10.7. Glibc-2.4 32 Bit Libraries

The Glibc build system is self-contained and will install perfectly, even though the compiler specs file and linker are still pointing at /tools. The specs and linker cannot be adjusted before the Glibc install because the Glibc Autoconf tests would give false results and defeat the goal of achieving a clean build.

MIPS is no longer supported in the main Glibc tree, so we have to extract the glibc-ports-2.4 package into our glibc-2.4 directory. Then we move ports to the location expected by our build and patches:

tar -jxvf ../glibc-ports-2.4.tar.bz2
mv -v glibc-ports-2.4 ports

The following patch fixes link issues when building MIPS Glibc:

patch -Np1 -i ../glibc-2.4-mips_fixes-3.patch

The following patch fixes an issue that can cause localdef to segfault:

patch -Np1 -i ../glibc-2.4-localedef_segfault-1.patch

The following patch fixes an issue with iconv:

patch -Np1 -i ../glibc-2.4-iconv_fix-1.patch

The following sed fixes a build issue with Glibc. This will prevent nscd from trying to link to libraries that don't exist:

cp -v nscd/Makefile{,.orig}
sed -e "/nscd_stat.o: sysincludes = # nothing/d" nscd/Makefile.orig > \
    nscd/Makefile

The Glibc documentation recommends building Glibc outside of the source directory in a dedicated build directory:

mkdir -v ../glibc-build
cd ../glibc-build

Prepare Glibc for compilation:

CC="gcc ${BUILD32}" CXX="g++ ${BUILD32}" \
    ../glibc-2.4/configure --prefix=/usr \
    --disable-profile --enable-add-ons --enable-kernel=2.6.0 \
    --libexecdir=/usr/lib/glibc --host=${CLFS_TARGET32}

Compile the package:

make

In multilib, we tend to think that compiling for ${CLFS_TARGET32} is not cross-compiling. Glibc takes the traditional view that if you are building for a different host then you are cross-compiling, so you won't be running the tests and therefore you don't need the locale files. When we run the tests, many will fail if the locale files are missing. The following sed allows these tests to succeed:

sed -i '/cross-compiling/s@ifeq@ifneq@g' ../glibc-2.4/localedata/Makefile

Test the results:

make -k check >glibc-check-log 2>&1 ; grep Error glibc-check-log

The Glibc test suite is highly dependent on certain functions of the host system, in particular the kernel. The posix/annexc test normally fails and you should see Error 1 (ignored) in the output. Apart from this, the Glibc test suite is always expected to pass. However, in certain circumstances, some failures are unavoidable. If a test fails because of a missing program (or missing symbolic link), or a segfault, you will see an error code greater than 127 and the details will be in the log. More commonly, tests will fail with Error 2 - for these, the contents of the corresponding .out file, e.g. posix/annexc.out may be informative. Here is a list of the most common issues:

Though it is a harmless message, the install stage of Glibc will complain about the absence of /etc/ld.so.conf. Prevent this warning with:

touch /etc/ld.so.conf

Install the package:

make install