Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: Questions about Minix source
References: <8t7si8$a3d$1@nnrp1.deja.com>
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
From: aje9383@osfmail.isc.rit.edu (Andrew Erickson)
NNTP-Posting-Host: grace.isc.rit.edu
X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: grace.isc.rit.edu
Message-ID: <39fa03f8@news.isc.rit.edu>
Date: 27 Oct 2000 18:38:48 -0500
X-Trace: 27 Oct 2000 18:38:48 -0500, grace.isc.rit.edu
Lines: 63
XPident: aje9383
X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.21.4.100
XPident: Unknown
Path: news.adfa.edu.au!clarion.carno.net.au!news0.optus.net.au!news1.optus.net.au!optus!news.mel.connect.com.au!news.syd.connect.com.au!nsw.nnrp.telstra.net!intgwlon.nntp.telstra.net!newsfeed.mathworks.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.kodak.com!news-nysernet-16.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.isc.rit.edu!aje9383
Xref: news.adfa.edu.au comp.os.minix:35994

I tried responding yesterday, but my connection was rudely yanked out from
under my feet.  If this is a second response, I apologize.

In article <8t7si8$a3d$1@nnrp1.deja.com>,  <d_lau@my-deja.com> wrote:
>I've downloaded the Minix 2.0.2 binary and source files from the web
>and I've successfully installed them on a PC.  However, I have a few
>questions about the source files (and about the binary too):
>
>1) It appears that the compiler/assembler included with the binary are
>still from the ACK, is this correct?  But the source files to the
>compiler(s) are not included, so are the source files freely available
>somewhere?

Theoretically, they have been made freely availiable.  I don't believe
they are actually publically downloadable yet, though, due to the need
for improved documentation and such.

>2) Is it possible (i.e., easily) to replace the ACK compiler with the
>GNU C/C++ compiler for the i386 (and possibly the i86) versions?  It
>seems that there are versions of Minix available for other
>architectures, so do they use the ACK compilers or do they use the GNU
>compilers?  If the other versions already have support for the GNU
>compiler, then why not the i386 version as well?

The M68K versions generally use an even older version of the ACK tools.
I don't know what the solaris/sparc versions use; perhaps Sun's cc.  It
is possible to use gcc; there are even pre-compiled ports availiable at
a couple of places of an old gcc version.

gcc is a memory hog, more so in the later versions.  Since Minix has no
virtual memory support, this causes trouble for people with modest
systems.  (Also for this reason, there is absolutely no chance of using
gcc on an 8086 minix system.  This is, of course, not the same thing as
compiling stuff for 8086 minix with gcc, which should be possible.)

AFAIK, the biggest sticking point is the assembler and object file
formats, which are rather unlike gas/gld's and not especially well
documented.

>3) Are the source files to all the commands included in the source
>distribution?  It seems there are a lot more commands in the */bin and
>*/lib directories than in the /usr/src/commands.
>
>4) In the highest level Makefile in /usr/src, there is the comment:
>"Master Makefile to compile everything in /usr/src except the kernel."
>And then later on in the same Makefile, there is the echo: "(Run 'make'
>in tools to make a kernel)".  So where is this 'tools' directory?  It
>does not seem to be included in the installation.  Is there a separate
>procedure for making the kernel/fs/boot?

You did install the sources, didn't you?  IIRC, they are a separate tar
file.

(Yes, source for all the commands except the compiler passes is included.
The tools directory should be /usr/src/tools.  You can compile the
kernel/fs/boot/inet separately and then link and install them somehow,
but I don't have the exact procedure handy; it's quite different from
what I must do in MacMinix, anyhow.)

>Thanks in advance.
Hope this helped.
-- 
Andrew Erickson
