On Thu, 22 Jun 2000, Roger Brown wrote:

> I am willing to try and recompile the mklinux kernel on my 586/Slackware
> system. See how far we get...
> 
> I have had a look at the GNU website and how to use GCC for cross
> compilation.

<snip>


>  'powerpc-apple-linux-gnulibc1'
> 
> would be the string, can you confirm this?

powerpc-unknown-linux, IIRC.


> What format is the kernel built as, is it COFF or ELF?

ELF.


> (Out of interest, MPW PPCLink will generate XCOFF, would it be totally mad
> to build the kernel with MPW MrC?)

Yes.  ;-)


> Also, it says that I will need various *.o and *.a from the target system
> for the C libraries.

Not for a kernel.


> Does the kernel actually contain it's own version of these? 

Yes.  Everything except for one header file is self-contained.  You'll
probably need to get a copy of that file, as it contains the varargs
header stuff.


> Is the kernel a relocateable object or does it have to start at a specific
> address?

Not sure.


> The build options will certainly have to include '-nostdlib' and
> '-nostdinc'.

It's already handled, I believe.

You'll also need to download and compile a copy of the MIG tools to build
mach.  It uses its own make (BSD-ish) and a handful of other binaries.
Drop a note on mklinux-development-system@public.lists.apple.com and I'm
sure somebody will remember where the MIG sources are.  :-)



> Does 'mklinux' use a three stage boot?
> 
> 1.  MacOS
> 2.  Mach Kernel
> 3.  Linux Kernel

MacOS, Mach Kernel, Linux server.  Linux server does next to nothing, i.e.
it's more of a personality layer than anything else.  Doesn't touch the
hardware.


> How would I boot the thing? What booter should I use, and what filesystem
> does the kernel image live on?

I'd use the MkLinux booter.


David