[Glibc-bsd-devel] GNU/kFreeBSD status

[Robert Millan]

Hi!

I've been hacking a bit on GNU/kFreeBSD lately and want to summarise the
recent progress.

  - binutils works again (with ld.so hack, see ldso-hack package)

  - i've re-done the gcc port from scratch by using gnu/linux config files as
    a base instead of *bsd ones. it's much better integrated now (we have
    shared libraries, gnu-like crt*, etc). This applies to gcc-3.2 and gcc-3.3,
    but not to gcc-3.4 yet (I'll merge the patches in 3.4 upstream soon).

  - Glibc builds again!! I disabled linuxthreads, and changed soname to 0.1.
    we're going to use libpth to provide pthreads untill we have a definitive
    solution that can be merged in Glibc. People building stuff for
    gnu/kfreebsd (sanvila!) should install libc0.1-dev package and start
    linking for libc0.1.

    Jeff Bailey is preparing a glibc package that builds on i386-gnu. When
    it's ready, i plan to update the patchset and produce a working glibc
    with recent sources. Then we can start merging the stuff in upstream.

    Known Glibc bugs:
      - sbrk() fails in some/all situations. This breaks bash and possibly
      is the reason for gcc and ld diing when put under heavy load. I'm
      having a go at this currently.
      - the resolver is probably broken. I didn't bother to try it, even.
      i'll have a look when the other stuff with more priority is fixed
      (actualy, perhaps the bug disappears when updating to recent glibc)
      - ld.so is built as an executable (see sysdeps/[...]/kfreebsd/Makefile)
      but this breaks gnu ld. We'll have to discuss the correct solution with
      glibc and binutils maintainers.

-- 
Robert Millan

"[..] but the delight and pride of Aule is in the deed of making, and in the
thing made, and neither in possession nor in his own mastery; wherefore he
gives and hoards not, and is free from care, passing ever on to some new work."

 -- J.R.R.T., Ainulindale (Silmarillion)