Ok ... I have not wrtitten a diary entry for a long time ... now I think I should continue with that.
dietlibc target
For the beginning PERL SUX terribly!!! At least build time ;)
After some intensive work I got the dietlibc target to compile through. It was a lot of work ... but it was very productive. Now most packets do compile and I already made the first test installation of the target.
What is missing (build time)
here is the output of ./scripts/Create-ErrList :
Error logs from default-2.0.0-rc2-x86-dietlibc-expert: [1] base/linux24 [3] base/autoconf [5] base/linux24 [5] base/linux26 [5] base/autoconf [5] base/dump [9] base/linux26-src [9] base/linux24 [9] base/linux26 [9] base/autoconf [9] base/dump 151 builds total, 140 completed fine, 11 with errors.
As you can see linux2[46] are not compiling. That is due to some little problems in the drivers but not only that. The biggest problem is the missing perl in the build. That also prevents autoconf to compile.
I have already tryed to compile perl. Some people reported that it is possible and that it works pretty well. Aarad from dietlinux said that I need an other math library. But an other person reported that I only need to set the configuration options in config.sh correctly. I have tryed it and it compiled through up to the tiny perl binary that coredumped while executing Makefile.pl ... very strange. I will have to invest bit more time in that ... perhups today night. But I have to say Perl has a really nasty and ugly build/configuration system I have seen ever. Autoconf is really nice against it. (autoconf sux too but that is an other story (I will never understand why it has been rewritten in perl >_< ))
dump is also missing. The guys from the dump project use all possible gnu extinations. I have already fixed most problems that occure during the build and will report about that when I am finished. I will also send the diff upstream. Because most things are real bugs in my eyes. This program is not portable the way it is made currently. I was really running up the walls while fixing it.
What is missing (runtime)
ip was missing in my build. It is fixed now because iproute2 was disabled for the target. I also fixed it so that it builds hopefully correctly under dietlibc.
agetty is giving a login prompt and accepts a user name but when you type enter after the username nothing happens besides that agetty get's restarted. Looks like a coredump. It also needs further investigation.
Of course linux kernel is missing in the build so I took the kernel out of the install disk. It will be gone as soon as I get linux kernel working what most likely also means running perl >_< (I really go mad seeing that kernel build needs perl I know that there was a long discussion on the LKML about it but I still am a big enemy of such dependancies perl is not a trivial tool to compile like bash for god sake *headshake* I really do not want to scream more here)
Lot of work
Ok that is all for now... The target still needs a lot of work. But it seems that it will be usable soon.
If you want to help me get the rocklinux dietlibc related patches from the Rock Linux mailinglist apply it to the current SVN:HEAD and test it. They are not yet applyed because Rene is still working on his rc1+fixes tag for his PPC build. But they should come in soon. My dietlibc patches count over 30 parts. and I have another 5 lying on my harddisk. The count will grow. I hope that my work will not create any regressions. The dietlibc target is is also used in the bootdisc target. That means that if I make a mistake there it will break one of the most importaint parts of ROCK. That really scares me. I hope that I will see the bugs as soon as possible and will be able to fix them in time. I really do not want that because of me the release of the final 2.0 ROCK release will have to be postponed. That also means that I need testers!!!
The last word. If you have questions or problems please contact me.
And one more thing. Fefe dietlibc really get's better and better. Congrats! ;)