Re: [edk2-devel] [PATCH v2 0/2] BaseTools: Switch to downloading the ARM/AARCH64 compiler from Arm's site

["Leif Lindholm" <leif@nuviainc.com>]

On Wed, Sep 08, 2021 at 13:46:43 +0200, Gerd Hoffmann wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 08, 2021 at 12:13:12PM +0100, Leif Lindholm wrote:
> > On Sun, Aug 29, 2021 at 23:14:48 -0600, Rebecca Cran wrote:
> > > Linaro no longer do gcc releases - Arm creates them now.
> > > 
> > > Update the gcc_[arm,aarch64]_linux_ext_dep.yaml files in BaseTools/Bin to
> > > switch from Linaro's old release to the latest gcc 10.3-2021.07 release
> > > from Arm and fix LinuxGcc5ToolChain.py with the new gcc prefix.
> > > 
> > 
> > I don't know if anyone uses these files/tools to download toolchains
> > for downstream platforms. If they do, the upgrade from gcc7 to gcc10
> > may break their builds. But we're just after stable tag, so I have no
> > problem with that.
> 
> I'm wondering whenever this still makes sense.  I guess it was very
> useful in the early arm days where you need a cutting-edge compiler with
> the latest fixes applied to properly build edk2.  Meanwhile mainline gcc
> should work without any problems.  I'm simply using the distro cross
> compiler packages (gcc-arm-linux-gnu.rpm and gcc-aarch-linux-gnu.rpm on
> fedora) with zero problems since years.  As far I know debian/ubuntu
> have cross compiler packages too.

Oh, I personally only ever use distro-provided toolchains (when they
exist). The ones the distros use to build themselves. And I'm still
annoyed by how we're treating ARM like some weird special case that
needs to be cross compiled by default.

But that seems to be a lost battle. And I'd rather have the people who
feel that way use toolchains that occasionally get updated rather than
lock down on a version that stopped being updated several years ago.

> Fedora is at gcc11 meanwhile, so I don't expect the gcc7 -> gcc10 switch
> will trouble.  I don't do platform builds though, only ArmVirt.

Yes, hence my reference to downstream platforms :)

/
    Leif