After reading some of the 32bit vs 64bit thread(s), I thought I'd build a 64bit kernel on my 32bit F8 box. Got the latest kernel source and stable patch from kernel.org and tried running make menuconfig. Much to my surprise, there isn't a 32 vs 64 bit toggle in the kernel config. Google confused me, but did tell me I require a 64bit toolchain. This seems bogus, since the kernel is self contained. I think it should be enough just to set the proper gcc options.
Could someone who has done this before provide some help please?
Thanks,
John
john wendel wrote:
After reading some of the 32bit vs 64bit thread(s), I thought I'd build a 64bit kernel on my 32bit F8 box. Got the latest kernel source and stable patch from kernel.org and tried running make menuconfig. Much to my surprise, there isn't a 32 vs 64 bit toggle in the kernel config. Google confused me, but did tell me I require a 64bit toolchain. This seems bogus, since the kernel is self contained. I think it should be enough just to set the proper gcc options.
Even if you built a 64 bit kernel, the benefits of require 64 bit applications as well. Just install the 64 bit distribution.
Gordon Messmer wrote:
john wendel wrote:
After reading some of the 32bit vs 64bit thread(s), I thought I'd build a 64bit kernel on my 32bit F8 box. Got the latest kernel source and stable patch from kernel.org and tried running make menuconfig. Much to my surprise, there isn't a 32 vs 64 bit toggle in the kernel config. Google confused me, but did tell me I require a 64bit toolchain. This seems bogus, since the kernel is self contained. I think it should be enough just to set the proper gcc options.
Even if you built a 64 bit kernel, the benefits of require 64 bit applications as well. Just install the 64 bit distribution.
Yes, I'll do a 64bit F10. Just wanted to experiment, and maybe learn a little something while I'm waiting for F10.
Regards,
John
john wendel wrote:
john wendel wrote:
Much to my surprise, there isn't a 32 vs 64 bit toggle in the kernel config. Google confused me, but did tell me I require a 64bit toolchain. This seems bogus, since the kernel is self contained. I think it should be enough just to set the proper gcc options.
...
Yes, I'll do a 64bit F10. Just wanted to experiment, and maybe learn a little something while I'm waiting for F10.
If that's your goal, you can do that. You do need a 64 bit toolchain. If you run "gcc --help -v" you'll notice that ld doesn't support 64 bit targets.
The first thing you'll need to do is build the toolchain for 64 bit cross-compiling. Once that's available, you should be able to use it to create a 64 bit kernel. That's pretty much the way that you'd always build an OS for a foreign CPU. Build the toolchain first, then compile the OS using that toolchain, then create a boot disk using the cross-compiled binaries. Don't get confused by the fact that 64 bit CPUs are backward compatible. You need to treat them like a completely foreign CPU.