Return to README CVS log

Up to [ELWIX - Embedded LightWeight unIX -] / embedaddon / libxml2 / VxWorks

Annotation of embedaddon/libxml2/VxWorks/README, revision 1.1.1.1

1.1       misho       1:              libxml2 on VxWorks 6.4+
                      2: 
                      3: Here are my instructions for building on VxWorks.... I am very ashamed of
                      4: how I did this because it is a complete hack, but it works great, so I
                      5: can't complain too much.
                      6: 
                      7: General Information
                      8: 
                      9: 1. The only way to build for VxWorks is to cross compile from a windows or
                     10: linux system.  We use a RedHat 5.1 workstation system as our build
                     11: environment.
                     12: 
                     13: 2. VxWorks 6.X has two main types of executable, DKMs (dynamic kernel
                     14: modules), and RTPs (real-time processes).  Kernel modules are the bread
                     15: and butter of VxWorks, but they look nothing like processes/threads in
                     16: normal UNIX/Windows systems.  RTPs are more like processes that have
                     17: memory protection, threads, etc.  VxWorks 6.X also introduces some level
                     18: of POSIX conformance to their environment.  The POSIX conformance was the
                     19: key for us to be able to port libxml2.  We support accessing libxml2 from
                     20: both DKMs and RTPs.
                     21: 
                     22: 3. There are 2 compilers for VxWorks, the WindRiver compiler, and a port
                     23: of the GNU toolchain, we have only tested and built with the GNU
                     24: toolchain.
                     25: 
                     26: How To Build
                     27: 
                     28: 1. Run the configure on your native linux system (this is the cheesy
                     29: hack).  Since the VxWorks GNU toolchain is very close in version to the
                     30: one in red hat, it generates a good config.h file.  We configured libxml2
                     31: with the following to keep the size down, (but we have done basic testing
                     32: with everything compiled in).
                     33: 
                     34: ./configure --with-minimum --with-reader --with-writer --with-regexps
                     35: --with-threads --with-thread-alloc
                     36: 
                     37: 2. Rename the libxml2 folder to "src".  This step is required for our
                     38: replacement makefile to work.
                     39: 
                     40: 3. Run the replacement makefile.  I wrote a new makefile that sets all the
                     41: proper vxworks defines and uses the correct compilers.  The two defines on
                     42: the make command line are to tell it which VxWorks Target (SH3.2 little
                     43: endian), and the executable type.  We have tested this code on PENTIUM2gnu
                     44: and SH32gnule.
                     45: 
                     46: This makefile creates a shared library that runs on VxWorks: (libxml2.so)
                     47: make -f Makefile.vxworks clean all VXCPU=SH32gnule VXTYPE=RTP
                     48: 
                     49: This makefile creates a kernel module that runs on VxWorks: (xml2.out)
                     50: make -f Makefile.vxworks clean all VXCPU=SH32gnule VXTYPE=DKM
                     51: 
                     52: Important Notes
                     53: 
                     54: 1. There are several ways that this process could be improved, but at the
                     55: end of the day, we make products, not port libraries, so we did a meets
                     56: minimum for our needs.
                     57: 
                     58: 2. VxWorks is the devil, give me embedded linux every day.
                     59: 
                     60: 3. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the configure to pick up the
                     61: VxWorks toolchain, and in my investigation, it has something to do with
                     62: automake/autoconf, not any individual package.  VxWorks doesn't play by
                     63: the normal rules for building toolchains.
                     64: 
                     65: 4. The PIC flag in VxWorks (especially for SH processors) is very
                     66: important, and very troublesome.  On linux, you can liberally use the PIC
                     67: flag when compiling and the compiler/linker will ignore it as needed, on
                     68: VxWorks if must always be on for shared libraries, and always be off for
                     69: static libraries and executables.
                     70: 
                     71: 5. If anyone wants to work on a better way to do the build of libxml2 for
                     72: VxWorks, I'm happy to help as much as I can, but I'm not looking to
                     73: support it myself.
                     74: 
                     75: Attached Files
                     76: 
                     77: 1. To use my Makefile for vxworks, you should enter the vxworks
                     78: environment (/opt/windriver/wrenv.linux -p vxworks-6.4 for me).
                     79: 2. Run: build.sh libxml2-2.6.32 SH32gnule RTP (where you have
                     80: libxml2-2.6.32.tar.gz and the Makefile in the same directory as the script
                     81: file).
                     82: 
                     83: Thanks,
                     84: 
                     85: Jim Wert Jr.
                     86: JWert@ILSTechnology.com