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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / Science and Technology => Topic started by: motorollin on March 27, 2009, 05:36:19 PM

Title: Cross-compilers
Post by: motorollin on March 27, 2009, 05:36:19 PM

If a development environment has a cross-compiler for an OS on one CPU platform, does that mean it would be easier to incorporate a cross-compiler for the same OS on another platform? As an example, if the DE could cross-compile for Linux x86 but not Linux PPC, would it be easier to add cross-compile functionality for Linux PPC than it would be if it didn't already support Linux x86?

Title: Re: Cross-compilers
Post by: Trev on March 29, 2009, 07:10:41 PM

It's typically the othe way around, since the OS just defines the ABI.

Title: Re: Cross-compilers
Post by: motorollin on March 29, 2009, 07:23:30 PM

Ahhh ok, so once the compiler can build for, say, OSX x86, it will be easier to make it build for Linux x86 but not for OSX PPC?

Title: Re: Cross-compilers
Post by: Trev on March 29, 2009, 08:16:29 PM

Yup. Of course, someone very skilled with the target hardware may be able to write a compiler back-end faster than someone not so skilled with an OS can write a standard library and a linker. Neither task is trivial.

EDIT:

Are you looking for a specific compiler that works with a specific IDE? If you're limiting the discussion to gcc, then as long as the target is supported, it's just a matter of building the cross-compiler.

Title: Re: Cross-compilers
Post by: motorollin on March 29, 2009, 09:12:52 PM

Quote

Trev wrote:
Are you looking for a specific compiler that works with a specific IDE?

No, I was just wondering about this because I recently asked RealSoftware if there is any possibility of a Linux PPC cross-compiler in RealBasic. It can already compile for Linux x86 and OSX PPC, and I was just wondering whether the existing OSX PPC cross-compiler would help them to develop a Linux PPC cross-compiler more easily, or whether they would have to start all over again.