Re: binutils 2.7

[Don Yuniskis <dgy@rtd.com>]

> > > The crossgcc FAQ says to use binutils 2.6.  
> > > 
> > > Binutils 2.6 is rather old and I'd like to build with 2.7.  
> > 
> > If your target is a 64-bit MIPS processor (e.g. R4000, R4400, R4600,
> > R4650, R4700) binutils 2.7 will _not_ work.  The problem reports are
> > attached below my .signature.
> 
> Oops. Forgot to mention, target is sh-hms (Hitachi SH7032 32 bit RISC
> MCU).
>  
> > > Do I still need to apply binutils-2.6-obj-coff.patch before applying the
> > > patch to upgrade to 2.7?
> > 
> > That, I do not know, as I gave up on 2.7 when it failed to work on the
> > targets that are of interest to me.
> 
> Maybe I should too. Just looked kinda odd because all the other tools are
> relatively new and binutils 2.6 is a bit old.

I just built binutils-2.7 for h8300-hms.  Sorry that I can't recall whether
or not I applied the patch (for some reason, I think *NOT*!).  I *do* recall
looking through the patch and the corresponding files in the binutils
distribution to see if the 2.7 release already reflected these changes
(I just can't seem to definitively remember whether it did or did not  :-(

I sympathize with the grief over the "failed to work on the targets that
are of interest to me" statement.  I had originally hoped to build
for "h8300".  When that unceremoniously died, I tried h8300-coff.
Of course, config doesn't really like *that*, either!  :-(  Since I
was just trying to get a feel for the quality of the code generator
for the h8300, I finally settled on h8300-hms (which does at least
allow me to build gcc later, etc. and look at the compiled code).

Binutils and gcc could *really* use a good, *thorough* document
explaining which targets/hosts are *really* supported, etc.  I've
been slowly poking through binutils trying to compile just such a list
for the targets of immediate interest to me.

Hope this helps a bit...
--don