From: cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net   
      
   In article <108sp9v$1a4ae$2@paganini.bofh.team>,   
   Waldek Hebisch  wrote:   
   >Dan Cross  wrote:   
   >> In article <108sckg$19hcn$1@paganini.bofh.team>,   
   >> Waldek Hebisch  wrote:   
   >>>I wonder if anybody is using GNU binutils targeting VMS.  I am   
   >>>trying to set up toolchain for cross-compilation (from Linux) to   
   >>>Alpha VMS.  Trying reasonably recent (2.43 and 2.39) binutils I   
   >>>get errors suggesting serious brokennes, for example when I use   
   >>>'ar' to create a library and later extract a member I get changed   
   >>>file and 'objdump' says that extracted file is malformed.   
   >>>   
   >>>I am now trying binutils 2.21 and apparently they do not have the   
   >>>problem above.  But I see some weirdness and apparently '-shared'   
   >>>option (to create shared image) is not supported.   
   >>   
   >> There is a BFD backend for VMS on Alpha in the main binutils   
   >> branch in git, but it is not clear to me how well-tested or   
   >> generally maintained it is, nor how compatibile with the   
   >> standard VMS utilities it ever was; I suspect it existed   
   >> primarily to port GNU software to VMS.   
   >>   
   >> What, exactly, are you trying to do?   
   >   
   >Well, this is part of bigger rather poorly defined project.  ATM   
   >I trying to compile gcc-15.1.   
      
   That's a pretty big project in itself.  I expect, as others have   
   noted and I mentioned earlier, that the port to VMS has fallen   
   into disrepair.  Getting it back up to snuff will likely be   
   hard.   
      
   > I first build binutils, then I do   
   >   
   >../gcc-15.1.0/configure --enable-languages=c,c++ --target=alpha-dec-vms   
   --prefix=/sklad/usr   
   >make -j 7 > mlogg 2>&1   
   >   
   >There were earlier problems that I resolved.  I have now trouble   
   >during linking of libgcc.  Some problems went away after switch   
   >from binutils 2.43 to binutils 2.21.  But now I get the following   
   >error:   
   >   
   >/sklad/usr/alpha-dec-vms/bin/ld: -shared not supported   
   >   
   >That is 'ld' from binutils 2.21 says that it does not support   
   >'-shared'.  Note that Makefile wants to create 'libgcc_s.exe',   
   >so it knows about VMS file extentions.  In other words somebody   
   >at least tried to make it work.   
      
   It definitely ran on VMS in the past.  I don't think anyone has   
   actively tried to remove VMS support.  So it's very likely you   
   are getting the vestigal remnants on that prior porting effort,   
   along with a lot of what one might refer to as "soft" bugs; that   
   is, things that are not outright _wrong_ in the code, but which   
   exhibit incorrect behavior on VMS because no one has been   
   actively maintaining the GCC VMS port.   
      
   >If you want more details I can provide them, but the message   
   >about '-shared' appears also when I attempt to build a   
   >different shared image:   
   >   
   >/sklad/usr/alpha-dec-vms/bin/ld -shared -o pop_poll.exe pop_poll.obj   
   >   
   >so the problem can be reproduced outside of gcc build.   
      
   I mean, in a way the meaning of the message is obvious: that   
   flag is not supported on the version of binutils you built for   
   VMS.  Merely getting confirmation of that is unlikely to yield   
   much in the way of insightful new information, as it says it   
   right on the tin.   
      
   The more pressing question is *why* is the flag unsupported?   
   Figure that out and you'll likely unlock the entire thing.   
      
   	- Dan C.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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