Compiling Linux on Solaris
 

Hey,

I'll try to explain my problem in short:

I need to compile a Linux (exact version not too important, using the latest stable branch) binary for the sparc (OpenSparc) architecture. The thing is:

1. I don't have a decent cross compilier from AMD64 -> Sparc that can create the image on a given AMD64 computer (I've tried, the toolchain created an erroneous binary file).

2. The only Sparc-Machine in my disposal has Solaris installed on it.

So, when I try to compile linux on the Solaris machine I get several errors, all regarding either defines that don't exist (relocation defines for ARM and MIPS in elf.h header), or are linux specific (for example strsep/asprintf).
Although all the errors I've encountered so far are superficial problems that I can correct, I fear I'll encounter many more errors along the way, some of them harder-to-fix than those.

Did anyone already managed such a feat (compiling linux on a solaris machine)? if so, could he give me some tips on how he managed it?

Thanks,
Mintz Yuval

Have you tried compiling in a VM for the target architecture?

Maybe use a FreeBSD tool? I know it sounds silly buty I am assuming that the compatibility works both ways.

Some suggestions :
EDIT-EDIT : Set up a VM like Mr-Bisquit said.
Install "Debian for Sparc" in the VM.

Or install "Debian for Sparc" on a spare harddisk on
the Sparc computer.

Both options will make it easy to compile your application.

Debian for Sparc
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.1/sparc/iso-cd/
.....

These are good guesses, unfortunately as far as I know, unless you have an UltraSPARC T CPU and then could experiment with Linux LDOMs ( http://www.sun.com/servers/coolthreads/ldoms/index.jsp ), there are no virtual machines on top of the SPARC CPU that would support a Linux installation. Virtual-Box is x86/x64 only.

Sorry, my mistake.

Qemu + Sun xVM Server are mentioned here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...rtual_machines

.....

Sun xVM server uses Xen which is x86 only too.

Qemu might work as it is reported to support SPARC in 32 bit mode. http://www.nongnu.org/qemu/status.html

Well, I need this linux in order to use it with Sun's SAM simulation for the OpenSparc T2 machine - and correct me if I'm wrong here, but that's a 64-bit machine, so 32-bit architecture isn't good enough for me.

Thanks,
Mintz Yuval

Userland 32 bit binaries run on 64 bit but I'm confused by your reply.

If you want to build a Linux binary in order to run it on a SPARC simulator, that means you already have a Linux OS running on it, do you ?

Then why won't you compile that binary on that environment ?

Or are you trying to port the lx brand on Sparc ?

I'll try to make things clearer - SAM runs on an AMD64 with solaris installed on it (SAM wouldn't normally compile and run on a system running Linux OS).
The linux I want to compile is for usage as a guest OS in the simulation - but I don't have a running Linux OS at this point.

Thanks,
Mintz Yuval

So you want to compile the whole linux kernel and Gnu userland, not a single linux binary and boot that kernel on SAM ?

That's quite ambitious. I would suggest to use a real SPARC machine for the builds. You'll probably find some cheap ones on ebay or similar.

Thanks everybody - I managed to finish the changes in the linux code in order to allow it to compile without its gnu-specific functionality and linux-specific definition on a Sparc Architecture (regarding last reply, I stated I already have a Sparc machine in my disposal, only with solaris on it).
Hope it will go well...
If not, I'll install a distribution of linux on a different partition, and compile the code there.

Thanks,
Mintz Yuval