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

[Hans de Goede]

Lennert Buytenhek wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 10:04:03AM +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, and since making them usable requires using a 
different ABI the default Fedora glibc will never be usable on the gp2x, unless 
someone updates the kernel. Correct?

In that case I think its best to stick with a seperate toolchain for the gp2x

Regards,

Hans