At Wed, 3 Jun 2015 09:23:37 -0400 (EDT), Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost> wrote: Subject: Re: retrocomputing NetBSD style > > GAW Wrote: > > I really don't understand anyone who has the desire to try to run > > build.sh on a VAX-750 to build even just a kernel, let alone the > > whole distribution. > > I recall a time where NetBSD/vax was broken for a long time because > everyone was cross-building; as soon as a native build was attemped, > the brokenness showed up. > > I native build on _everything_. If it can't native build, it isn't > really part of my stable, so to speak. Yes, there is that issue! See, for instance, my recent posts comparing assembler output from kernel compiles done by the same compiler when run on amd64 vs. i386. However those are the kinds of bugs one might hope can be caught by decent enough regression tests of the compiler and its toolchain. Unfortunately these are tests which we don't have now, in part because in a sense we treat the whole system as the regression test, thus forcing users to do native compiles to prove there are no noticeable regressions. Of course if we did have a proper cross-compiler regression test suite then we would only have to build and run such tests on those less capable machines. In some sense though since I don't intend to use my Soekris board (or RPi, or BBB, etc.) as development systems, I only really care that the cross compiler generates working code for them, and we do have an increasingly useful whole-system regression test suite that I do intend to run on those smaller systems to prove they work well when their binaries have been built on my build server. However this issue does have me wanting to do builds on my RPi and BBB and to dig my Alpha and another Sparc server out of storage, and find a couple of MIPS systems of each type, just so I can try cross-compiling on them all and prove that any future fixes to the compiler will then result in identical code no matter what host it runs on, including self-hosted. So, I guess until/unless we have a good compiler regression test suite then another awesome use for older and very different hardware from the current melange of almost-identical i386 derivatives is to help run as a test base for the toolchain. -- Greg A. Woods Planix, Inc. <woods%planix.com@localhost> +1 250 762-7675 http://www.planix.com/
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