[LinuxBIOS] help from ubuntu and FC6 experts

[Hamish Guthrie]

Segher Boessenkool wrote:
> Building a cross-compilation toolchain on a fast machine takes
> about 10 minutes, while building LinuxBIOS should take about
> 2 seconds.
Sure, but it can also take weeks to figure out that your toolchain is 
actually at fault.
> 
> Also, you might *want* to use a "non-default" toolchain.
If you want to use a non-default toolchain, you should be in a position 
to decide how to deviate from the defaults, in which case, changing the 
toolchain build options should be really simple if you are at that level 
of expertise.
> 
> You might want to check out Dan Kegel's excellent "crosstool".
Have used that extensively, and found it to be very good under certain 
circumstances, however, targeting new platforms already catered for by 
Buildroot and openwrt, it makes no sense since the toolchains are 
already in place.
> 
> I regularly build the Linux kernel on OSX -- all it takes are some
> fixes to Linux itself, none toolchain related -- and certainly no
> fixes to the toolchain itself.
I am a newbie to OSX, so it is probably just growing pains! 
Nevertheless, I think OSX is really cool!
> 
>> This may be a resolution to the screwed toolchains supplied in  
>> certain distros.
> 
> That much is true, but it's a really heavy-handed solution.
I think a solution nevertheless for people who are battling with broken 
toolchains - certainly this should not be a mandatory part of the build, 
but an option provided for those battling.
> 
> An option might be to include a script to build (and install)
> a toolchain as an optional preparation step for building LB.
Totally agree.
> 
>> ever tried to tell RH that they introduced a bug in the compiler  
>> toolchain??? I think it would probably have fallen on deaf ears.
> 
> You should have tried though.
I did frequently, and it fell on deaf ears - so much so that one of my 
corporate clients moved away from RH to SuSE.
> 
> 
> Segher
> 
> 

Hamish