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Re: PPC32 and state of the project
- From: Ulrich Drepper <drepper at redhat dot com>
- To: "Kevin B. Hendricks" <kevin dot hendricks at sympatico dot ca>
- Cc: GNU libc devel <libc-alpha at sources dot redhat dot com>, Franz Sirl <Franz dot Sirl-kernel at lauterbach dot com>
- Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2003 11:01:26 -0800
- Subject: Re: PPC32 and state of the project
- Organization: Red Hat, Inc.
- References: <200301051155.57332.kevin.hendricks@sympatico.ca>
Kevin B. Hendricks wrote:
> I volunteer to help out for ppc32 support.
Thanks.
> So does anyone have a more detailed To-Do list for PPC32?
>
> Can anything be done without an TLS register abi change?
> And is there a target register that we should be using to keep in sync with
> ppc64 or whatever?
The main set of problems revolves around the thread register. Getting
LinuxThreads to run with a thread register is the first step. The next
step is designing and implementing ELF TLS (see
http://people.redhat.com/drepper/tls.pdf). Finally, the port of NPTL to
PPC awaits.
> Who do we have to bug to get that register decision made and the abi
> changes made?
Well, you'll now have to convince Franz. As far as I'm concerned he
makes now the PPC32 ABI decisions.
> Is Geoff Keating still supporting PPC32 Linux or has he
> moved completely to Apple/Darwin.
Have you seen Geoff doing anything? I've asked Franz to step up exactly
because nothing has happened.
> I know squat about gcc internals but I am quite familar with the
> linuxthreads code and ppc assembler and the abi details and I am willing
> to pitch in and help if someone can point me in a relevant direction.
Well, I suggest to
- start a discussion with interested parties about the thread register
decision;
- implement the LinuxThreads side. This won't need gcc support;
- design ELF TLS; a prerequisite is a thread register;
- implement ELF TLS in gcc and binutils. I do not know who will
volunteer to do this work.
By the time all this is done there will most probably be a non-asm NPTL
port and porting NPTL to PPC32 should be easy. For the TLS design you
might want to consider talking to the PPC64 guys. I guess that perhaps
after substituting the thread register name the two ABIs can share the
same TLS design.
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