* tests/README: Suggest a better way to run the automake testsuite
with cross-compilers -- that is, configuring the Automake source
tree with proper `--build' and `--host' configure option. And
yes, specifying both these options (not only `--host') is indeed
required to avoid spurious failures in corner cases.
When you call configure with the `--host' option but without the
`--build' option, configure tries to auto-detect whether you are
cross-compiling or not, by trying to run a generated executable.
That test might spuriously "succeed" in some corner cases (e.g.,
Cygwin is able to run non-Cygwin apps). In fact, generally, it
can be the case that a cross-compilation is not detected as a
cross anymore just because someone has installed an emulator; as
an example, think of what can happen on a GNU/Linux system that
is configured (through the use of the binfmt_misc kernel module)
to execute PE executables (compiled for MS-DOS or Windows) through
Wine *automatically*. In conclusion, configure needs to be used
as recommended in the documentation (i.e., by specifying *both*
`--host' and `--build' instead of just one of them) to not have
the build fall into any of a number of weird traps.
* tests/defs (cross_compiling): Improve comments.
---
ChangeLog | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
tests/README | 24 ++++++++++++------------
tests/defs | 7 +++++++
3 files changed, 44 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index bb741bb..05ef6b8 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,28 @@
+2011-12-20 Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattar...@gmail.com>
+ Peter Rosin <p...@lysator.liu.se>
+
+ readme: how to run the testsuite with cross-compilers
+ * tests/README: Suggest a better way to run the automake testsuite
+ with cross-compilers -- that is, configuring the Automake source
+ tree with proper `--build' and `--host' configure option. And
+ yes, specifying both these options (not only `--host') is indeed
+ required to avoid spurious failures in corner cases.
+ When you call configure with the `--host' option but without the
+ `--build' option, configure tries to auto-detect whether you are
+ cross-compiling or not, by trying to run a generated executable.
+ That test might spuriously "succeed" in some corner cases (e.g.,
+ Cygwin is able to run non-Cygwin apps). In fact, generally, it
+ can be the case that a cross-compilation is not detected as a
+ cross anymore just because someone has installed an emulator; as
+ an example, think of what can happen on a GNU/Linux system that
+ is configured (through the use of the binfmt_misc kernel module)
+ to execute PE executables (compiled for MS-DOS or Windows) through
+ Wine *automatically*. In conclusion, configure needs to be used
+ as recommended in the documentation (i.e., by specifying *both*
+ `--host' and `--build' instead of just one of them) to not have
+ the build fall into any of a number of weird traps.
+ * tests/defs (cross_compiling): Improve comments.
+
2011-10-25 Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattar...@gmail.com>
tests: no need to unset CFLAGS in tests requiring 'gcc' anymore
diff --git a/tests/README b/tests/README
index 980299d..4d7f21d 100644
--- a/tests/README
+++ b/tests/README
@@ -29,18 +29,18 @@ Running the tests
make -k check TESTS="foo.test bar.test" (GNU make)
env TESTS="foo.test bar.test" make -e -k check (non-GNU make)
- To run the tests in cross-compilation mode:
-
- make -k check host_alias="$host_alias" (GNU make)
- env host_alias="$host_alias" make -e -k check (non-GNU make)
-
- Here `$host_alias' should be defined to a proper value different from
- configure-determined `$build_alias', and should refer to a set of
- cross-compilers you have available on your system; for example, if
- on Linux you have a set of MinGW-targeted cross-compilers named
- 'i586-mingw32msvc-cc', 'i586-mingw32msvc-c++', etc., you could use:
-
- make -k check host_alias='i586-mingw32msvc'
+ To run the tests in cross-compilation mode, you should first configure
+ the automake source tree to a cross-compilation setup. For example, to
+ run with a Linux-to-Cygwin cross compiler, you will need something like
+ this:
+
+ ./configure --host i586-mingw32msvc --build i686-pc-linux-gnu
+
+ To avoid possible spurious error, you really have to *explicitly* specify
+ `--build' in addition to `--host'; the `lib/config.guess' script can help
+ you in determining what is the correct value you should pass to `--build'.
+ Then you can just run the testsuite in the usual way, and the test cases
+ using a compiler should automatically use a cross-compilation setup.
Interpretation
diff --git a/tests/defs b/tests/defs
index 1a9ba37..ac2ebd4 100644
--- a/tests/defs
+++ b/tests/defs
@@ -228,6 +228,13 @@ diag_string_="#%#"
# tests (or portions of them) that requires a native compiler.
cross_compiling ()
{
+ # Quoting from the autoconf manual:
+ # ... [$host_alias and $build both] default to the result of running
+ # config.guess, unless you specify either --build or --host. In
+ # this case, the default becomes the system type you specified.
+ # If you specify both, *and they're different*, configure enters
+ # cross compilation mode (so it doesn't run any tests that require
+ # execution).
test x"$host_alias" != x && test x"$build_alias" != x"$host_alias"
}
--
1.7.2.3
