[fpc-pascal] why is MIPS not equivalent to MIPSEB

[Mark Morgan Lloyd]

Dennis wrote:
> I was trying to build a cross compiler by following the MIPS_port doc 
> but since I needed MIPS bid endian version instead, I changed their 
> example of MIPSel into MIPS which seems the correct way in dowloading 
> binutils and specifying TARGET CPU.
> 
> However, after many days of struggling, it appears that the correct 
> spelling regarded by the crosscompiler for MIPS big endian is actually 
> MIPSEB instead of MIPS!!!
> And that probably produced a lot of my earlier problems.  I had to 
> rename all the names of ld and as files from mips to mipseb to have the 
> compiler stop complaining.
> 
> Can someone tell me why in some areas of fpc, it is MIPS and else MIPSEB?

The first thing I want to point out is that you have to be very careful 
with the "triplet" that describes the binutils tools. There's a certain 
amount of guesswork involved, but once you've got a candidate there's a 
tool in the binutils sources to make sure that it's viable.

As far as mips vs mipseb in the FPC sources are concerned:

-----8<-----
 >>> One thing that makes me wonder is how mips and mipsel defines are
 >>> related and when to use the 'mips' and when to use 'mipsel'.
 >> mips: mipsel and mipseb
 >
 > Perhaps I was not clear enough, when doing defines for embedded in the
 > code should I use:
 >
 > {$if defined(arm) or defined(avr) or defined(mips)}
 >
 > or
 >
 > {$if defined(arm) or defined(avr) or defined(mipsel)}
It seems that Florian was not clear enough either:
- use mipsel if it applies to MIPS Little Endian only
- use mipseb if it applies to MIPS Big Endian only
- use mips if it applies to both MIPS Little and Big endian
----->8-----

Circa 14th May, see 
http://lists.freepascal.org/lists/fpc-devel/2013-May/thread.html

I'd remind you that the binaries I sent you were built with triplets 
etc. as given on http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Native_MIPS_Systems 
and that they worked here.

-- 
Mark Morgan Lloyd
markMLl .AT. telemetry.co .DOT. uk

[Opinions above are the author's, not those of his employers or colleagues]