getting fpc cross-compiling on Fedora Linux.
lazarus / 1-Linux

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lazer · 2022-10-13 08:31

Hi,

I'm using Fedora 35 and have installed Lazarus ( and hence fpc ) from
distro.  Native building seems fine.

Now I need to compile for a win64 win32 targets.  Years ago I did this
and it all worked out of the box, I was impressed. Now it's become a
"challenge".

fpc files are installed in:
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i
/usr/lib64/fpc/3.2.2/units/x86_64-linux/rtlthe source is in :
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i
/usr/share/fpcsrc/packagesCode: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload =
function(){var x1 = document.getElementById("main_content_section");
if (x1) { var x = document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i
= 0; i ls -d
 /usr/share/fpcsrc/packages/rtl*/usr/share/fpcsrc/packages/rtl-console
 /usr/share/fpcsrc/packages/rtl-generics
 /usr/share/fpcsrc/packages/rtl-unicode/usr/share/fpcsrc/packages/rtl-
extra    /usr/share/fpcsrc/packages/rtl-objpas This seems pretty
standard but there is also :
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i
/usr/share/fpcsrc/rtl
https://wiki.freepascal.org/Cross_compiling_for_Windows_under_Linux

It looks like I need to build the cross compiler since this is not
provided in the distro pkg.

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i export
FPCVER="3.2.2"cd /usr/share/fpcsrc/"$FPCVER"/make clean all
OS_TARGET=win64 CPU_TARGET=x86_64make clean all OS_TARGET=win32
CPU_TARGET=i386 There is a deviation here since $FPCVER seems to be
"package" in this installation. In anycase I set that value and cd to
that directory.

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i make clean
all OS_TARGET=win64 CPU_TARGET=x86_64...

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i make[1]:
Leaving directory '/usr/share/fpcsrc/packages/fpmkunit'./fpmake clean
--localunitdir=.. --os=win64 --cpu=x86_64 -o -Twin64 -o
-XPx86_64-win64- -o -Xr -o -dx86_64 --compiler=/usr/bin/ppcx64 -bu
-scp./fpmake compile --localunitdir=.. --os=win64 --cpu=x86_64 -o
-Twin64 -o -XPx86_64-win64- -o -Xr -o -dx86_64
--compiler=/usr/bin/ppcx64 -bu -scpThe installer encountered the
following error:Could not find unit directory for dependency package
"rtl" required for package "bzip2"make: *** [Makefile:1721: all] Error
1  
I'm suspecting that the slightly non-standard tree is the cause. Maybe
I need to symlink the rtl dir , can anyone advise ?

TIA.

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dbannon · 2022-10-13 09:29

Hmm, the instructions you are following were written assuming a FPC
installed as described. Sadly, distro packages like to move things
around. You could try some symlinks in the appropriate place I guess
but as I don't use Fedora, no guarantees.

I suspect you might need to follow whats happening a bit more closely,
there is no magic in the recipe provided, it just uses the supplied
Makefile with a suitable parameter.  You must however end up with
things such as RTL in a place defined in the fpc.cfg file. In theory,
anywhere you like but a lot easier if you follow conventions.

The fpc.cfg typically has a $VER in the various paths but I see no
intrinsic reason why it could not be "package" but if you could
replicate the original structure, again, life would be easier.

Davo

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Leledumbo · 2022-10-13 09:39

I suggest uninstalling distro packages and use distro agnostic tar
archive instead. The situation is similar with Debian derivatives, no
idea why the package maintainer does that (changing the directory
hierarchy around).

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dbannon · 2022-10-13 10:13

in fact Leledumbo, the wiki howto used the SourceForge FPC, but a deb
not an RPM package. Like you, I prefer a Tar install of FPC but wrote
the howto based on the SourceForge package because more new user
prefer that model. Its easily adapted to the Tar model and that would
be better as it would be far more uniform between distros ...

On the other hand, its definitely not easily adapted easily to either
the Debian produced deb, nor, I suspect the distro preferred RPM.

Laser, in short, Leledumbo is sort of right, get the official FPC fpc
and life will be easier still !

Davo

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lazer · 2022-10-13 14:56

Thanks for all the replies.

I prefer to use distro pkgs where possible since the that is the point
of a distro. If I install fpc by hand I then have to do Lazarus by
hand to fiddle with distro config so that it knows I'm supposed to be
in charge of that and ignores any deps.

I have a small number pkgs which I run this way but I aim to keep it
as small as is really necessary.

I suspect there is trivial tweak here like defining something in
fpc.cfg or making a sym link.

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PascalDragon · 2022-10-14 13:53

Quote from: lazer on October 13, 2022, 04:56:07 pmI prefer to use
distro pkgs where possible since the that is the point of a distro. If
I install fpc by hand I then have to do Lazarus by hand to fiddle with
distro config so that it knows I'm supposed to be in charge of that
and ignores any deps.
Then at least don't use the sources as provided by the distro.
Download the sources for FPC 3.2.2 and do your make crossall
OS_TARGET=win32 CPU_TARGET=i386 followed by make crossinstall
OS_TARGET=win32 CPU_TARGET=i386
INSTALL_PREFIX=/path/where/it/should/install (and similar for
x86_64-win64) inside its top level directory.

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lazer · 2022-10-15 08:57

Thanks
I have discovered that Fedora do not even include 386 fpc ( like they
don't for any other packages ) .
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i Error:
ppc386 can't be executed, error message: Failed to execute "ppc386",
error code: 127
So I tried to build from github. All went well until I installed and
discovered I got 3.3.1 
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i make[4]:
Entering directory '/svn/FPCSource-main/packages'./fpmake install
--localunitdir=.. --os=win32 --cpu=i386 -o -Twin32 -o -Pi386 -o
-XPi386-win32- -o -Ur -o -Xs -o -O2 -o -n -o -di386 -o -dRELEASE
--compiler=/svn/FPCSource-main/compiler/ppcross386 -bu -scp
--prefix=/usr --baseinstalldir=/usr/lib/fpc/3.3.1 
Let's see how far that gets.

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lazer · 2022-10-15 13:03

QuoteThe project uses target OS=win32 and CPU=x86_64.
The system.ppu for this target was not found in the FPC binary
directories.
Make sure fpc is installed correctly for this target and the fpc.cfg
contains the right directories.

Clearly mixing versions is not going to work well.

Where can I get official fpc source for version 3.2.2. ?

Thx.

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lazer · 2022-10-15 13:33

https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/fpc/source/-
/archive/release_3_2_2/source-release_3_2_2.tar.bz2

OK I built 3.2.2.

Native still compiles fine.
If I which TARGET to Win32 or Win64  and click "Test"  , it fails to
find all RTL units:

QuoteError: RTL unit not found: sysutils.ppu
If continue and try to compile , I get :
QuoteThe project uses target OS=win32 and CPU=x86_64.
The system.ppu for this target was not found in the FPC binary
directories.
Make sure fpc is installed correctly for this target and the fpc.cfg
contains the right directories.

QuoteFatal: Cannot find system used by fcllaz. Make sure all ppu files
of a package are in its output directory. ppu in wrong
directory=/usr/lib/fpc/3.2.2/units/x86_64-win64/rtl/system.ppu..
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i grep Fu
/etc/fpc.cfg-Fu/usr/lib64/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget-Fu/usr/lib6
4/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget/*-
Fu/usr/lib64/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget/rtl-
Fu/usr/lib/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget-Fu/usr/lib/fpc/$fpcversion
/units/$fpctarget/*-Fu/usr/lib/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget/rtl-
Fu/usr/units/$fpctarget/$fpcsubarch-$fpcmemorymodel-Fu/usr/units/$fpct
arget/$fpcsubarch-$fpcmemorymodel/*-
Fu/usr/units/$fpctarget/$fpcsubarch-$fpcmemorymodel/rtl-Fu/usr/lib64/f
pc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget/httpd13/-
Fu/usr/lib/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget/httpd13/-
Fu/usr/lib64/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget/httpd20/-
Fu/usr/lib/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget/httpd20/-
Fu/usr/lib64/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget/httpd22/-
Fu/usr/lib/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$fpctarget/httpd22/-
Fu~/.fppkg/lib/fpc/$fpcversion/units/$FPCTARGET/* 
Full disclosure :
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i ls
/usr/units/ls: cannot access '/usr/units/': No such file or directory 
~/.fppkg/lib/fpc/  does not exist either.

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lazer · 2022-10-15 14:57

It still can't find anything... even if it is there.
Quotels -ail /usr/lib/fpc/3.2.2/units/x86_64-linux/rtl/system.ppu
1464493 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 888064 Oct 15 16:09
/usr/lib/fpc/3.2.2/units/x86_64-linux/rtl/system.ppu

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Thaddy · 2022-10-15 15:03

Fedora is at release 37, not 35. You may not be able to install FPC
from Fedora's repository. You are using an old distro, with an old FPC
as a result. You may be able to bootstrap the sources to compile it
yourself, but make sure the bootstrap compiler is at least up-to-date.
(requires FPC 3.2.0)

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lazer · 2022-10-15 15:11

The distroF35 is still maintained. 
If you read what I posted you will see it provides 3.2.2  so it is not
"old".

That is the "bootstrap" with which I just rebuilt 3.2.2 and 3.3.1
without any build issues.

The problem is Lazarus can't find RTL files which are present in the
standard place. I don't see what that has to do with fpc version.

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Thaddy · 2022-10-15 15:36

The bootstrap compiler is usually the current release minus 2.
The fact that Lazarus - basically fpc itself can't find certain units
is because the rtl is versioned.
FPC needs the proper rtl, NOT old stuff.

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lazer · 2022-10-15 15:59

Quotednf info fpc-src
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:11 ago on Sat 15 Oct 2022
17:53:59 CEST.
Installed Packages
Name         : fpc-src
Version      : 3.2.2
Release      : 3.fc35
Architecture : noarch
Size         : 244 M
Source       : fpc-3.2.2-3.fc35.src.rpm
Repository   : @System
From repo    : fedora
Summary      : Free Pascal Compiler - sources
URL          : http://www.freepascal.org/
License      : GPLv2+ and LGPLv2+ with exceptions
Description  : The fpc-src package contains the sources of Free
Pascal, for documentation or
             : automatical-code generation purposes.


I already stated that F35 supplies 3.2.2  , so trying to build and
install 3.2.2 with 3.2.2   is  NOT OLD STUFF.

Plus I also stated that went without a problem.

The problem is that Lazarus is unable to configure using the new file
locations. Even after adjusting fpc.cfg and pointing the start-up dlg
to the correct location.    It can't see what is already there.

Close all windows, if that does work reboot, if that doesn't work
reinstall operating system.   LOL

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dbannon · 2022-10-16 09:48

Lazer, I really think it would be a lot easier if you stick with just
one approach. We have established that the Fedora Repo does not
support 32bit so, perhaps, dropping the Fedora one might be a good
start.

Now you are left with installing FPC by one of three ways -
* Build it from source.
* Install from a Tarball
* Install from a RPM, Fedora's native package model.

They are listed, incidentally, hardest from the top, easiest at the
bottom.  I suggest the Tarball if you want to build cross compilers,
it has everything you need and can be installed in userspace, making
the process easier and safer.

And its still reasonably hard and you seem to like that. Installing
from the RPM is dead easy but a bit harder to build the cross
compiler    The one issue you will encounter is that Fedora likes its
libraries in different places and you may need to manually edit the
config file accordingly.

In most cases, you need to edit that config file, each platform has
its own section, I suspect that the Fedora Repo version has the 32bit
section removed. Makes sense, they don't do 32bit. Anyway, its pretty
normal to edit the config file when building cross compilers, do not
assume the defaults will always work because the various Linux
Distributions like to put things in different places.

Davo

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lazer · 2022-10-16 10:57

Many thanks for the help Dbannon.

After about 3 days of effort I got it fixed.

Having seen that Fedora don't even support cross compiling and make it
impossible for i386, I gave up on my usual prefence of letting the
distro handle this package and decided to go from project source for
both fpc and lazarus.

Using the distro's 3.2.2 I built 3.3.1 with cross for win32 on i386
and win64 on x64.
make clean all OS_TARGET=win64 CPU_TARGET=x86_64
make clean all OS_TARGET=win32 CPU_TARGET=i386

As you point out the fpc.cfg needed editing because Fedora (logically)
puts the x64 builds in /usr/lib64 . It seems with upstream all goes in
/usr/lib .

Having built lazarus, and running startlazarus, I was able to select 
my 3.3.1 tree in the IDE setup dialogue.
This time it found what it wanted and it all fired up.

The was a grumble about multiple copies of some units files.  It seems
lazarus provides these as well as the compiler. I renamed the lazarus
units and notunits and it seems fine with that. I don't know whether
that was the best choice.

Now I would like to build for win32 on x64 which is what the actual
target platform is. A lot of old hardware is x64 but the cheapo entry
level windows "Home" gave you a 32 bit OS on 64bit h/w.

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i make clean
all OS_TARGET=win32 CPU_TARGET=x86_64Makefile:235: *** The Makefile
doesn't support target x86_64-win32, please run fpcmake first.  Stop. 
 Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i fpcmake -T
x86_64-win32Processing Makefile.fpcError: No targets set 
Can you advise on how that works?

thanks.

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dbannon · 2022-10-17 00:00

Again, by having a distro supplied FPC install there as well as the
SourceForge one, you are complicating things so, so unnecessarily. You
must now ensure that you PATH points to the new compiler's location
BEFORE it get to /usr/bin (or whereever Fedora puts it).

Am I right in saying you are looking for x86_64-win32 ? I most
certainly am not a windows expert but I suspect what you want is
i386-win32.  If its win32 it assumes the i386 instruction set. All
those instructions are available on x86_64 so it runs fine there.
Saying win32 on x86_64 does not make sense IMHO.

I build binaries of my app for Win32 i386 and win64 x86_64 and have
never been asked for any any other combination. And, to my chagrin, I
get more Windows downloads than Linux !

Anyway, other comments, probably not significant -

You have not told us in which dir you are running it, maybe its in the
Fedora supplied one and we have established that Fedora has removed
the 32bit capability and, again guessing, probably the win32
capability.

Anyway, the Makefile is a ripper !  Have a look through it and see if
it mentions win32 - maybe compare that to the Makefile in the content
you downloaded from SourceForge.  Mine does mention i386-win32 but
most certainly not a 64bit version of that.

Please read
https://wiki.freepascal.org/Cross_compiling_for_Windows_under_Linux -
the second paragraph is particularly significant.

Davo

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lazer · 2022-10-17 06:32

Thanks, that's probably a fake installation I invented.  I have as
little to do with winWorld as possible. An intentionally crippled
win32 OS running on x64 hardware would probably refuse to have
anything to do with x64 instructions. So what I was envisaging does
not make sense.

Before building from source, I removed distro fpc and lazarus, but
then found there was no compiler to build with ( I had imagined the
tarball would include binaries so that it was not dependent on unknown
distro or other compilers ).

I had to reinstall Fedora's fpc to build the upstream source code.

Once I have done makeinstall and set up the symlinks , I checked bash
finds the right version:
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i fpc -vFree
Pascal Compiler version 3.3.1 [2022/10/16] for x86_64Copyright (c)
1993-2022 by Florian Klaempfl and othersFatal: No source file name in
command lineFatal: Compilation abortedError: /usr/bin/ppcx64 returned
an error exitcode 
Just to have a clear conscience, I've now removed the distro fpc and
reasserted the cfg and symlinks it kindly removed on the way out.

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dbannon · 2022-10-17 07:18

Quote from: lazer on October 17, 2022, 08:32:14 amBefore building from
source, I removed distro fpc and lazarus, but then found there was no
compiler to build with ( I had imagined the tarball would include
binaries so that it was not dependent on unknown distro or other
compilers ).
Both the rpm and the tarball includes the native compiles and all the
other, related binaries. Not cross compilers but all native stuff is
there. See https://wiki.freepascal.org/Installing_the_Free_Pascal_Comp
iler#FPC_Tar_Balls there is a series of, perhaps, 15 lines that end
with the "fpc -v" command demonstrating a clean install.

Quote from: lazer on October 17, 2022, 08:32:14 amI had to reinstall
Fedora's fpc to build the upstream source code.
No you did not.
Davo

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lazer · 2022-10-17 08:48

Thanks for the link.
QuoteCompiling the FPC source

    First install the release FPC from rpm/deb or tar balls as
described above.

That is what I was following.

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Thaddy · 2022-10-17 08:50

afaik fedora supports multi-arch but then you must install it.

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lazer · 2022-10-17 09:46

Yeah, thanks, I'm done with Fedora on this one. A distro is supposed
to make life easier and take some of the load. When it makes life
harder , I'm out.  Plus support and bug reporting is near non existent
on Fedora. Though I have found it generally fairly reliable as long as
you stay well behind the curve and let others find the bugs first. 
That's why I'm still on F35.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
dbannon · 2022-10-17 10:36

Fedora is an alpha test platform for RedHat. But a bit unfair to blame
them here.

You started by insisting on sticking with distro FPC and now you are,
apparently, insisting that the Official FPC tar balls don't have any
binaries 

Anyway, Ubuntu ?  With Ubuntu, you get the same release their
commercial customers are using. They have dropped 32bit releases but
still have 32bit libraries available in, at least, U2004, supported
for some time yet. I cannot speak for U2204 but think its still OK.
Debian still makes 32bit releases and has all the 32bit compatibility
libraries available for 64bit. I made some comment about the demise of
32bit over there and was quite firmly taken to task. But, please note,
Debian/Ubuntu Distro installs of FPC are not, IMHO, suitable for
building cross compilers.

Its still a case of installing FPC from the Tarball or RPM and
building the cross compilers from there.

I am unaware of any distro that ships FPC Crosscompilers from its
repo. I build my releases, Linux (32, 64) debs, rpms etc, Windows (32,
64), RasPi, Pacman from a Ubuntu2004 Virtual Box VM. I guess I could
strip out the private stuff and send it to you, its a sizable file
....

Davo

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lazer · 2022-10-17 11:45

Quote Official FPC tar balls don't have any binaries  No I didn't.

QuoteYou started by insisting on sticking with distro FPCI started
saying I prefered to use distro pkg where possible . When I found it
was impossible to build the i386 cross compiler I decided that was not
a useful option. Changing ones opinion as a result of new information
is often a good idea.
QuoteI could strip out the private stuff and send it to you,Very kind,
but I think I've got clean upto date installation with all cross stuff
I need know.  Now to battle with the debugger ...

Thanks for your help on this issue.