GNU ARM7 toolchain for FreeCalypso

[Mychaela Falconia]

Hi DS,

> You're also correct about the possible namespace clashes, although
> I didn't have the problem yet since I keep the FC toolchain in a
> specific location, distinct from /usr and /usr/local.

Right now I also install it in its own ad hoc location, but I was
thinking that if we are going to produce deb/rpm/etc packages that
install our toolchain system-wide, we would be less polluting with an
arm7-elf- prefix rather than the current arm-elf.

> Since we are recreating a toolchain, it might be useful to update
> to a newer binutils and esp. gcc, although this might break the
> current build and require a lot of cleanup of TI's old code.

Ahmm, I *really* don't feel like moving to newer gcc or binutils - if
it ain't broke, don't fix it.  I don't like the philosophy of endless
updates and constantly chasing the latest and greatest - instead I
like long-term stable software, sw whose life cycle is comparable to
the average life expectancy of a Homo sapiens, i.e., sw that can last
the lifetime of its users.

> I don't know much about Debian packaging TBH (in the rare cases I
> need to recompile a package, I use the standard dpkg-buildpackage).
> Maybe a simple tgz that uncompresses, say to /usr/local, would
> provide a generic solution suitable for all distros? We'd just
> have to build it with an old enough distro (say Debian 6), to avoid
> the problem of newer glibc that ship with new symbols, making any
> compiled binary incompatible with older versions.

I feel that making debs and rpms would be much more attractive and
better received by the user base, but we don't have to address it
right now - I would like to make the transition to a leaner sans-
newlib arm7-elf toolchain first anyway, and making this GNU ARM7
toolchain more easily accessible to a wider base of users/developers
won't really become a pressing concern until we get back to our
gcc-built gsm-fw: for as long as we are working with TCS211-based
hacks, the main fw is compiled with the Windows env anyway, making the
GNU ARM7 toolchain irrelevant.  And we do have an fc-host-tools
release out with prebuilt loadagent and compalstage - these target
code pieces are very stable and very unlikely to need changes.

Speaking of which, having deb and rpm packages of fc-host-tools sounds
like a good idea as well.

M~