[distcc] Cross-Compiling

[Daniel Kegel]

vpuzzella at gmmsolutions.com wrote:
> I just "inherited" the duty of overseeing the build system for a fairly large
> project.  The project's native C components target the following architechtures-OSs:
> 
> IA32-linux
> S390-Linux
> IA32-windows
> SPARC-Solaris
> RISC-HPUX
> PPC-AIX
> S390-ZOS
> ISeries-OS400 (yes, I know)
> 
> Our compile farm consists of one machine for each target.
> 
> Currently, the build system is, IMHO, pretty old-school and inefficient. 
> Basically, all the source code is pushed from the master build machine (SCP or
> FTP) to the targets where it is natively compiled, linked, packaged and returned
> to the master build machine.  My ultimate goal is to set up gcc cross-compilers
> on all the machines in the farm and use distcc to distribute the compilation.
> 
> I was just wondering if anyone out there can shed a little light on any
> problems, pit-falls and "gotchas" I will encounter if and when I decide to go
> through with this.  Alternatively, I can take the "If it ain't broke, don't fix
> it" approach.

Run away screaming.  Really.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Building linux->{windows,solaris,hpux,zos,os400} cross-compilers
is a Big Hairy Deal, and you don't want to do it.
Unless, that is, you like doing things the hard way.

I'm one of the guys who likes doing things the hard way,
and even I'm scared at tackling that.
- Dan