Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:53:09 -0500
From:      eculp@unixmania.com
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Upgrading from an old athlon to a new 64 bit one.
Message-ID:  <20070628115309.mmzo1h7bxoo4ogkc@intranet.unixmania.com>
In-Reply-To: <20070628153529.GA53017@owl.midgard.homeip.net>
References:  <20070627145452.ytifppt70oc480s8@intranet.unixmania.com> <20070628011057.5a0d90b5@gumby.homeunix.com.> <20070628101239.6fs4qrpz8k8kkosw@intranet.unixmania.com> <20070628153529.GA53017@owl.midgard.homeip.net>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Quoting Erik Trulsson <ertr1013@student.uu.se>:

> On Thu, Jun 28, 2007 at 10:12:39AM -0500, eculp@unixmania.com wrote:
>> Quoting RW <fbsd06@mlists.homeunix.com>:
>>
>> >On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:54:52 -0500
>> >eculp@unixmania.com wrote:
>> >
>> >>I have just stuck the disks from an old AMD Athlon(tm)  (1333.39-MHz
>> >>686-class CPU) into a new box with an AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor
>> >>3800+ (2387.78-MHz 686-class CPU).  I am still building a daily
>> >>kernel with the old configuration and all is well.  Of course the
>> >>old configuration was/is i386.  Now I need to compile for 64 bit
>> >>apps.
>
> No, you do not *need* to compile for 64-bit apps.
>
>
>> >
>> >Are you sure about that? there are few compelling reasons to go to
>> >64-bit, if you already have a working system. As far as performance is
>> >concerned, it may go either way.
>>
>> Hi RW,
>>
>> I probably didn't explain very well.  I'll try again.
>>
>> The machines that I am updating are all athlon 32 bit machines, which
>> I have been doing a daily cvsup, buildworld, buildkernel,
>> installkernel, installworld and weekly portupgrade for several years.
>> I just removed the disks from one that is running current and another
>> that is running RELENG, both still running kernels cvsup-ed and
>> compiled yesterday as well as userland.  The ports are also up to date.
>>
>> What I am trying to do is compile an amd64 kernel, install it and see
>> what happens ;) I can always go back to the generic kernel compiled in
>> sys/i386.
>
> It probably will not work very well.
>
> The compiler on an i386 system does not know how to create amd64 code.
> It is not configured to be a crosscompiler - it will only compile to nativ=
e
> i386 code.
>
>
> There is not really any support for switching from i386 to amd64 by source
> code.  It can apparently be done if you know what you are doing but it is
> not trivial and not documented.
>
> The normal build system assumes that you are doing a native build by
> default.  It is possible to build for a different system, but then you
> first need to build the necessary cross-tools (compiler, linker, assembler=
,
> etc.) and then use that to build the rest of the system.
>
>
>
>
>> If all were to go well, I would then recompile all my ports.
>>
>> My problem is that when I created a sys/amd64/conf/AMD (just a generic
>> kernel with PF added) file and went to /usr/src and tried make
>> buildkernel KERNCONF=3DAMD it didn't find the kernel configuration file.
>>  I tried with paths, etc. and no luck.  I also see that my daily
>> compiles and installs have not changed userland programs.
>> /usr/bin/file shows:
>>
>> c++:              ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1
>> (FreeBSD), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped
>>
>> Using c++ and an example.  I assume it should give a 64-bin executable
>> if it were.  This particular file was built and installed this morning.
>>
>> The bottom line is that I'm totally ignorant as to this change and
>> have been doing some really dumb searches in that I haven't found what
>> I'm missing.  I'm convenced that it is something braindead simple but
>> I am still looking.
>>
>> The good news is that both the current and RELENG boxes are working
>> well with all as before.
>>
>> Again any suggestions or even flames with more information are appreciate=
d.
>
> Why don't you just keep running the i386 version of FreeBSD ?
> Is there some particular reason you want to use the amd64 version ?
Hi Erik,

Ignorance, I assume, is my only excuse?  At least thanks to your =20
patience and explanation, I understand and am somewhat less ignorant;) =20
  Originally, I had ordered these and I was promised that they were =20
dual core and I had to pay in advance.  When they finally arrived, I =20
found that they were standard AMD Athlon 3800+ and no x2 so it looks =20
like I was "had" but that will be another story.  Then it would have =20
made sense to change to 64 bit.  For the moment my problem is solved =20
and I'll stay with 32 bit for now.

Thanks,

ed



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20070628115309.mmzo1h7bxoo4ogkc>