Revert "show -E in error message when called with -E"
[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / Cross / README.new
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608969de 1You're reading ./Cross/README.new, describing Perl cross-compilation process.
fbe7f75f 2NOTE: this file will replace ./Cross/README, after the cross-compilation scheme
3is stabilized.
608969de 4
fbe7f75f 5=head1 NAME
608969de 6
fbe7f75f 7README.new - Cross-compilation for linux
8
9=head1 DESCRIPTION
10
11This is second approach to linux cross-compilation, which should allow
12building full perl and entensions for target platform. Cross-compilation
13for linux uses similar approach and shares the same files as
14cross-compilation for WinCE.
608969de 15
16We refer to HOST as the platform where the build is performed, and to
17TARGET as where final executables will run.
18
19=head2 Basic ideas
20
21=head3 common
22
fbe7f75f 23Unlike WinCE, output files from GCC cross-compiler are produced in the same
608969de 24directory where C files are. All TARGET binaries have different extensions
25so to distinguish HOST and TARGET binaries. Namely, object files for C<arm>
26cross-compilation will have extension C<.armo>, executable files will have
27C<.arm>.
28
29After typical cross-compilation the following files will be built, among
30others:
31
32 sv.c
33 sv.o
34 sv.armo
35 libperl.arma
36
37(this approach may be reconsidered, however.)
38
39=head3 build process
40
41C<miniperl> is built. This executable is intended to run on HOST, and it
42will facilitate the remaining build process; all binaries built after it are
43foreign (TARGET) and should not run locally (HOST).
44
45Unlike HOST build, miniperl will not have C<Config.pm> of HOST within reach;
46it rather will use the C<Config.pm> from the cross-compilation directories.
47In fact, if the build process does have Config.pm within reach, this is only
48an indication of a mistake somewhere in the middle.
49
50 # following command is okay:
51 ./miniperl -Ilib -MCross -MConfig -e 1
52 # following command should cluck, and it is bad if it does not:
53 ./miniperl -Ilib -MConfig -e 1
54
fbe7f75f 55After C<miniperl> is built, C<configpm> is invoked to create an
56appropriate C<Config.pm> in the right place and its corresponding
57C<Cross.pm>.
608969de 58
59File C<Cross.pm> is dead simple: for given cross-architecture places in @INC
60a path where perl modules are, and right C<Config.pm> in that place.
61
62That said, C<miniperl -Ilib -MConfig -we 1> should report an error, because
fbe7f75f 63it cannot find C<Config.pm>. If it does not give an error, a wrong C<Config.pm>
608969de 64is substituted, and resulting binaries will be a mess.
65
fbe7f75f 66C<miniperl -MCross -MConfig -we 1> should run okay, and it will provide a
67correct C<Config.pm> for further compilations.
608969de 68
69During extensions build phase, the script C<./ext/util/make_ext_cross> is
70invoked.
71
fbe7f75f 72All invocations of C<Makefile.PL> are provided with C<-MCross> so to enable
73cross-compilation.
608969de 74
75=head2 BUILD
76
77=head3 Tools & SDK
78
fbe7f75f 79To compile, you need the following:
608969de 80
81=over 4
82
83=item * TODO
84
85=back
86
87=head1 Things to be done
88
89=over 4
90
fbe7f75f 91=item * better distinguishing of config.h/xconfig.h, dependencies
608969de 92
93=item * object files created in ./xlib/cross-name/ ?
94
95=back