Re: other platforms and Linux compile...

Jim Nance (jlnance@avanticorp.com)
Tue, 5 Aug 1997 19:09:15 -0400 (EDT)


> So how difficult IS it to compile linux for another platform?

> Yes, I'm being non-specific. To some extent I'm just curious about how
> difficult Linux is to run on various platforms.... and perhaps put out a
> file into Documentation/* so there IS info on this?

Well, I am not sure which of these you mean, so I will answer them all:

1) It is difficult to port linux to a new platform.

2) It is trivial to cross compile linux between supported platforms
if you have a working cross compiler. You just type something like:

make ARCH=alpha CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/local/bin/alpha-dec-linux2.0 config
make ARCH=alpha CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/local/bin/alpha-dec-linux2.0 dep
make ARCH=alpha CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/local/bin/alpha-dec-linux2.0 boot

3) If you are building a kernel for a supported platform on that platform,
you type:

make ARCH=alpha config
make ARCH=alpha dep
make ARCH=alpha boot

Hope this helps.

Jim

PS It is sometimes difficult to find the source to the non-x86 kernels.
They usually need patches not yet merged into the standard kernels,
so you have to know where to look.