From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 18465 invoked by alias); 22 Jan 2009 14:40:48 -0000 Received: (qmail 18453 invoked by uid 22791); 22 Jan 2009 14:40:47 -0000 X-SWARE-Spam-Status: No, hits=-2.0 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,SPF_PASS X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Received: from hagrid.ecoscentric.com (HELO mail.ecoscentric.com) (212.13.207.197) by sourceware.org (qpsmtpd/0.43rc1) with ESMTP; Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:40:43 +0000 Received: from localhost (hagrid.ecoscentric.com [127.0.0.1]) by mail.ecoscentric.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id ECCDE3B40071; Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:40:39 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mail.ecoscentric.com ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (hagrid.ecoscentric.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id NVdQ58xvOUxu; Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:40:38 +0000 (GMT) Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:40:00 -0000 Message-Id: From: Bart Veer To: John Dallaway CC: ecos-maintainers@ecos.sourceware.org In-reply-to: <497866C6.80009@dallaway.org.uk> (message from John Dallaway on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:29:58 +0000) Subject: Re: Building RedBoot for SH3 targets with new toolchain References: <49777C14.8070201@dallaway.org.uk> <497785C0.50004@eCosCentric.com> <49779CC3.2000202@dallaway.org.uk> <4977A2A8.1030608@eCosCentric.com> <4977B0E2.3040806@dallaway.org.uk> <4977BDF1.1060304@eCosCentric.com> <49784728.50700@dallaway.org.uk> <20090122103119.GG7080@donkey.ma.tech.ascom.ch> <497866C6.80009@dallaway.org.uk> Mailing-List: contact ecos-maintainers-help@ecos.sourceware.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: ecos-maintainers-owner@ecos.sourceware.org X-SW-Source: 2009-01/txt/msg00020.txt.bz2 >>>>> "John" == John Dallaway writes: John> Hi Andrew John> Andrew Lunn wrote: >>> Taking all these things into account, plus the desire to avoid >>> further delays to the eCos 3.0 release, I think it preferable >>> to stick with the stock mpfr and gmp DLLs for the >>> Cygwin-hosted toolchains. We must document the need to install >>> the relevant Cygwin packages though, and add an entry to the >>> FAQ. >> >> Would it be possible to detect at build time if these DLLs are >> installed? But a custom build rule with the highest priority in >> infra, or HAL which will test if this files exist and stop and >> print an useful error message if they are not installed? >> >> The way cygwin is silently failing is not nice... John> The failure mode is certainly not nice. I expect that the John> mpfr and gmp DLLs are loaded explicitly by the compiler John> using LoadLibrary() and failure is not being reported at the John> application level. John> We could emit a _warning_ message using a custom rule. An John> _error_ message would be too strong since older toolchains John> do not use mpfr and gmp. However, it seems cleaner to keep John> such testing out of the build process and perform the tests John> in the eCos install script instead when the relevant John> toolchains are being installed. Having said that, I John> appreciate that experienced eCos developers may not use the John> install script. Just how much does it save to link mpfr and gmp dynamically instead of statically? Ditto for intl and iconv? If it only makes a small difference I would much prefer to keep things robust and use static links - and as a useful side effect, avoid problems if updated cygwin versions of these packages have compatibility issues. Or when moving toolchains between machines with slightly different cygwin setups. And no doubt there are plenty of other failure scenarios. I would not mind so much if the users were given sensible error messages that explained exactly how to resolve the problem, but silent failures are going to give a really bad impression to anybody just starting out with eCos. Especially since the chances are high that any installation instructions will have received, at best, a cursory glance. Bart -- Bart Veer eCos Configuration Architect eCosCentric Limited The eCos experts http://www.ecoscentric.com/ Barnwell House, Barnwell Drive, Cambridge, UK. Tel: +44 1223 245571 Registered in England and Wales: Reg No 4422071.