NetBSD source build and crosscompile notes

An update on my notes to compile NetBSD kernels and userland.


Build / update the tools:

-U : for unprivilged building
-u : to update
-m : to specify architecture

./build.sh -U -u tools

To cross compile, this is would enough:
./build.sh -U -m i386 -u tools
However, since I do want to build on the same computer and the build script would be confused, we add -T /usr/tools-${HOST_ARCH}-${TARGET_ARCH} and also separate the object dir with -O!

./build.sh -U -m i386 -u -O /usr/obj-amd64-i386 -T /usr/tools-amd64-i386 tools


Then we build the kernel

./build.sh -U kernel=CONFNAME

or for cross compilation:
./build.sh -U -O /usr/obj-amd64-i386 -T /usr/tools-amd64-i386 -m i386 -u kernel=GENERIC

The modules:
./build.sh -U -u modules installmodules=/

Now to build userland, including X11. I did not attempt to cross-build userland yet.

./build.sh -U -x -u distribution

./build.sh -U -x -u distribution install=/

DataBasin and DataBasinKit 0.9 released

After more than a year of work, finally a new release of DataBasin and its associated framework. This version features a Framework that can be used in threads and the application itself is capable of having concurrent connection classes to SalesForce.com.

On Windows

On OpenBSD

Countless bug fixes (thanks to the bug reports of my colleagues Diego, Moustapha, Matteo + Matteo).

Major new features are:

• threadable DataBasinKit framework
• concurrent, interruptible operations (e.g. select vs. update)
• handle multiple errors as a result of update
• filter new lines when writing CSVs
• countless bugfixes, especially in select-identify corner cases

DataBasinKit allows you native connection to SalesForce.com, allowing your application to integrate SOQL queries (SELECT, UPDATE similar operations), be it on Mac (Cocoa) or NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Linux or Solaris as well as Windows (MinGW).
DataBasin itself allows you to perform standard operations in a quick and agile interface: Extract accounts on Linux without the need of Java. Use the unique select-identify feature.

I am proud that Free Software can connect from a Free Software Operating System to a proprietary system and bridge the two worlds, enabling to do administrative work without being constrained to Java on Windows (read: DataLoader). Thanks to the many developers who continue supporting me in the development and keep these fine Operating Systems and tools alive.

Pantomime 1.2.2 release

Did you want to use GNUMail on NetBSD and were not even able to compile it? Do you run 64bit and had problems with GNUMail ?

I am pleased to announce a new, maintenance release of Pantomime.

Due to the inactivity of CollaborationWorld and Ludovic, we(*) decided to import the sources in gnustep-nonfsf at gna.org.



The download is at:
http://download.gna.org/gnustep-nonfsf/Pantomime-1.2.2.tar.gz

This release contains updates and some important, long-needed fixes:
* new res_init code for NetBSD which allows finally, after years, to run GNUMail on NetBSD!
* enhanced portability to FreeBSD and OpenBSD
* improved packaging hints in the makefiles
* port to MacOS reinstantiated (10.3/10.4 tested)
* extended 64bit fixes, including NSInteger/NSUInteger transitions were appropriate
* enhanced crash catching, so that debugging is eased in the future
* memory leaks fixed

NetBSD quick update guide

Since I always tend to forget and the documentation on the website is a bit incomplete, I sum up the procedure I use to update from source the kernel and userland:

Update /usr with cvs, create /usr/obj and /usr/tools (or clean its content).

As per documentation, build the tools. Inside /usr/src:

$ ./build.sh -O /usr/obj -T /usr/tools -U -u tools

Now build the kernel:

$ cd /usr/src
$ ./build.sh -O ../obj -T ../tools kernel=

Install it:

# mv /netbsd /netbsd.old
# mv /usr/obj/sys/arch/i386/compile//netbsd /

And now, important, build and install the modules:

# ./build.sh -O /usr/obj -T /usr/tools -U -u modules installmodules=/

Reboot and check that the kernel works. Then build and install userland:

$ ./build.sh -O ../obj -T ../tools -U -x distribution

# ./build.sh -O ../obj -T ../tools -U -u -x install=/ 

 Cross your fingers and happy BSD!

BatteryMonitor supports NetBSD

BatteryMonitor for GNUstep now has support for NetBSD acpi too now! Support languished because decent acpi support in NetBSD is relatively recent and reading it requires checking a property list (which is of course more complex, but at least consistent and clean compared to the maze of files linux provides). To manipulate it libprop sports handy functions, yet I always had some problems here and there, until I realized something very cool. Property lists are familiar to GNUstep and Cocoa users.
char * prop_dictionary_externalize(prop_dictionary_t dict);
Exports fully-fledged XML property list compatible with GNUstep plists, not just something similar. Thus it is a matter of using
-[NSString propertyList]
to get a dictionary and manipulate it with obj-c iterators, which is much more convenient than the equivalent C function provided by libprop.

Support is still quite rough and, for example, only the first battery is checked. I have only one NetBSD laptop and I don't know how NetBSD shields the results from BIOS idiosyncrasies I experienced on Linux (watt-hour and ampere-hour usage and orthogonality for example). But it is already very nice!