Progress again. 

GCC builds fine when I previously install binutils in the exactly *same* prefix!

Ok, this means I'll need an extra "bootstrapping" port for binutils as well...

Time for bed!

Been a week now I'm working on this idea ...

So far, whenever something looked like good progress, I ran into some dead end one or two ports later.

Should probably decide for some #timebox I will set myself for this. If I can't at least come up with a *working* cross (#FreeBSD -> #Linux) #GNU toolchain within that timebox, the idea should be abandoned as unfeasible 😞

@zirias Just a stupid question here. 😉 What exactly is the purpose of the project? Because if it is just cross-compiler from #FreeBSD to #Linux, you can use:

1. Linuxator and GCC there. That could be literally native compilation.

2. Get the proper libraries and use clang cross-compilation abilities. That solution is more native for FreeBSD and require less disk space.

@thindil Background is that #FreeBSD's #Linuxulator userland is in desperate need of an upgrade. The "linux-c7" userland is both too antiquated and incomplete for a lot of #Linux software you might want to run on FreeBSD.

Purpose of my project is to evaluate an approach of building a new userland from source instead of repackaging another Linux #distribution. The rough plan is to create a feature-complete native #GNU toolchain for Linux and then use that to build the Linuxulator userland packages.

The benefit I would *hope* for is that this could allow to relatively quickly create new packages for the Linux userland from existing FreeBSD ports (maybe using "slave ports"), but this has to be proven in practice.

@thindil I'm actually using #LFS as a reference to get around the weirdest issues "bootstrapping" some #GNU toolchain at all. But of course it can't be used as is, LFS expects to be built on some Linux system and even uses #chroot to build some packages, definitely impossible using #FreeBSD #ports.

I certainly don't want two package managers on my system. Plus, a #Linuxulator userland should only install what's *different* from the normal FreeBSD userland, because /compat/linux works as an "overlay".

Trying to create new ports/packages for the Linuxulator userland is cumbersome, first you have to rely on what the repackaged distro offers, second you have to understand the special repackaging magic used.... that's exactly what I *hope* to improve by just building from source. No, I'm not convinced myself yet this is a good idea, I have to try!

@zirias True, the only way to know do it's a good idea is to test it. 😉 And before I forgot again, there is also Chimera Linux: https://chimera-linux.org/ Maybe it will be helpful.

Linuxator isn't exactly an "overlay". #FreeBSD has implemented two APIs in the kernel and can detect, on a binary execution, via magic bits, which API to use. Thus you can't mix, for example FreeBSD library and Linux binary. We need to deliver the whole dependencies chain for that binary.

@thindil I can certainly use #FreeBSD "tools" (gmake, bison, gettext, whatever) for building this cross-toolchain. But indeed, for libraries, they need to be built targeting #Linux. And because #GCC with the full feature set needs e.g.#glibc when targeting Linux, but then you need GCC to *build* glibc, I need at least some "bootstrapping" ports. It's really a mess.

Once I have a full-featured cross GCC targeting Linux ready, I'll stop for a while to party 😂

@thindil Oh there *is* binary compatibility for sure. The #Linux kernel typically doesn't break its userspace-facing #ABI. #Glibc and #GCC's libstdc++ use symbol versioning to provide backwards compatibility.

The issue starts with all the other libs, there's no standard for some "base" GNU/Linux system. That's where all these (IMHO damn broken) ideas like #AppImage, #Flatpak etc come from. Of course, you could just link statically instead, seems people don't get that any more 🙈

Anyways, quite some binary #Linux software will work "anywhere" as long as the required libs are not too old (looking e.g. at browsers...). And having a #Linuxulator userland built from source *should* enable you to just add ports for missing libraries. Well, in theory 🙈