Re: Cross-compiler

[mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost (Michael van Elst)]

itgeek31%googlemail.com@localhost (IT geek 31) writes:

>Hi,
>I'm running NetBSD 5.2.2 on a few Cobalt Qubes and I think they're
>fantastic.
>However, when it comes to building packages from pkgsrc, they're not so
>great... mainly due to their 200MHz processor.
>Would it be possible to cross-compile for the Qube architecture on my
>NetBSD i386 box (which is infinitely more powerful)?
>If so, could someone point me in the direction of a guide on how to do this?


Cross building packages is difficult because lots of software comes with
build systems (Makefiles, configure scripts) that expect to run natively
or that create their own build tools (e.g. miniperl). There is work going
on, but I doubt that it will ever allow to cross build all of pkgsrc.

However, it is possible to build packages natively and only defer the compiler
to a faster machine. See

http://wiki.netbsd.org/tutorials/pkgsrc/cross_compile_distcc/

for a tutorial.

For some packages this is even the only workable build method as the
native machine wouldn't have enough RAM to run the compiler.