[fpc-devel] Small virtual machine to cross compile FPC

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

Paul Breneman schrieb:
> I've spent a bit of time during the past 7 years trying to figure out 
> how to simplify things by avoiding cross-compiling.  This page has many 
> of the details:
>   http://turbocontrol.com/monitor.htm
> 
> I think there is a way to simplify cross-compiling.  Levinux is a small 
> (~20 MB) QEMU download for x86 PCs (Windows, OS X, Linux) that provides 
> a small Tiny Core Linux VM.  I'd like to see something similar but with 
> all the files and tools needed to pull the latest source code and 
> cross-compile FPC (also with Debian instead of Tiny Core?).
>   http://mikelev.in/ux/
> 
> It seems to me that such a small VM should allow a nice standard method 
> that will make it easy to test and see things work.
> 
> I look forward to your thoughts and comments!

I wonder why you need or use cross-compilation at all?

The biggest part of an cross compiler are the target specific libraries 
and tools, which allow to create executables for use on a specific 
target. IMO it will be easier to create a dedicated VM for every target, 
and install FPC there, instead of adding cross-compilation features for 
many targets to whatever machine. Mobile devices often require their own 
emulator, or a physical device, for program development, a single VM is 
of little use herefore. IMO.

DoDi