Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 10:43:04 +0000 (GMT) From: Doug Rabson <dfr@nlsystems.com> To: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> Cc: "Stephane E. Potvin" <sepotvin@videotron.ca>, Hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD arm port Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.01.9810301036260.366-100000@herring.nlsystems.com> In-Reply-To: <199810292307.PAA00560@dingo.cdrom.com>
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On Thu, 29 Oct 1998, Mike Smith wrote: > > Also, some pointers as to what are the main steps for doing such a port > > (FreeBSD port as a whole) would be greatly appreciated. > > Crucial to bringing up any new port is the ability to tighten the build/ > debug cycle. If you have an emulator, that's excellent. If you can > boot diskless, that's almost as good. Copying kernels onto floppies and > lugging them back and forth gets old _really_ quick. The best debugging environment is definately a simulator (but only if it has good hooks into gdb). Netbooting with serial-line debugging runs a close second. I used the excellent SimOS simulator exclusively in the early stages of the FreeBSD/alpha port and was able to get the thing to boot all the way to single-user mode and run a few commands before I touched a real machine. That really shortened the debug time for the real hardware. The SimOS simulator currently supports various mips and alpha cpus. Future versions will have other cpus but the SimOS folks will be able to give you an idea. > > You want to start with a skeleton of the new system-specific code, and > flesh it out as you go. The first goal is to get enough infrastructure > in place to build the kernel. The alpha port is probably a good place > to look first, as it's only just starting to put on weight, and has a > lot of new architectural stuff in it. I think that cloning the alpha port and hacking it is as good a way to start as any. Make sure you have current source trees for the NetBSD and Linux kernel too for cross reference. You have a steep learning curve ahead - good luck! -- Doug Rabson Mail: dfr@nlsystems.com Nonlinear Systems Ltd. Phone: +44 181 951 1891 Fax: +44 181 381 1039 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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