Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 10:48:24 -0500 From: "Stephane E. Potvin" <sepotvin@videotron.ca> To: Doug Rabson <dfr@nlsystems.com> Cc: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, Hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD arm port Message-ID: <3639DFC8.7C3AE9FB@videotron.ca> References: <Pine.BSF.4.01.9810301036260.366-100000@herring.nlsystems.com>
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Doug Rabson wrote: > > On Thu, 29 Oct 1998, Mike Smith wrote: > > > > Also, some pointers as to what are the main steps for doing such a port > > > (FreeBSD port as a whole) would be greatly appreciated. > > > > Crucial to bringing up any new port is the ability to tighten the build/ > > debug cycle. If you have an emulator, that's excellent. If you can > > boot diskless, that's almost as good. Copying kernels onto floppies and > > lugging them back and forth gets old _really_ quick. > > The best debugging environment is definately a simulator (but only if it > has good hooks into gdb). Netbooting with serial-line debugging runs a > close second. > > I used the excellent SimOS simulator exclusively in the early stages of > the FreeBSD/alpha port and was able to get the thing to boot all the way > to single-user mode and run a few commands before I touched a real > machine. That really shortened the debug time for the real hardware. > > The SimOS simulator currently supports various mips and alpha cpus. > Future versions will have other cpus but the SimOS folks will be able to > give you an idea. > I've just checked with their home page but unfortunately they don't seems to have any support yet for ARM architectures. I guess netbooting with serial debugger will have to do for a start... > > > > You want to start with a skeleton of the new system-specific code, and > > flesh it out as you go. The first goal is to get enough infrastructure > > in place to build the kernel. The alpha port is probably a good place > > to look first, as it's only just starting to put on weight, and has a > > lot of new architectural stuff in it. > > I think that cloning the alpha port and hacking it is as good a way to > start as any. Make sure you have current source trees for the NetBSD and > Linux kernel too for cross reference. You have a steep learning curve > ahead - good luck! Thanks, I'm pretty sure I'll need all I can find :) Stephane E. Potvin Galea Network Security. --- La vie est trop courte pour etre prise au serieux. anonyme To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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