[Gcl-devel] Re: Building gcl from cvs?

[Raymond Toy]

Camm Maguire wrote:
> Greetings!

Aloha!

> > On linux, configure finishes and when I try to make, it says it can't
> > find the dependency on /usr/lib/libbfd.a.  (This is Suse 10.3, x86_64.)
>
> GCL has certain build dependencies, a working C compiler and libc
> development header environment being among them.  Conventionally, GCL
> also requires binutils-dev and libgmp3-dev at build time, but there
> are local snapshots of these libraries to make do in a pinch.  The GMP
> local build will turn on automatically if no installed GMP is found.
> The binutils local build must still be invoked by hand thus:
>
> --disable-statsysbfd --enable-locbfd

I'll try this soon.  I'll look to see if I have those packages installed 
on my Suse 10.3 box.

> Alas, macosx i386 is not yet running, though just requires a little
> linker attention.  macosx ppc is fully functional.

Heh.  I don't think I ever got macosx ppc working either. :-(

> In case you are interested in lending a helping hand here, please let
> me know.

Perhaps later.  Let's get linux and/or solaris working first.

> > On Solaris 8 (sparc), it configures gmp ok, but then dies trying to c
> > stack limit.  In this case, I think generates the wrong C test code
> > because it initializes an int with a string or something.
>
> I'd greatly appreciate details here.  Please be advised that gclcvs
> makes good use of immediate fixnums, but that on Debian sparc, at
> least, the conventional location of the fixnum table is not available,
> and needs attention.  Linux x86 32 reserves memory above 0xc0000000
> for the kernel, so GCL uses this area as a immediate fixnum table.
> Sparc puts the C stack in here.  Logic is needed in configure to
> determine an alternate safe location automatically.  Right now, Debian
> sparc does not have immediate fixnums.

How much space do you need?  AFAIK, you can mmap anything just about 
anywhere on sparc and things will be ok.  The stack, of course, is at 
the top of memory.  I'm not sure where libc/libm go, but they're not a 
fixed addresses either.

> A few months ago, I verified that 2.6.8pre built on solaris x86 and
> sparc.  I'd be happy to quickly commit any configure changes you still
> find are needed here.  So more details are the first step.

Which would you like to work on first? :-)

I can help with solaris sparc on 2.6.8pre or on current cvs.

Thanks for your help,

Ray

P.S.  There are a couple of issues I'd like to see solved on gcl.  I 
think I sent mail about these before.  Basically, 
ensure-directories-exist would be very beneficial for mk:defsys.  A 
working directory function that doesn't just call out to find would help 
a lot too.  Both of these are to help with maxima builds.