Hi Brendan! On 06/07/2007 10:41 PM, Brendan Conoboy wrote: [ ... ] > Inside Red Hat, my group (GES) creates custom compilers and embedded > Linux systems for our customers. We have done this for many years, > using various upstream sources, building natively and with cross tools. > For the last few years, we have used either RHEL or Fedora as our > upstream source base. Good self introduction. Now we know, that you know what you're talking 'bout. :-) [ ... ] > I would like to see cross compilation become a standard method in > Fedora. It scales where native builds don't. There might be faster arm > chips these days, but lets not forget all the underpowered embedded CPUs > and costly systems like s390. Bootstrapping is simplified. People > without access to hardware can work on build problems (Simulators are > good for this too). True. But is cross compilation really as reliable as native compilation is? I'm not experienced with cross compilation... But I think some errors will only occur on *real native hardware*... > What are the hurdles to adoption? Broadly, they break down into > technical and social: > > Technical: There must be cross compilers before we can cross compile. > The build system must be enhanced to support cross compilation. Finally, > packages must be modified to support cross compilation. If you would have not written this, I would. :-) Yes, that's the first part. There where already a few threads about cross compilers for Fedora; I don't know what the outcome is/was. It seems to be some never ending story. :-( <quiet>I saw some cross compilers in CentOS</quiet> :-) > Social: As a volunteer effort, it is unreasonable to expect existing > package maintainers to do the work necessary to support cross > compilation. There must be people to take on that responsibility and > work with upstream and package maintainers to integrate the necessary > changes. I think that's the same as with secondary arches. Yes, there must be some team supporting the arch, if it's done via cross compilers or on native hardware; But with one difference: The people who are involved in the 2ndary arch stuff, might not be very experienced with cross compilation; Like me and Alpha for example. > I don't have fast and easy answers to all of the above, Nobody would expect... I don't have as well. Just posting my 2 cent... > but I would like > to have a discussion about them. My group may be able to offer > expertise, patches and some man power toward this goal. What do you think? I think for Alpha we will have enough fast machines that can get the job done. I don't know about the other arches.... If there are volunteers for a arch and you have some man power who can support the ArchTeam, that would be great - I think. If the arch-team doesn't want cross compilation..... Let 'em alone. :-) Best, Oliver -- fedora-devel-list mailing list fedora-devel-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
