[U-Boot] [PATCH][RFC] Add native win32 mkimage support

[Peter Tyser]

On Fri, 2009-02-06 at 18:27 -0500, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> On Friday 06 February 2009 17:01:43 Peter Tyser wrote:
> > On Fri, 2009-02-06 at 16:51 -0500, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> > > On Friday 06 February 2009 14:59:10 Peter Tyser wrote:
> > > > On Fri, 2009-02-06 at 20:06 +0100, Wolfgang Denk wrote:
> > > > > In message Peter Tyser wrote:
> > > > > > Add a mkimage_win32.exe build target which can produce a native
> > > > > > win32 mkimage executable using the MinGW toolchain.  The
> > > > > > mkimage_win32.exe binary is generated when the MINGW_COMPILE
> > > > > > environment variable is defined.  The mkimage_win32.exe binary
> > > > > > can be used by those who use Windows as an OS build environment
> > > > > > but don't use cygwin.
> > > > >
> > > > > Why do we need a new envrironment variable? Can we not follow the
> > > > > standard pattern ansd use CROSS_COMPILE instead?
> > > >
> > > > Most files can't be compiled with MinGW so if CROSS_COMPILE is set to a
> > > > MinGW compile errors quickly occur in the build process.  Also, it
> > > > would be a bigger pain to compile u-boot + mkimage_win32.exe.  Eg:
> > > >
> > > > export CROSS_COMPILE=powerpc-linux-
> > > > export MINGW_COMPILE=i586-mingw32msvc-
> > > > make
> > > >
> > > > vs
> > > >
> > > > export CROSS_COMPILE=i586-mingw32msvc-
> > > > make
> > > > cp tools/mkimage_win32.exe ~/
> > > > make clean
> > > > export CROSS_COMPILE=powerpc-linux-
> > > > make
> > >
> > > i think you're trying too hard.  you're trying to combine three targets
> > > at once: the host system (ppc), the build system (i686 prob), and
> > > canadian cross for some other random build system (mingw).
> > >
> > > the logical step would be to only build the tools for your random other
> > > build system instead of trying to combine it all together.  in other
> > > words, set the HOSTCC to your mingw compiler and only process the tools
> > > target.  this is how every other package out there works and it doesnt
> > > really make sense to have u- boot be different in this regard.
> >
> > But Windows isn't really the HOSTCC, its a cross-compile target.
> > Setting my HOSTCC to a cross compiler seems just as confusing as setting
> > up 2 cross-compile targets to me.
> 
> when you're only building the tools, there is no native code execution nor 
> building for the target.  so the HOSTCC represents the system where the tools 
> compiled will be run.
> 
> > The process of building would also still be slightly more complex to me:
> 
> that's just too bad then imo.  what you're prosing is carrying system-specific 
> cruft in the build system so you can avoid running `make` once more.  that's 
> not a scalable system and that's crap we dont want to see.  we'll have to add 
> all kind of weird stuff for every new random system someone wants to support.
> 
> what i'm proposing is something that works for any system.  to build u-boot:
> make CROSS_COMPILE=bfin-uclinux- ...
> to cross-compile the helper tools for some random system:
> make HOSTCC=mingw32-gcc tools
> 
> if you want to avoid object file conflicts, then just use sep build trees with 
> O=... like normal

Is there any interest in getting win32 mkimage support into U-Boot?
Would it be accepted if I make any suggested changes?

I don't want to spend any time discussing/cleaning/testing if its not
going to be accepted:)  If there is interest, I'll gladly cleanup and
re-submit.

Thanks,
Peter