April 2021 - Arch-ports - lists.archlinux.org

[arch-ports] Easier to cross-bootstrap or bootstrap with another distro?
by Sijie Bu 29 Apr '21

29 Apr '21

Hello, I do have a quick follow-up question. My friends who works for CIP United told me that they've already got a full Debian port, and it can be run with either qemu-system or qemu-user (unfortunately it seems actual hardware for MIPS64 R6 aren't available yet, probably due to the global silicon shortage). So I'm wondering will it be easier if I first compile pacman against Debian libraries, and use that to natively bootstrap a stage1 image than using cross compiler for bootstrapping? Thank you for your time and have a nice day. Sincerely ________________________________________ From: Andreas Baumann Sent: Monday, April 26, 2021 02:27 To: Discussion regarding the porting of Arch Linux to non-x86_64 architectures Cc: Sijie Bu Subject: Re: [arch-ports] Advice on bootstrapping Arch onto a new architecture? Reply-To: Andreas Baumann <mail(a)andreasbaumann.cc> In-Reply-To: <BY5PR14MB3669ACC64AF81801392F1F64DA429(a)BY5PR14MB3669.namprd14.prod.outlook.com> On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 09:00:04AM +0000, Sijie Bu via arch-ports wrote: > (This message was originally posted on arch-general and I was redirected by a member to this list.) > > Hello, Hi, > I am about to start working as an intern at CIP United, a company focusing on MIPS chips, and I will be bootstrapping Arch Linux onto the MIPS64r6 architecture, in a fashion similar to Arch Linux ARM. > > I have checked the Arch Linux MIPS project, but it seems to be inactive for years now. I have checked ArchWiki's DeveloperWiki section, but it seems to lack guidelines or suggestions on bootstrapping Arch onto a new architecture. Therefore I have a few questions: > - Intuitively, I think I should cross-compile the packages of the "core" section (sans a few x64-specific packages) and build a bootable rootfs, but I was having some trouble finding how should I set makepkg to cross-compile. Do I just set up an Arch developer environment as usual, but substitute the toolchain with the cross ones? I did a "cross-compile" from x86_64 to i486 some time ago, you can maybe find some useful information in https://git.archlinux32.org/bootstrap32/. I can also recommend the oakensource's RISC-V port at https://github.com/oaken-source/parabola-cross-bootstrap Basically yes, you'll need a cross toolchain for MIPS, either from the AUR or use a cross-platorm distro like http://t2sde.org/ to bootstrap directly from MIPS (in qemu or so). > - Does adding a new architecture require modifications to the pacman source code? Or pacman itself should support new architectures? I have also tried looking at pacman source code, and it seems to not have hard-coded list of architectures, but I am not 100% sure about this (if I'll have to modify the source code of pacman, I will be emailing the pacman-dev mailing list regarding their policies on patches etc.). In theory pacman should be quite portable (it runs at least on x86_64, IA32, ARM 32-bit, AARCH64). So the typical 32-/64-bit issues should have been fixed. You will have to make pacman know about your new architecture (and eventually subarchitectures). See our fork of pacman on https://git.archlinux32.org/pacman/ (basically auto-detection for SSE2, support for sub-architectures 'i486', 'i686', 'pentium4'). Most work I expect in breaking cycles and dependencies in PKGBUILDs. > > Thank you for your time and have a nice day. > Sincerely > _______________________________________________ > arch-ports mailing list > arch-ports(a)lists.archlinux.org > https://lists.archlinux.org/listinfo/arch-ports Happy porting, feel free to ask questions on IRC at #archinux-ports or #archlinux32. :-) Cheers Andreas -- Andreas Baumann Trottenstrasse 20 CH-8037 Zuerich Telefon: +41(0)76/373 01 29 E-mail: mail(a)andreasbaumann.cc Homepage: www.andreasbaumann.cc

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Re: [arch-ports] Advice on bootstrapping Arch onto a new
by Sijie Bu 26 Apr '21

26 Apr '21

Thank you! The information are indeed useful! ________________________________ From: Andreas Baumann Sent: Monday, April 26, 2021 02:27 To: Discussion regarding the porting of Arch Linux to non-x86_64 architectures Cc: Sijie Bu Subject: Re: [arch-ports] Advice on bootstrapping Arch onto a new architecture? Reply-To: Andreas Baumann <mail(a)andreasbaumann.cc> In-Reply-To: <BY5PR14MB3669ACC64AF81801392F1F64DA429(a)BY5PR14MB3669.namprd14.prod.outlook.com> On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 09:00:04AM +0000, Sijie Bu via arch-ports wrote: > (This message was originally posted on arch-general and I was redirected by a member to this list.) > > Hello, Hi, > I am about to start working as an intern at CIP United, a company focusing on MIPS chips, and I will be bootstrapping Arch Linux onto the MIPS64r6 architecture, in a fashion similar to Arch Linux ARM. > > I have checked the Arch Linux MIPS project, but it seems to be inactive for years now. I have checked ArchWiki's DeveloperWiki section, but it seems to lack guidelines or suggestions on bootstrapping Arch onto a new architecture. Therefore I have a few questions: > - Intuitively, I think I should cross-compile the packages of the "core" section (sans a few x64-specific packages) and build a bootable rootfs, but I was having some trouble finding how should I set makepkg to cross-compile. Do I just set up an Arch developer environment as usual, but substitute the toolchain with the cross ones? I did a "cross-compile" from x86_64 to i486 some time ago, you can maybe find some useful information in https://git.archlinux32.org/bootstrap32/. I can also recommend the oakensource's RISC-V port at https://github.com/oaken-source/parabola-cross-bootstrap Basically yes, you'll need a cross toolchain for MIPS, either from the AUR or use a cross-platorm distro like http://t2sde.org/ to bootstrap directly from MIPS (in qemu or so). > - Does adding a new architecture require modifications to the pacman source code? Or pacman itself should support new architectures? I have also tried looking at pacman source code, and it seems to not have hard-coded list of architectures, but I am not 100% sure about this (if I'll have to modify the source code of pacman, I will be emailing the pacman-dev mailing list regarding their policies on patches etc.). In theory pacman should be quite portable (it runs at least on x86_64, IA32, ARM 32-bit, AARCH64). So the typical 32-/64-bit issues should have been fixed. You will have to make pacman know about your new architecture (and eventually subarchitectures). See our fork of pacman on https://git.archlinux32.org/pacman/ (basically auto-detection for SSE2, support for sub-architectures 'i486', 'i686', 'pentium4'). Most work I expect in breaking cycles and dependencies in PKGBUILDs. > > Thank you for your time and have a nice day. > Sincerely > _______________________________________________ > arch-ports mailing list > arch-ports(a)lists.archlinux.org > https://lists.archlinux.org/listinfo/arch-ports Happy porting, feel free to ask questions on IRC at #archinux-ports or #archlinux32. :-) Cheers Andreas -- Andreas Baumann Trottenstrasse 20 CH-8037 Zuerich Telefon: +41(0)76/373 01 29 E-mail: mail(a)andreasbaumann.cc Homepage: www.andreasbaumann.cc<http://www.andreasbaumann.cc>

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Re: [arch-ports] Advice on bootstrapping Arch onto a new
by Sijie Bu 26 Apr '21

26 Apr '21

It's MIPS64 Rev6. Currently it seems that there are no available processors, but QEMU is available. ________________________________________ From: Andreas Baumann Sent: Monday, April 26, 2021 02:27 To: Discussion regarding the porting of Arch Linux to non-x86_64 architectures Cc: Sijie Bu Subject: Re: [arch-ports] Advice on bootstrapping Arch onto a new architecture? Reply-To: Andreas Baumann <mail(a)andreasbaumann.cc> In-Reply-To: <BY5PR14MB3669ACC64AF81801392F1F64DA429(a)BY5PR14MB3669.namprd14.prod.outlook.com> On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 09:00:04AM +0000, Sijie Bu via arch-ports wrote: > (This message was originally posted on arch-general and I was redirected by a member to this list.) > > Hello, Hi, > I am about to start working as an intern at CIP United, a company focusing on MIPS chips, and I will be bootstrapping Arch Linux onto the MIPS64r6 architecture, in a fashion similar to Arch Linux ARM. > > I have checked the Arch Linux MIPS project, but it seems to be inactive for years now. I have checked ArchWiki's DeveloperWiki section, but it seems to lack guidelines or suggestions on bootstrapping Arch onto a new architecture. Therefore I have a few questions: > - Intuitively, I think I should cross-compile the packages of the "core" section (sans a few x64-specific packages) and build a bootable rootfs, but I was having some trouble finding how should I set makepkg to cross-compile. Do I just set up an Arch developer environment as usual, but substitute the toolchain with the cross ones? I did a "cross-compile" from x86_64 to i486 some time ago, you can maybe find some useful information in https://git.archlinux32.org/bootstrap32/. I can also recommend the oakensource's RISC-V port at https://github.com/oaken-source/parabola-cross-bootstrap Basically yes, you'll need a cross toolchain for MIPS, either from the AUR or use a cross-platorm distro like http://t2sde.org/ to bootstrap directly from MIPS (in qemu or so). > - Does adding a new architecture require modifications to the pacman source code? Or pacman itself should support new architectures? I have also tried looking at pacman source code, and it seems to not have hard-coded list of architectures, but I am not 100% sure about this (if I'll have to modify the source code of pacman, I will be emailing the pacman-dev mailing list regarding their policies on patches etc.). In theory pacman should be quite portable (it runs at least on x86_64, IA32, ARM 32-bit, AARCH64). So the typical 32-/64-bit issues should have been fixed. You will have to make pacman know about your new architecture (and eventually subarchitectures). See our fork of pacman on https://git.archlinux32.org/pacman/ (basically auto-detection for SSE2, support for sub-architectures 'i486', 'i686', 'pentium4'). Most work I expect in breaking cycles and dependencies in PKGBUILDs. > > Thank you for your time and have a nice day. > Sincerely > _______________________________________________ > arch-ports mailing list > arch-ports(a)lists.archlinux.org > https://lists.archlinux.org/listinfo/arch-ports Happy porting, feel free to ask questions on IRC at #archinux-ports or #archlinux32. :-) Cheers Andreas -- Andreas Baumann Trottenstrasse 20 CH-8037 Zuerich Telefon: +41(0)76/373 01 29 E-mail: mail(a)andreasbaumann.cc Homepage: www.andreasbaumann.cc

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Re: [arch-ports] Advice on bootstrapping Arch onto a new
by Andreas Baumann 26 Apr '21

26 Apr '21

architecture? Reply-To: Andreas Baumann <mail(a)andreasbaumann.cc> In-Reply-To: <BY5PR14MB3669ACC64AF81801392F1F64DA429(a)BY5PR14MB3669.namprd14.prod.outlook.com> On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 09:00:04AM +0000, Sijie Bu via arch-ports wrote: > (This message was originally posted on arch-general and I was redirected by a member to this list.) > > Hello, Hi, > I am about to start working as an intern at CIP United, a company focusing on MIPS chips, and I will be bootstrapping Arch Linux onto the MIPS64r6 architecture, in a fashion similar to Arch Linux ARM. > > I have checked the Arch Linux MIPS project, but it seems to be inactive for years now. I have checked ArchWiki's DeveloperWiki section, but it seems to lack guidelines or suggestions on bootstrapping Arch onto a new architecture. Therefore I have a few questions: > - Intuitively, I think I should cross-compile the packages of the "core" section (sans a few x64-specific packages) and build a bootable rootfs, but I was having some trouble finding how should I set makepkg to cross-compile. Do I just set up an Arch developer environment as usual, but substitute the toolchain with the cross ones? I did a "cross-compile" from x86_64 to i486 some time ago, you can maybe find some useful information in https://git.archlinux32.org/bootstrap32/. I can also recommend the oakensource's RISC-V port at https://github.com/oaken-source/parabola-cross-bootstrap Basically yes, you'll need a cross toolchain for MIPS, either from the AUR or use a cross-platorm distro like http://t2sde.org/ to bootstrap directly from MIPS (in qemu or so). > - Does adding a new architecture require modifications to the pacman source code? Or pacman itself should support new architectures? I have also tried looking at pacman source code, and it seems to not have hard-coded list of architectures, but I am not 100% sure about this (if I'll have to modify the source code of pacman, I will be emailing the pacman-dev mailing list regarding their policies on patches etc.). In theory pacman should be quite portable (it runs at least on x86_64, IA32, ARM 32-bit, AARCH64). So the typical 32-/64-bit issues should have been fixed. You will have to make pacman know about your new architecture (and eventually subarchitectures). See our fork of pacman on https://git.archlinux32.org/pacman/ (basically auto-detection for SSE2, support for sub-architectures 'i486', 'i686', 'pentium4'). Most work I expect in breaking cycles and dependencies in PKGBUILDs. > > Thank you for your time and have a nice day. > Sincerely > _______________________________________________ > arch-ports mailing list > arch-ports(a)lists.archlinux.org > https://lists.archlinux.org/listinfo/arch-ports Happy porting, feel free to ask questions on IRC at #archinux-ports or #archlinux32. :-) Cheers Andreas -- Andreas Baumann Trottenstrasse 20 CH-8037 Zuerich Telefon: +41(0)76/373 01 29 E-mail: mail(a)andreasbaumann.cc Homepage: www.andreasbaumann.cc

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[arch-ports] Advice on bootstrapping Arch onto a new architecture?
by Sijie Bu 26 Apr '21

26 Apr '21

(This message was originally posted on arch-general and I was redirected by a member to this list.) Hello, I am about to start working as an intern at CIP United, a company focusing on MIPS chips, and I will be bootstrapping Arch Linux onto the MIPS64r6 architecture, in a fashion similar to Arch Linux ARM. I have checked the Arch Linux MIPS project, but it seems to be inactive for years now. I have checked ArchWiki's DeveloperWiki section, but it seems to lack guidelines or suggestions on bootstrapping Arch onto a new architecture. Therefore I have a few questions: - Intuitively, I think I should cross-compile the packages of the "core" section (sans a few x64-specific packages) and build a bootable rootfs, but I was having some trouble finding how should I set makepkg to cross-compile. Do I just set up an Arch developer environment as usual, but substitute the toolchain with the cross ones? - Does adding a new architecture require modifications to the pacman source code? Or pacman itself should support new architectures? I have also tried looking at pacman source code, and it seems to not have hard-coded list of architectures, but I am not 100% sure about this (if I'll have to modify the source code of pacman, I will be emailing the pacman-dev mailing list regarding their policies on patches etc.). Thank you for your time and have a nice day. Sincerely

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