GNU bug report logs - #54407
Issues building grub for powerpc64le, could not force big-endian

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Christopher Baines <mail <at> cbaines.net>
To: bug-guix <at> gnu.org
Subject: Issues building grub for powerpc64le, could not force big-endian
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2022 21:11:37 +0000

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grub can't be built for powerpc64le, I believe the same failure occurs
with native builds or cross compilation from x86_64. I think this might
have always been the case.

This is the error from the build log:

  checking for options to get big-endian compilation... no
  configure: error: could not force big-endian

Looking in the config.log file, it tries a bunch of options with
different errors, but this one stands out:

  cc1: error: '-m32' not supported in this configuration

I know very little about gcc, but I think this might relate to the
multilib thing, which I'm guessing is disabled for the gcc in use here.

Any ideas about this issue?

Thanks,

Chris

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Message #8 received at 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Danny Milosavljevic <dannym <at> scratchpost.org>
To: Christopher Baines <mail <at> cbaines.net>
Cc: 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54407: Issues building grub for powerpc64le, could not
 force big-endian
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2022 19:41:13 +0200

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Hi,

On Tue, 15 Mar 2022 21:11:37 +0000
Christopher Baines <mail <at> cbaines.net> wrote:

> grub can't be built for powerpc64le, I believe the same failure occurs
> with native builds or cross compilation from x86_64. I think this might
> have always been the case.
> 
> This is the error from the build log:
> 
>   checking for options to get big-endian compilation... no
>   configure: error: could not force big-endian
> 
> Looking in the config.log file, it tries a bunch of options with
> different errors, but this one stands out:
> 
>   cc1: error: '-m32' not supported in this configuration
> 
> I know very little about gcc, but I think this might relate to the
> multilib thing, which I'm guessing is disabled for the gcc in use here.

-m32 is to compile 32 bit object files with a compiler that usually compiles 64 bit objects.
If you want to use any libraries, then those have to be available as a 32 bit version somewhere.

The Guix gcc package recipe disables this (and I think that was the right call to make).

There are not a lot of use cases for using "-m32" anyway since on x86_64 the generated instructions are already just as compact as the x86 (32 bit) ones if the immediate operand is not too big.

Not sure what the configure script is doing there.

But there are a few programs that need 32 bit compilers--BIOS-based bootloaders are one of them (since they start up in ancient 8088 real mode).

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Message #11 received at 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be>
To: Christopher Baines <mail <at> cbaines.net>, 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54407: Issues building grub for powerpc64le, could not
 force big-endian
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2022 19:46:55 +0200

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Christopher Baines schreef op di 15-03-2022 om 21:11 [+0000]:
> grub can't be built for powerpc64le, I believe the same failure
> occurs
> with native builds or cross compilation from x86_64. I think this
> might
> have always been the case.
> 
> This is the error from the build log:
> 
>   checking for options to get big-endian compilation... no
>   configure: error: could not force big-endian
> 
> Looking in the config.log file, it tries a bunch of options with
> different errors, but this one stands out:
> 
>   cc1: error: '-m32' not supported in this configuration
> 
> I know very little about gcc, but I think this might relate to the
> multilib thing, which I'm guessing is disabled for the gcc in use
> here.
> 
> Any ideas about this issue?

Maybe you could add a gcc compiling for 32-bit ppc (maybe without a
glibc since this is grub) and patch the configuration script to use the
32-bit ppc gcc instead of using the 64-bit ppc+-m32?

Greetings,
Maxime.

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Message #14 received at 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Christopher Baines <mail <at> cbaines.net>
To: Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be>
Cc: 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54407: Issues building grub for powerpc64le, could not
 force big-endian
Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2022 20:37:23 +0100

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Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be> writes:

> Christopher Baines schreef op di 15-03-2022 om 21:11 [+0000]:
>> grub can't be built for powerpc64le, I believe the same failure
>> occurs
>> with native builds or cross compilation from x86_64. I think this
>> might
>> have always been the case.
>>
>> This is the error from the build log:
>>
>>   checking for options to get big-endian compilation... no
>>   configure: error: could not force big-endian
>>
>> Looking in the config.log file, it tries a bunch of options with
>> different errors, but this one stands out:
>>
>>   cc1: error: '-m32' not supported in this configuration
>>
>> I know very little about gcc, but I think this might relate to the
>> multilib thing, which I'm guessing is disabled for the gcc in use
>> here.
>>
>> Any ideas about this issue?
>
> Maybe you could add a gcc compiling for 32-bit ppc (maybe without a
> glibc since this is grub) and patch the configuration script to use the
> 32-bit ppc gcc instead of using the 64-bit ppc+-m32?

I've had a go at this, using something like what I've included below,
but I haven't stumbled upon the right options yet, or a way to work out
why gcc still thinks "-m32 not supported".

(define multilib-gcc
  (package
   (inherit gcc)
   (name "foo-gcc")
   (arguments
    (substitute-keyword-arguments (package-arguments gcc)
         ((#:phases phases)
          `(modify-phases ,phases
             (add-after 'unpack 'fix-genmultilib
               (lambda _
                 ;; patch-shebang doesn't work here because there are actually
                 ;; several scripts inside this script, each with a #!/bin/sh
                 ;; that needs patching.
                 (substitute* "gcc/genmultilib"
                   (("#!/bin/sh") (string-append "#!" (which "sh"))))))))
         ((#:configure-flags flags)
          `(append (list
                    "--with-endian=little,big"
                    "--enable-multilib"
                    "--with-multilib-list=mx32,m64,m32"
                    )
                   (delete "--disable-multilib" ,flags)))))))

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Message #17 received at 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be>
To: Christopher Baines <mail <at> cbaines.net>
Cc: 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54407: Issues building grub for powerpc64le, could not force
 big-endian
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2022 10:11:46 +0200

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On 04-04-2022 21:37, Christopher Baines wrote:
>> Maybe you could add a gcc compiling for 32-bit ppc (maybe without a
>> glibc since this is grub) and patch the configuration script to use the
>> 32-bit ppc gcc instead of using the 64-bit ppc+-m32?
> I've had a go at this, using something like what I've included below,
> but I haven't stumbled upon the right options yet, or a way to work out
> why gcc still thinks "-m32 not supported". [...]

I was thinking of skipping the multilib and maybe skipping support for 
multiple endians, something like:

> (use-modules (guix utils) (guix packages) (guix gexp))
> (define (ppc-32bit-gcc)
>   (if (%current-target-system)
>       (error "not supported -- TODO make a cross-compiler to 32-bit 
> ppc here with cross-gcc")
>       (package
>         (inherit (@ (gnu packages gcc) gcc))
>         (arguments
>           (substitute-keyword-arguments
>             (package-arguments (@ (gnu packages gcc) gcc))
>             ((#:system _) "ppc-linux")
>             ((#:configure-flags flags)
>              (pk 'f #~(append (list "--with-endian=big") #$flags))))))))
> (ppc-32bit-gcc)
(currently compiling, let's see if if it works ...)

Greetings,
Maxime.

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Message #20 received at 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be>
To: Christopher Baines <mail <at> cbaines.net>
Cc: 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54407: Issues building grub for powerpc64le, could not force
 big-endian
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2022 10:14:27 +0200

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On 18-08-2022 10:11, Maxime Devos wrote:
>
>
> On 04-04-2022 21:37, Christopher Baines wrote:
>>> Maybe you could add a gcc compiling for 32-bit ppc (maybe without a
>>> glibc since this is grub) and patch the configuration script to use the
>>> 32-bit ppc gcc instead of using the 64-bit ppc+-m32?
>> I've had a go at this, using something like what I've included below,
>> but I haven't stumbled upon the right options yet, or a way to work out
>> why gcc still thinks "-m32 not supported". [...]
>
> I was thinking of skipping the multilib and maybe skipping support for 
> multiple endians, something like:
>
>> (use-modules (guix utils) (guix packages) (guix gexp))
>> (define (ppc-32bit-gcc)
>>   (if (%current-target-system)
>>       (error "not supported -- TODO make a cross-compiler to 32-bit 
>> ppc here with cross-gcc")
>>       (package
>>         (inherit (@ (gnu packages gcc) gcc))
>>         (arguments
>>           (substitute-keyword-arguments
>>             (package-arguments (@ (gnu packages gcc) gcc))
>>             ((#:system _) "ppc-linux")
>>             ((#:configure-flags flags)
>>              (pk 'f #~(append (list "--with-endian=big") #$flags))))))))
>> (ppc-32bit-gcc)
> (currently compiling, let's see if if it works ...)

The #:system doesn't work, trying

> (use-modules (guix utils) (guix packages) (guix gexp))
> (define (ppc-32bit-gcc)
>   (if (%current-target-system)
>       (error "not supported -- TODO make a cross-compiler to 32-bit 
> ppc here with cross-gcc")
>       (package
>         (inherit (@ (gnu packages gcc) gcc))
>         (arguments
>           (substitute-keyword-arguments
>             (cons* #:system "powerpc-linux" (package-arguments (@ (gnu 
> packages gcc) gcc)))
>             ((#:configure-flags flags)
>              (pk 'f #~(append (list "--with-endian=big") #$flags))))))))
> (ppc-32bit-gcc)
instead.

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Message #23 received at 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be>
To: Christopher Baines <mail <at> cbaines.net>
Cc: 54407 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54407: Issues building grub for powerpc64le, could not force
 big-endian
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2022 10:33:33 +0200

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Doesn't work for me:

> while setting up the build environment: a `powerpc-linux' is required 
> to build 
> `/gnu/store/gmq50nq4xf4wa0msqms140s3jkk5v47q-guile-bootstrap-2.0.drv', 
> but I am a `x86_64-linux'

even though QEMU has been set up, though that's more a local 
configuration problem than a problem in gcc package.

Greetings,
Maxime.

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