Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

"Williams Jr., Ernest L." <[email protected]> · Wed, 25 Feb 2015 02:28:47 +0000

________________________________________
From: Jameson Graef Rollins [[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2015 9:43 AM
To: Williams Jr., Ernest L.; [email protected]
Subject: RE: Using the EPICS Build/Make system to build kernel modules for      linux

>> As I begin this task; maybe someone else has already done it :)
>>
>> We typically have kernel module source from hardware vendors that we recompile for our target architectures
>>
>> In my case, I have the following architectures:
>>
>> (1) linux-x86                         (RHEL6 32-bit)
>> (2) linux-x86_64                 (RHEL6  64-bit)
>> (3) linuxRT-x86                    (32-bit linux w/realtime patch and ucLibc)
>> (4) linuxRT-x86_64            (64-bit linux w/realtime patch and ucLibc)
>> (5) linuxRT_glibc-x86_64  (64-bit linux w/realtime patch and gLibc)
>>
>>
>> I would like to hi-jack the EPICS Make system framework to build kernel modules.
>
> I'm so sorry, but I feel compelled to speak out that the EPICS build
> system is one of the more obscure, convoluted, and unfriendly to work
> with as I have seen.  It makes packaging EPICS and related software
> extremely difficult.  I would strongly advise against using it as a
> prototype for other projects.
>
> ======================================
>
> What are you using now?
>
> And what do you propose?

==================================================================
I probably should have kept my mouth shut, since I don't actually know
what you're looking for, nor do I have any good suggestions for
alternatives.  That said, my packaging experience leads me to strongly
prefer build systems that work in "standard" ways, and don't for
instance require in-tree builds for linking applications, which EPICS
currently requires (modulo the packaging ninjitsu accomplished by the
EPICS Debian packagers).

Thanks, Jamie.
Based on all of the feedback, I will use a different technique to build kernel modules for multiple architectures outside of EPICS.
However, for my user space libraries I will stay with the EPICS Make system as it is very convenient and points nicely to my cross-compilers (i.e Tool Chains)

Cheers,
Ernest

jamie.

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System