Re: problems with sysroot variable when cross compiling uprobes

[David Smith <dsmith at redhat dot com>]

On 03/02/2016 03:38 AM, Holger Brunck wrote:
> Hi Torsten,

... stuff deleted ...

>> environment. I never dared to upstream those because my knowledge of the
>> SystemTap code itself is very poor and might be wrong for the general
>> case. If they also work fine for you, the patches might be a starting
>
> I am also not familar with the code. But it might be worth to try to upstream
> it. Even if it might be not a perfect solutions for the general case, others
> around may then propose clean solutions which are ready to be merged upstream. I
> mean the sysroot option seems to be broken. Or is anyone around here who can
> work with the upstream version in a cross compiled environment and uses this
> option successfully?

Always feel free to send a patch, even a rough patch, to the list. We'll
try to work with you to polish it up.

The problem with the sysroot code is that the main systemtap developers
don't tend to use it very often. So, when we do find a need for it
(typically with arm 32-bit), we'll fix it up and get it working again.
Time passes, something changes and sysroot gets broken again. We find a
need for it again, fix it up, ... the cycle goes on and on.

Another problem with the sysroot code is that we could certainly use
better tests for it. That way we'd know when it is broken and try to
keep it working and up to date. Even if you don't feel like you could
write a test case, having repeatable steps to follow would be helpful.
Setting up the proper environment might be the trickiest part.

Basically the sysroot code *should* work, but tends to slowly break over
time from lack of use. We'll happily look at patches and testing ideas
to get things working again here (and keep them working).

-- 
David Smith
dsmith@redhat.com
Red Hat
http://www.redhat.com
256.217.0141 (direct)
256.837.0057 (fax)