On Friday 01 June 2001  7:27 pm, Todd Vierling wrote:
> In just a little bit I'll be committing changes to the toplevel "src"
> build process.  The new build system will create a directory to hold
> build-time tools, such as gcc, binutils, bmake, and so forth.  These are
> used BOTH for cross-compiling and native compiling, so as to ensure that
> proper versions of the tools are used for the source tree being compiled.
> The tools will only be recompiled when needed.
>
> To set where these tools are installed, set TOOLDIR in the environment (NOT
> /etc/mk.conf).  TOOLDIR will default to "src/tools/local" if not explicitly
> set.  The layout is similar to /usr/local (with "bin", "lib", etc.
> subdirectories).

I know this is an odd request, but could it be possible to have the top level 
make compare the vars from /etc/mk.conf with those that should be in the 
environment and complain if they don't match?  I (like many others?) loose 
track of which vars I need to put in my env, so end up dumping most of them 
into my env.

> On most platforms, the build tools will consist of only bmake at this time,
> so any automated builds should continue to work fine if your "src" is
> writable.  This will expand to a full set of build tools, suitable for
> cross-compiling even on non-NetBSD hosts, in the near future.  In
> particular, i386 will also switch to the new gcc and binutils this weekend.

Excellent stuff :)

> If you have any problems with the new toplevel build process, please let me
> know (or post to tech-toolchain).  All this will also be documented in a
> bit more detail in "README.tools" in the top level.

Even if no-one else says it, I think it sounds like a job well done, I know 
that Todd (and many others) have put in a fair amount of work getting the new 
gcc in place and ready to go.  So I'll say well done to all those that do 
track gcc, and work on it.  I've looked at gcc code and it's like a maze to 
me :)

Cheers,
Chris