On Sat, 01 Sep 2007 09:36:09 -0400, Sam Varshavchik <mrsam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >Chris Jones writes: > >> >>> 1) Is it possible to cross-compile on Linux 32 bit to produce an >>> executable for the 64bit architecture Linux as well as 32 bit? >> >> No, I don't think a 32bit only processor can produce 64bit binaries. The other > >It's not the question of processor, but rather compiler support. > >This is certainly doable, you just have to build your own custom version of >binutils, and gcc, that cross compile to elf_x86-64. > >But all of this is irrelevant. The stupid reasons why one has to do this -- >target Win64 binaries on a Win32 box -- simply do not exist on Linux. If you >intend to run 64 bit binaries, you can just build them directly on the 64 >bit hardware. It's not like you'll have to pay a small fortune for a native >64 bit Linux compiler, like you'd have to for a 64 bit version of Visual >Studio, so none of that nonsense is really needed. Well, if you have a bunch of Windows developers all having a workstation running 32 bit Windows on a 32 bit CPU, then the option is not there simply to furnish them all with a new laptop with 64bit CPU and a Linux 64 bit version to compile the 64bit program. Their main job will still remain to work on windows software (which one can actually sell). So my question comes from a suggestion to run a 32 bit Linux inside a VirtualPC virtual machine in the Windows laptops for development. Then we need only a single 64 bit machine running Linux to test the performance of the compiled binaries. This requires the use of a cross-compiler able to compiule 64 bit binaries on a 32 bit system. Notice also that VPC2007 does not support running anything but a 32 bit virtual machine emulation. Bo Berglund
