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Date:      Wed, 19 Jan 2000 03:43:52 -0500 (EST)
From:      Lyndon Griffin <lgriffin@bsd4us.org>
To:        freebsd-sparc@freebsd.org
Subject:   32 vs. 64
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSO.4.10.10001190326240.31627-100000@ns.bsd4us.org>

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Hmmm...  I didn't find a question like this in the archives, so here goes:

Given that Solaris 7 (and 8) can run both 32bit and 64bit executables, can
a sun4u boot off a 32bit-only kernel?  I assume the answer is yes, since I
have (at work, not at my disposal) an Ultra 2 that runs Solaris 2.5.1.
Maybe I'm mistaken about the nature of Solaris' gradual movement to 64bit,
and Solaris 2.5.1 is indeed a 64bit os?

Where I'm heading with this is that it may not be so difficult to put all
sparc architectures into the same source node - make a single kernel that
can boot all suns, and have generic kernels that are tailored for each
architecture or family.  I know this is *way* ahead of where we are, but
if this is a possible goal, maybe we should start planning early to
support it.  My understanding of the way that sun accomplishes this is
that the install CD boots from a different slice depending on your
architecture.  I know that comparing ctimes across different
platforms, same version of OS, yields totally different results, but the
Solaris literature I've read suggests that for many programs, a separate
build for each architecture is not necessary.  Am I making any sense?

Can anyone lend suggestions on building a cross-compiler.  I started this
evening, using my x86 laptop as the host.  I defined the target as
sparc-netbsd.  The laptop is running 3.4 snapshot dated 1/17/00.  I got
binutils to build OK, but I'm having some gcc problems:  missing headers
and such (like ansi.h - which looks like it should be OK to include from
/usr/include/machine, but I'm not sure).  Nothing in the list archives
jumped out at me - apparently, the installation details of the egcs
toolchain for sparc64 were kept from the list, and only binaries were put
up at some point after success was reached.

<:)  Lyndon Griffin
http://www.bsd4us.org



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