Hello, Kai!
You wrote on Thu, 15 Jul 2004 12:08:00 +0300:
??>> demand to use different versions of binutils/gcc/glibc and so on and
??>> might take really a LOT OF time, so I would like to take
??>> the ready-to-use toolchain.
KR> Building a cross-GCC for Linux shouldn't be any harder than building
KR> a cross-GCC for any other system target, ie. a target which has a
KR> native-GCC available for it. In this case the cross-GCC is only an
KR> incarnation of the native-GCC on another host... What makes it
KR> hard is that this fact is not understood and too many people think
[skip]
What specific versions of binutils, gcc, glibc can you recommend? Are there
any essential patches for them I should apply (if so, where to get them)?
Searching in the google lead me to the following package versions:
gcc-2.95.3
binutils-2.11.2
glibc-2.2.3 + linuthreads
When I was building toolchain for ARM platform I used almost the same
combination, except binutils were 2.10.1 and I don't remember any issues -
but in this case I have another CPU, another architecture etc.
And at last - www.mips.com offers SDE lite package, containing all
cross-toolchain. Have you ever used it, what are your impressions about?
Thanks in advance.
With best regards, Roman Mashak. E-mail: mrv@tusur.ru
>Hello, All!
>
>I'm using dev. board Alchemy AU1550 (made by AMD). Now I'm porting Linux
>in this board. What toolchain can you recommend to me? I explored the
>web-site of Linux-MIPS project (www.linux-mips.org), there are different
>versions of it and only RPMs.
> I had experience of building toolchain by myself for ARM, it 's not easy
>:) it can demand to use different versions of binutils/gcc/glibc and so on
>and might take really a LOT OF time, so I would like to take the
>ready-to-use toolchain.
Building a cross-GCC for Linux shouldn't be any harder than building
a cross-GCC for any other system target, ie. a target which has a
native-GCC available for it. In this case the cross-GCC is only an
incarnation of the native-GCC on another host... What makes it
hard is that this fact is not understood and too many people think
that they must always start from scratch. They are like smiths needing
to produce a new hammer and denying to use any 3rd party or self-made
old hammer in the production, using stones and ore instead of pre-made
hammers and pre-made stee...
You are in the right track now....
When producing GCC one needs premade binutils and a premade C
library for the target. The premade C library needs only to be
suitable to be used during the GCC build, one can always produce the
final C library (glibc here) from its sources when the GCC is first
ready and working with the temporary 'suitable' C library.
So if you can find an existing premade glibc for the
'mips(el)-linux-gnu' target, this is the minimal amount of
'bootstrap' material to start with. Of course you can try to find
premade binaries for GCC and for your precise host, but at least on
Linux/x86 any premade binaries "for Linux/x86" may have troubles
to run, not so much binary compatability as for instance on that bad
Windoze... However on RedHats, running binaries made for RH6.2
with glibc-2.1.3 should still succeed on RH7.x, 8.0 and 9.0...
One starting point could be the Debian's ports for 'mips-linux-gnu'
and 'mipsel-linux-gnu'. There are prebuilt glibc-2.3.x's and older
glibc-2.2.5's on the Debian FTP sites. No crosstools maybe, only
the native tools for binutils and GCC. The package format is the
'.deb', which may sound unstandard and impossible to unpack
unless one knows it being a package made with 'ar' and in it
being the needed '.tar.gz' file with some 'installation info'....
I don't know about the Alchemy AU1550, how near or far it is
the normal R3000/R4000 chips, but most probably the AMD
webpages should tell what it is. Anyway producing a toolchain
for a 'generic' mips(el)-linux-gnu target using some Debian glibc
should succeed easily and later one can think what special
options the Alchemy AU1550-specific glibc would require and
then produce it...
BTW, there can also be Linux/MIPS ports for things like the
U.S.A. "TiVo" VHS/video recorder replacement and they may
already use that Alchemy AU1550, so maybe AMD tells where
their chips are now used and you can find a Linux port from
these products...
The main problems with producing toolchains are quite newbie-
like: not knowing where a cross-GCC has its stuff (comparable
to not knowing where are the engine, battery and gasoline in a
car...), not knowing that the 'libc.so' in Linux isn't a real shared
library but a script having absolute paths in the library names,
not knowing that Linux has also the so called 'kernel headers'
which don't belong to glibc but to the Linux kernel -- in Debian
glibcs they come with their glibc though, just read the FAQ...
So if you aren't yet familiar with the GCC options for absolute
dummies like '--help' and '-print-search-dirs', then please learn
them! It is assumed that any GCC user can at least look where
GCC searches its needed stuff... Seeing the headers search
paths may need some know-how, like that it isn't 'gcc' which
needs the headers but 'cpp' or 'cc1*' where the 'cpp' is now,
so a 'mips-linux-gnu-cpp -v' or something should tell the C
headers search paths, but getting the C++ headers search
paths may require using:
mips-linux-gnu-cpp -Wp,-lang-c++,-v (gcc-3.2.x and earlier)
or
`mips-linux-gnu-gcc -print-prog-name=cc1plus` -v (gcc-3.3....)
So the main advice is: Learn to know Linux and GCC, then
producing GCC tools for Linux is much, much easier! Also learn
to know your precise Linux/MIPS target, which GCC options
one must use for it in different cases...
Another thing recently learned by me and the person who had
problems with it, is that seemingly the Linux kernel and all those
kernel modules for 'mips(el)-linux-gnu' must be produced as
non-PIC code, meanwhile everything in the 'user mode' or in the
produced tools and apps must always be PIC-code (this known
already). That kernels or kernel modules shouldn't be produced
with the GCC defaults (for PIC code) seemingly is in some FAQ
but if being unread, it can cause very bad problems... So please
use enough time to learn things like this from the FAQs for
Linux/MIPS instead of using the usual way: "Switch the power
on and then see where the smoke rises..."
Cheers, Kai
Reply by Roman Mashak●July 14, 20042004-07-14
Hello, All!
I'm using dev. board Alchemy AU1550 (made by AMD). Now I'm porting Linux
in this board. What toolchain can you recommend to me? I explored the
web-site of Linux-MIPS project (www.linux-mips.org), there are different
versions of it and only RPMs.
I had experience of building toolchain by myself for ARM, it 's not easy
:) it can demand to use different versions of binutils/gcc/glibc and so on
and might take really a LOT OF time, so I would like to take the
ready-to-use toolchain.
Thank you in advance.
With best regards, Roman Mashak. E-mail: mrv@tusur.ru