[fpc-pascal] SPARC / Linux

[Mark Morgan Lloyd]

ANYBODY: The SPARC mirror pages have a 3.0.2 MIPS binary on them.

On 11/03/17 22:00, Pierre Free Pascal wrote:
> If you are adventurous,you might want to try the experimental files in:ftp://ftp.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/contrib/test-cross-3.0.2/
> it does contain a partial installer for sparc-linux,cross-compiled on a x86_64-linux machine.
> The results using qemu-sparc are not that bad,considering the fact that no one is really actively testing or even maintaining this CPU target.
> It would be glad to get feedback if it works for you,for instance if you are able to generate a full nativeinstallation from the 3.0.2 sourcesusing this cross-tar.gz file.

Most of the issues in SPARC were a result of the architecture's 
insistence on accurate data alignment, which TBH I think is something 
worth testing on occasion. I think there was a residual problem in the 
Lazarus help display, but apart from that it was pretty good when I last 
looked.

Going back to a couple of the OP's questions:

> > I noticed there is no binary FPC 3.0.2 Linux release for SPARC.
 > > Should it be possible to compile it for SPARC, possibly using the
 > > older binary 2.6.2 release?

If 2.6.2 is the last available then you'll first need to build 2.6.4 and 
use that to build 3.0. Or you might need to use a development version as 
an intermediary. If you're up to getting a fairly recent Linux running 
on SPARC then I'd say that a bit of compilation and source tweaking is 
well within your capabilities :-)

I should have at least one system that I can fire up to check what I 
changed, but most of our SPARCs have been pensioned off- certainly the 
ones up to running a fairly big compilation. Even the desktop systems 
were hungry and noisy by today's standards.

> > If it has a> DVD-ROM and a video board, it should be easy to install
 > > Linux on it, is that correct?

Equally easy using a serial terminal, which sidesteps Sun's "Oops, we've 
lost the graphics board documentation" problem.

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

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