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| Building X Client Programs for the iPAQ Three possibilities We suggest native development as the easiest path to gratification. Cross compilation, while nominally faster, usually involves much more hassle than it is worth. And since you can develop on your usual desktop (using a small window and a single button, or for the determined to be very accurate, via Xnest configured to a small root window), you will find it most convienient to first debug your programs on your normal environment before recompiling for StrongARM. For completeness, here are your options laid out below. 1. cross compilation 2. native compilation on one of the Skiff machines 3. native compilation on an iPAQ Cross Compilation First, ask yourself if you really want to do this. Native development is generally a better way to go: first on your normal desktop using your normal tools in the usual fashion, and only when debugged, again, native on the iPAQ in the usual fashion. So have you stopped beating your head against this wall yet? It feels so good when you stop, you know.... For those determined to continue, here's some hints. 1. Determine if the software you are building uses imake or the GNU configuration tools. If it uses the GNU configuration tools, you probably really want to native compile, rather than cross compile, as hacking Makefiles until the cows come home gets very boring. The GNU build tools generally are not very happy about cross compilation. See either native compilation on a Skiff or on an iPAQ. 2. Get and install a cross compilation tool chain. We recommend using ours: it has all compilers, and has been pretty well shaken down. The version we use has few known problems. The following lines will give you some hints as to where to find tools and libraries. CC = /skiff/local/bin/arm-linux-gcc PREPROCESSCMD = /skiff/local/bin/arm-linux-gcc -E $(STD_CPP_DEFINES) RANLIB = /skiff/local/bin/arm-linux-ranlib MODCC = /skiff/local/bin/arm-linux-gcc LDPOSTLIB = -L/skiff/local/arm-linux/lib LDPOSTLIBS = -L/skiff/local/arm-linux/lib 3. Get and install the current X distribution. Configure it for cross compilation, per instructions. 4. You now have two choices: 1. Build inside the X tree you just installed. In this case, you move your client into xc/programs, copy a makefile from another client on top of your makefile (only if you have an Imakefile!), type 'make makefile', 'make depend', and then make. Rebuilding your makefile ensures you pick up the cross compilation definitions. 2. Build outside of the X tree you just installed. You can use imake to rebuild the makefile for your client, per 1.). You'll need to scratch your head for a while to figure out the arguments to imake. Note that xmkmf won't work for you, as you need to use the development environoment to build your executable, not your native machine. Native Compilation on one of the Skiff Cluster Machines Ahh... I see that sanity has returned... Feel better now that you've stopped beating your head against the wall? Compaq CRL has made available as a service a number of Skiff machines, running Linux. A Skiff is a small server machine based on a StrongARM which is effectively identical to an iPAQ for program development. It is Linux, with a normal set of development tools. The distribution is very strange, being a cross between a Debian and a RedHat system, for historical (hysterical?) reasons. (Debian development for ARM seemed to die for a while, and Carleton University built a ton of RH RPM's). It appears that a number of vendors may be "fixing" this problem for us, but for now, what you see is what you get. Root access can be had if needed on request. Send mail to [email protected] Native Compilation on an iPAQ 1. Install a Linux distribution for the iPAQ (available soon). It is the same development environment as for the Skiff systems. 2. Reboot your iPAQ to use this installation. 3. Build as you would on a Skiff. 4. Enjoy! Modified August 31, 2000 by [email protected] |
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