stupid question: building packages for different archs

[Fernan Aguero]

+----[ Joe Marcus Clarke <marcus at marcuscom.com> (10.Nov.2006 18:19):
|
| Fernan Aguero wrote:
| > Hi!
| > 
| > maybe this is obvious or too stupid.
| > 
| > Is it possible to build packages for different architectures
| > (i386, amd64) from a single tinderbox installation?
| 
| Only if you have the physical build hardware to do it.

that's what I thought but I remember reading about setting CPUTYPE
in make.conf somewhere and in my head this made the
impression that it could be possible ... wrong.

| > I have some new hardware that I'm setting up, and I'm
| > planning to keep a local copy of the FreeBSD CVS tree, and
| > share via NFS the src, doc, ports collections from a central
| > server, essentially as described here
| > http://segment7.net/projects/FreeBSD/dev_setup.txt
| > 
| > Now, I'd also like to build packages for all my workstations
| > and servers using a tinderbox on this main server. Right now
| > this would mean building packages for i386 and amd64.
| > 
| > Is this possible? When the README mentions creating 'jails' and
| > build environments, it only talks about different _branches_
| > of the src collection paired with a checkout of the ports
| > tree ... but there is no mention of archs.
| 
| As long as you will be building amd64 packages on an amd64 machine, and
| i386 packages on an i386 machine, this will work.  Many users of
| Tinderbox are doing similar things.

OK, so it's not doable right now. 

But, I searched a while, and found this:
http://kegel.com/crosstool/
http://kegel.com/crosstool/crosstool-0.42/doc/crosstool-howto.html

it doesn't mention FreeBSD and seems to be somewhat linux specific, but 
my naive brain sees it's building arch-specific toolchains
(gcc/glibc/binutils) for each arch ... and then using these
to build apps in one arch that are meant to be run in their
target architecture ...

| > 
| > pointyhat is building packages for different arches ... is
| > the build farm a single-arch farm? Or is it a multiple arch
| > farm running several independent build environments?
| 
| There are actually multiple "farms" with multiple servers of each
| architecture.  Cross-building ports is NOT supported.

OK. Thanks for the explanation.

| > Thanks, and sorry if my questions are too dumb ... I'm sure
| > they're perfect for a tinderbox FAQ :)
| 
| Patches are always welcome.
|
+----]

I've started a FAQ.html for tinderweb, I'll send my draft
over once it takes some form :)

Fernan