You're reading ./Cross/README.new, describing Perl cross-compilation process. NOTE: this file will replace ./Cross/README, after the cross-compilation scheme is stabilized. =head1 NAME README.new - Cross-compilation for linux =head1 DESCRIPTION This is second approach to linux cross-compilation, which should allow building full perl and entensions for target platform. Cross-compilation for linux uses similar approach and shares the same files as cross-compilation for WinCE. We refer to HOST as the platform where the build is performed, and to TARGET as where final executables will run. =head2 Basic ideas =head3 common Unlike WinCE, output files from GCC cross-compiler are produced in the same directory where C files are. All TARGET binaries have different extensions so to distinguish HOST and TARGET binaries. Namely, object files for C cross-compilation will have extension C<.armo>, executable files will have C<.arm>. After typical cross-compilation the following files will be built, among others: sv.c sv.o sv.armo libperl.arma (this approach may be reconsidered, however.) =head3 build process C is built. This executable is intended to run on HOST, and it will facilitate the remaining build process; all binaries built after it are foreign (TARGET) and should not run locally (HOST). Unlike HOST build, miniperl will not have C of HOST within reach; it rather will use the C from the cross-compilation directories. In fact, if the build process does have Config.pm within reach, this is only an indication of a mistake somewhere in the middle. # following command is okay: ./miniperl -Ilib -MCross -MConfig -e 1 # following command should cluck, and it is bad if it does not: ./miniperl -Ilib -MConfig -e 1 After C is built, C is invoked to create an appropriate C in the right place and its corresponding C. File C is dead simple: for given cross-architecture places in @INC a path where perl modules are, and right C in that place. That said, C should report an error, because it cannot find C. If it does not give an error, a wrong C is substituted, and resulting binaries will be a mess. C should run okay, and it will provide a correct C for further compilations. During extensions build phase, the script C<./ext/util/make_ext_cross> is invoked. All invocations of C are provided with C<-MCross> so to enable cross-compilation. =head2 BUILD =head3 Tools & SDK To compile, you need the following: =over 4 =item * TODO =back =head1 Things to be done =over 4 =item * better distinguishing of config.h/xconfig.h, dependencies =item * object files created in ./xlib/cross-name/ ? =back