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Re: When crosscompiling, does configure really need --build?
From: |
Akim Demaille |
Subject: |
Re: When crosscompiling, does configure really need --build? |
Date: |
04 Oct 2002 14:59:55 +0200 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.0808 (Gnus v5.8.8) XEmacs/21.4 (Honest Recruiter) |
| Also, I *do* give the --host flag (I must have been unclear), yet I get
| the warning:
| "configure: WARNING: If you wanted to set the --build type, don't use
| --host. If a cross compiler is detected then cross compile mode will be
used."
|
| Why?
I must have been unclear myself: this warning is left at the intention
of the people who were using the old interface. That's why I was
referring you to the documentation.
Hosts and Cross-Compilation
---------------------------
Based on the experience of compiler writers, and after long public
debates, many aspects of the cross-compilation chain have changed:
- the relationship between the build, host, and target architecture
types,
- the command line interface for specifying them to `configure',
- the variables defined in `configure',
- the enabling of cross-compilation mode.
The relationship between build, host, and target have been cleaned
up: the chain of default is now simply: target defaults to host, host to
build, and build to the result of `config.guess'. Nevertheless, in
order to ease the transition from 2.13 to 2.50, the following
transition scheme is implemented. _Do not rely on it_, as it will be
completely disabled in a couple of releases (we cannot keep it, as it
proves to cause more problems than it cures).
They all default to the result of running `config.guess', unless you
specify either `--build' or `--host'. In this case, the default
becomes the system type you specified. If you specify both, and
they're different, `configure' will enter cross compilation mode, so it
won't run any tests that require execution.
Hint: if you mean to override the result of `config.guess', prefer
`--build' over `--host'. In the future, `--host' will not override the
name of the build system type. Whenever you specify `--host', be sure
to specify `--build' too.
For backward compatibility, `configure' will accept a system type as
an option by itself. Such an option will override the defaults for
build, host, and target system types. The following configure
statement will configure a cross toolchain that will run on NetBSD/alpha
but generate code for GNU Hurd/sparc, which is also the build platform.
./configure --host=alpha-netbsd sparc-gnu
In Autoconf 2.13 and before, the variables `build', `host', and
`target' had a different semantics before and after the invocation of
`AC_CANONICAL_BUILD' etc. Now, the argument of `--build' is strictly
copied into `build_alias', and is left empty otherwise. After the
`AC_CANONICAL_BUILD', `build' is set to the canonicalized build type.
To ease the transition, before, its contents is the same as that of
`build_alias'. Do _not_ rely on this broken feature.
For consistency with the backward compatibility scheme exposed above,
when `--host' is specified but `--build' isn't, the build system will
be assumed to be the same as `--host', and `build_alias' will be set to
that value. Eventually, this historically incorrect behavior will go
away.
The former scheme to enable cross-compilation proved to cause more
harm than good, in particular, it used to be triggered too easily,
leaving regular end users puzzled in front of cryptic error messages.
`configure' could even enter cross-compilation mode only because the
compiler was not functional. This is mainly because `configure' used
to try to detect cross-compilation, instead of waiting for an explicit
flag from the user.
Now, `configure' enters cross-compilation mode if and only if
`--host' is passed.
That's the short documentation. To ease the transition between 2.13
and its successors, a more complicated scheme is implemented. _Do not
rely on the following_, as it will be removed in the near future.
If you specify `--host', but not `--build', when `configure'
performs the first compiler test it will try to run an executable
produced by the compiler. If the execution fails, it will enter
cross-compilation mode. This is fragile. Moreover, by the time the
compiler test is performed, it may be too late to modify the
build-system type: other tests may have already been performed.
Therefore, whenever you specify `--host', be sure to specify `--build'
too.
./configure --build=i686-pc-linux-gnu --host=m68k-coff
will enter cross-compilation mode. The former interface, which
consisted in setting the compiler to a cross-compiler without informing
`configure' is obsolete. For instance, `configure' will fail if it
can't run the code generated by the specified compiler if you configure
as follows:
./configure CC=m68k-coff-gcc