Re: Emdebian native build on PPC?
+++ Neil Williams [2010-09-06 16:01 +0100]:
> On Mon, 6 Sep 2010 16:20:55 +0400
> Sergei Poselenov <sposelenov@emcraft.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I have a question regarding the use of the emdebian-tools in the native
> > build environment.
>
> There's no point in using emdebian-tools natively.
Why not? If you want to re-build debian packages with a set of
patches applied for customisations, then it seems to be a good tool.
> Just use
> dpkg-buildpackage as normal and then post-process using emgrip if
> necessary.
Post-processing only lets you make a certain set of modifications,
which doesn't include rebuilding with different optimisations, or with
different configure options.
> Alternatively, if you want the busybox based system without
> perl, you should use the existing packages from Crush as source
> packages for your own native builds so that you get the patches already
> applied.
That's a good idea, but still doesn't cover the case where coreutils
is OK, but you want to apply a set of local patches which need rebuilds.
Or even busybox-based but with a different set of changes to the ones
we made in Crush.
> > From my past experience with the cross-toolchains and cross-builds, I
> > remember how painful could be a build process (used Den Kegel
> > crosstool scripts to build a toolchain; libtool-based packages was the
> > real problem to build in cross).
>
> Compared to the pain of waiting for native builds....
People used powerpcs for their desktops not so long ago. People still
use them to run bigiron servers. A native build on that platform is
not at all crazy.
> > Can I use the benefits of the native PowerPC build system
> > (emdebian-tools, right?)
>
> emdebian-tools only worked for Lenny and only for a small number of
> packages - many of which only cross-build at the versions that were in
> Lenny. If you try a rebuild from the Emdebian Crush source packages,
> you will get the original Lenny versions, not the updated ones with
> security fixes etc. and you will be locked into those versions forever.
Emdebian-tools is (or was last time I looked properly) a mechanism for
taking debian packages, applying patches from svn and rebuilding them.
The part that is specific to particular versions of packages is the
patch set in svn, not the tools themselves.
Yes, updating that patch set is a lot of work, but it's rather less
work if you are not fighting cross-build problems at the same time as
trying to apply a set of changes.
> If you can live with coreutils and perl, just use Emdebian Grip.
If you can do what you want this way, this is excellent advice.
> Can you use coreutils and perl or must you have busybox?
And exactly what sort of changes do you want to make to individual
packages?
Answer those two crucial questions and you can work out what might be
the most sensible route.
Wookey
--
Principal hats: Linaro, Emdebian, Wookware, Balloonboard, ARM
http://wookware.org/
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