The subject pretty much says it all. I have an i386 laptop running a 3.8.3 kernel that I compiled on my amd64 system which is running a different kernel version (3.6.32.9 if that makes any difference). Now I need to compile lirc on the laptop and I don't even know how to begin to address the compile errors. I must admit that lirc has always been a mysterious black box that I have had to pound on repeatedly muttering random incantations until it works, but I've never had problems compiling it. If you've traveled these roads, a hint would be helpful. I can post the compile errors from the laptop tomorrow.

Perhaps the best thing to do with this is to create a virtual machine on my 4-core system and figure out the problem without the complexity of cross-compile in the mix.

(Closure)
OK. Kernel 3.8.3 is simply not compatible with any lirc that I can find. So I'm marking this solved and moving the laptop back to the kernel I'm running on my desktop. I'm sure there's something I'm missing, but there you go.