Re: Debian powerpc binary compatibility?
* Sergei Poselenov | 2010-09-18 11:44:01 [+0400]:
>Thanks, but I'm looking for specific information - what instruction set
>was used by gcc to build Debian binaries.
>
>It seems to me this information is not readily available... I can only
>guess of gcc configuration - just defaults (-mcpu=powepc -msoft-float).
These a few of the options that are paassed to gcc's configure script:
--enable-shared
--enable-multiarch
--enable-linker-build-id
--enable-threads=posix
--enable-nls
--enable-clocale=gnu
--enable-libstdcxx-debug
--enable-objc-gc
--enable-secureplt
--disable-softfloat
--enable-targets=powerpc-linux,powerpc64-linux
--with-cpu=default32
--with-long-double-128
--build=powerpc-linux-gnu
--host=powerpc-linux-gnu
--target=powerpc-linux-gnu
>Yes, I'm aware of an attempt to run Debian on e500v2 - it throws
>"Illegal instruction" on "lwsync". I'm sorry I don't have enough
>details - what Debian Distro they tried and what kernel the target
>has been run.
>
>However, speaking about the "lwsync" problem on e500 - I've got an
>impression that the problem should be solved already -
>http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2006-11/msg01238.html
>
>Do you know - isn't the fix in the mainline gcc?
Yes it is. The e500 gcc (that one with target powerpc-linux-gnuspe) does
not throw this opcode. There is however handwritten assembly code in a
few packages using this instruction. Anyway the powerpc port does use
this opcode and it is legal for them to do so. For the powerpcspe port I
have a patch in binutils [0] which replaces a few opcodes for us. One of
the replacements is lwsync with sync.
>And while we at this: on the [0], the current status of the project is
>"stalled" because of GCC bug in e500 floating point insns. The bug is
>reported against 4.4.4.
>
>Have you tried other Debian GCC version - 4.3? Is the bug there, too?
Yes I can reproduce it on 4.3.
>Yes, I understand this. I guess, for your powerpcspe port you are
>rebuilding Debian packages on the system running the same Debian,
>right? (What Debian are running on your e500, btw? How your overcame
>the "lwsync" problem?)
Upstream packages which use are fixed / changes. Usually they benefit
from [0] so don't have to send a lot of patches.
>Probably, I was not quite clear in my question - we are considering
>the case that there will be no working Debian distribution for
>particular target (like e500 "lwsync" problem I mentioned above), so we
>will have to use some other distribution for native build system, with
>different toolchain version (I'mean the versions of gcc, binutils and
>glibc, which could be different of those in Debian toolchain). How
>could I rebuild Debian on such system?
If your goal is to come up with a new distribution for a new target that
has no debian support then I got to say that this aint't fun :) However
here are the basic steps from what I remember doing for the powerpcspe
port:
- cross compile a minimal enviroment with gcc, glibc, binutils, bash,
perl and so on. That are packages in the category essential /
build-essential and are required by almost every package. Use
scratchbox or something else. Doing it all by hand is painfull.
- once you have a minimal enviroment hack your new target into dpkg and
build it.
- start compiling debian packages. In the beginning you don't have all
dependencies so you just skip those and hope the package will still
work. Well if you start to build your first package than you can't
fulfill the dependencies at all. So you take a look at the
dependencies, check manually that you have them and force the build
process to continue. Some packages require doxygen to build the
documentation. It i a long way to get doxygen built. So in the
beginning you just skip doxygen and omit the documentation and hope it
builts. If it doesn't because the built script wants to run doxygen
and fails, then you have to tweak the script a little so it will pass.
- extra fun packages are cyclic dependencies. Those you have to examine
case by case. Maybe you have to compile package A with less features,
compile package B and then compile package A with all features.
- Once you have a few packages you try to rebuild them with your native
toolchain to ensure yo have none of those packages you cross compiled
around.
>Apparently, I need first to build the Debian toolchain, and then make
>sure the binaries are linked against the new-built Glibc, not the build
>host one. Also, because of the package dependencies, the order of
>package's build is also important.
The build order is more or less not impartant. For instance one of the
essential files you need is bash and you want to build it. bash depends
on dash so you try to get dash done. dash itself needs debianutils so
try that one. And so on :)
>So, the question is - how to build Debian "from scratch"?
I hope I covered your question this time.
>
>Regards,
>Sergei
[0] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=586068
Sebastian
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