Very Computer

Is there a Cross Compiler available for Solaris 10 (v20z platform) on
Solaris 8 (sparc). We have our source code control system on Solaris 8
and every time we have to make a Solaris10 x86 binary we need to
transfer the code to the x86 host and do a native compilation. So is
there a cross compiler running on Sparc Solaris 8 system available that
can produce an x86 binary. I am not sure if this is a very good
question. Please excuse my ignorance.

Thanx
Vijay

One way to do this is to export the source code from the SPARC system
using NFS, and then mount it from the x86 system and do the build
there without an explicit copy.  (The default /net automount point
should be helpful here.)  All you need is a script that does 'ssh' or
'rsh' over to the other system and does the build.

(In order to get cross-compilation to work, you need to have copies of
the native libraries and header files, as well as a complete toolset
for generating and manipulating binaries [linker, archiver, and so
on].  And then you'll need some way to keep that up-to-date.  That's
the hard part.  You can't just patch the copied binaries, so when you
apply patches to that x86 system you'll need to remember to copy the
binaries over, or use NFS to mount them on the SPARC system.)

On top of that, if your x86 system is faster than your older SPARC
system (you didn't say what _kind_ of SPARC that was), the cross-
compilation might actually run a good bit more slowly than a native
compile.

Good build scripts that allow you to manage multiple build machines
and architectures are, I think, an important part of any source code
control system.

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Gregm