on the 
> >>gp2x is ancient too: 2.4.25, yes you've read that correct, no typos 
> >>2.4.25, so will the glibc that is used for Fedora-arm support this kernel?
> >
> >If you build it old-ABI, it probably will.  But note that the
> >Fedora/ARM port itself is built entirely EABI, which needs at least
> >a 2.6.12-ish kernel to run -- so it'll be hard to run binary packages
> >built for Fedora/ARM on your gp2x device.
> >
> >
> >>Would it be possible to add support for this kernel to the Fedora-arm 
> >>glibc?
> >
> >If you build old-ABI, it shouldn't need anything special.
> >
> >
> >>Would the person responsible for glibc on Fedora arm be willing to enable 
> >>support for this kernel?
> >
> >As I said above, if your board runs an old-ABI userland, it is unlikely
> >that you'll be able to run Fedora/ARM binaries on it.
> 
> IOW, the precompiled binaries offered at the 
> http://ftp.linux.org.uk/pub/linux/arm/fedora/cross/latest/
> repo are not usable for the gp2x,

If the gp2x uses old-ABI, then the prebuilt toolchain at the above
location will produce binaries that won't run on gp2x.

(That doesn't mean that you can't build an old-ABI toolchain from
the same SRPM that the prebuilt toolchain above was built from.)


> and since making them usable requires using a different ABI

If you insist on using the prebuilt toolchain binary rpms that have
been built for EABI, then yes, you'll need to use EABI on your target
board as well.


> the default Fedora glibc will never be usable on the gp2x,

The prebuilt Fedora/ARM glibc is EABI and won't run on old-ABI
systems, yes.


> unless someone updates the kernel. Correct?

You need at least 2.6.something to be able to run an EABI userland
on your ARM board, yes.




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