Re: Installing Sun Sparc Ultra 10

[Martin <inkubus@interalpha.co.uk>]

> >> Just one thing, imagine i want to recompil the kernel. I have to download
> >> kernel 2.4.20 (the latest supported kernel for sparc?) and compil with a
> >> special compiler or just usual gcc with specific sun4u options ?
> > You either download the relevant Debian source package or whichever
> > source tarball you want from ftp.kernel.org, then use the make-kpkg
> > package.  That will handle all of the rest.
> There is no compilation options like : "make-kpkg --subarch=sun4u ..." ?
> And i was trying to configure the downloaded kernel and i had to choose a
> "Porcessor Type" in the kernel configuration options. But Sparc is not in
> the list. Isn't there a patch to apply ? Wich processor could I choose ?
Support for sun4u machines is not a subarch of the sparc port - it is a
separate port; sparc64.  As I understand it the default is to compile
based on the output of uname -a.  If the kernel is being compiled on a
sparc64 system (i.e. sparc-v9, sun4u, ultra sparc or 64 bit system) then
it will default to being a sparc64 kernel.  If it's a sparc system (i.e.
sparc-v7 or sparc-v8, sun4c or sun4m, 32 bit systems) then it will be a
sparc kernel.  To force a sparc64 system to compile a sparc kernel use
the sparc32 command.  I believe the subarch option in the sparc and
sparc64 ports control some extras in the kernel code and which flags are
passed to GCC - i.e. -v8 instead of -v7 if you are targeting sun4m
systems.

I do not know of a way of compiling sparc64 kernels on a sparc system
(and would be tempted to question why anyone would want to).
 
HTH

Cheers,
 - Martin

-- 
Martin
inkubus@interalpha.co.uk
"Seasons change, things come to pass"