Re: Why did I get no response? Was:Understanding the porting process
> Why did I get no respone on my question(s) of yesterday morning?
Mainly because they don't have to do with Debian. If I understand your
questions, you want to compile the Linux Kernel, GCC, glibc, and some
other stuff under solaris and end up with a working Linux system. This is
more of a Linux From Scratch type system http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/.
This type of thing is not usually done. Most people install linux on sparc
systems either by CDROM, floppy, tape drive(?), netboot, or some external
media device.
If you really want to build the system from solaris here are a few
things to get you looking in the right places. You will need a GCC
cross-compiler to generate sparc linux binaries. (I've never done any
cross-compiling so I can't tell you how to do it, but you could search
google). You will also need an extra partition to put the binaries on.
While your at it you may want to make an extra swap partition for linux,
or you can run mkswap on your solaris swap partition everytime it boots
Linux. I think you may get stuck with the partitioning. When Solaris comes
"preinstalled" it usually has no free space left to partition. You could
re-install Solaris, but if you were re-installing why not just use Linux?
> What tools or libraries should I compile first?
The order doesn't matter because the binaries won't get used until you
boot into linux.
> But what compile options should I choose to compile from a Solaris to
> a Linux machine?
I've never done it, but you could try looking at the man page for gcc or
try going to the gcc website at gcc.gnu.org.
> Can someone give me some hints and tips (or a URL to a document
> describing this kind of work), please?
If you are into compiling Linux from sources you could look at Gentoo
(http://www.gentoo.org). It has a CD that you can download that will walk
you through compiling everything (though not from solaris, but from the
CD running Linux).
In conclusion, if you want to save a lot of time and headaches you could
just download and burn some debian isos from
http://www.debian.org/distrib/cd and if you don't have the
bandwidth/burner you can buy CDs. A list of vendors is at
http://www.debian.org/CD/vendors/
If you have any questions about Debian GNU/Linux send them to the list,
but if it's not directly related to a Debian system, then e-mail me
directly (tcort@cs.ubishops.ca) or get your info via another source
(usenet, irc, other mailing lists, fourms, etc).
-Thomas Cort
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