geekmaster's simple guide to tcc (tinycc)

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

You change the file system setup so that to the machine it is OTG exported to, it looks like (and is) VFAT;
While it looks like (and is) an inode file system to the Kindle.
...
@GM: You go ahead and do the that write-up yourself if you want to, it will be sometime before I can get around to it.

Originally Posted by knc1

I am not making that suggestion.

You suggested that I write it up. I need clarification before I can do that. You said that it would be an inode file system to the Kindle, but would be exported as VFAT. How is that different from how I interpreted it in the quote that you said is not what you are suggesting. I do not understand the difference between what you said, and my interpretation of what you said. Please clarify that for me.

[knc1]

I wrote I would add that write-up to my todo list.
I wrote that I could not estimate a completion time.
I can not do any better than that.
Maybe someone else can.
If someone else can, then they should not wait around for me to do it.

Originally Posted by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. - The Mytical Man-Month

Observe that for the programmer, as for the chef, the urgency of
the patron may govern the scheduled completion of the task, but
it cannot govern the actual completion. An omelette, promised in
two minutes, may appear to be progressing nicely. But when it has
not set in two minutes, the customer has two choices—wait or eat
it raw. Software customers have had the same choices.

Only I don't "ship it raw", because "Hack" is a four letter word.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

I wrote I would add that write-up to my todo list.
I wrote that I could not estimate a completion time.
I can not do any better than that.
Maybe someone else can.
If someone else can, then they should not wait around for me to do it.


Only I don't "ship it raw", because "Hack" is a four letter word.

Good enough.

I will wait until you have time to document this before I learn more about it. Thanks.

My curiosity on this matter will just have to wait. I am sorry if I irked you -- that was not my intent. When things do not fit together in my mind it gives me a sense of urgency to fit the pieces together in a coherent way, and this thing left me with an "itch" in my brain, with your tantalizing suggestion that it CAN be done, and the potential problems I discovered due to my apparent misunderstanding of your suggestion as indicated in my previous post...

[deep]

This project seems to resemble what you people have been discussing... albeit I may be totally wrong about it !

http://www.ext2fsd.com/

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by deep

This project seems to resemble what you people have been discussing... albeit I may be totally wrong about it !

http://www.ext2fsd.com/

I have used that filesystem driver before. It is for making an "inode-formatted" (ext2/3) filesystem look like a windows filesystem (but not necessarily vfat).

It works at a higher level and is not quite the same thing, but it DOES assume that the kindle USB drive would be reformatted to contain inodes (such as ext2 or ext3).

However, knc1 said that this is not what he is suggesting, so we will have to wait for his documentation to see how to put symlinks on a vfat drive without reformatting it. Perhaps it can be done using some kind of overlay filesystem like Nyoxi has posted (to contain the symlinks), or perhaps it can simulate symlinks using shortcuts (like cygwin), or by some other method.

But it looks like my curiosity may not be satisfied until knc1 has more time to document this.

[deep]

Another interesting link https://lkml.org/lkml/2002/6/8/74

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

But it looks like my curiosity may not be satisfied until knc1 has more time to document this.

I am not (intentionally) trying to be an asshole, just being honest about the likelyhood of my ever finishing anything that I want to do.
Over here (my side of the keyboard), its called: Life gets in the way.
- - - -
As GM says: The plan may run afoal of actual implementation details.
RANT
By hindsight, it seems to me that Amazon totally ignored the experiences of LinkSys (the folks that put Linux into a consumer product with the thought in mind that "nobody would ever look under the hood").
Yeah, right!

It is almost as if Amazon was thinking: "People will only use this to read books, so it doesn't matter if we use WinCE or Linux".
(Freescale supports WinCE on their SoC devices.)

If that wasn't the case, then they would (for instance) just load USBnet and export the user's area as CIFS.
Thus requiring a "set up disk" for Windows users.

But what after-market device that plugs into a Windows box does not come with a "set up disk"?
That wouldn't have been anything unexpected by Windows users - __everything__ they buy comes with one of those (even when it isn't needed because of Window's built-in automation).

Linksys learned their lesson and now are a supporter of after-market modifications.
Maybe Amazon will learn that lesson also.
/RANT

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

... just being honest about the likelyhood of my ever finishing anything that I want to do.
Over here (my side of the keyboard), its called: Life gets in the way.
- - - -
As GM says: The plan may run afoul of actual implementation details.
...

When I was about 6 or 7 years old, I estimated that it would take me 6 lifetimes to complete the things that I wanted to accomplish THEN. My "To Do" list has only gotten LONGER since then. I was never able to get a team together to help me complete my life goals in the meager time allotted to mortal human lifespans.

Heck, it took me most of my FIRST lifetime just to learn to communicate semi-effectively with other humans.

[drauger]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Did the latest tcc package fix this?

If not, we need to add another fix to the install or tccmake scripts to work around whatever is messed up in the 4.0.1 firmware...

I didn't try the fix, just rewrote tccmake according to your comments. Now it works.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by drauger

I didn't try the fix, just rewrote tccmake according to your comments. Now it works.

Are you willing to share your changes?

[drauger]

Originally Posted by knc1

Are you willing to share your changes?

It is just bind mount of libpthread.so located in tcc folder. Nothing different from geekmaster's solution.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by drauger

It is just bind mount of libpthread.so located in tcc folder. Nothing different from geekmaster's solution.

Does not modifing the tccmake script to use the proper set of -L (with matching -I) options not work to correct both library and include search paths?

Note: The use of bind/unbind commands will fail when more than a single instance of GM_tccmake is being run (such as from a make or script that runs more than a single job at a time).

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

Does not modifing the tccmake script to use the proper set of -L (with matching -I) options not work to correct both library and include search paths?

Note: The use of bind/unbind commands will fail when more than a single instance of GM_tccmake is being run (such as from a make or script that runs more than a single job at a time).

The problem is not missing library PATH. The problems is missing symlinks on some firmware versions. On 5.1.0 there is the extra problem of bad library loader scripts.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

The problem is not missing library PATH. The problems is missing symlinks on some firmware versions. On 5.1.0 there is the extra problem of bad library loader scripts.

Then you are confirming here that:
-L/lib/libc.so.6 (for the single case of where the libc.so -> libc.so.6 symlink is missing)
does not work with tcc? (note: only a single example, not a complete solution - hmm... possibly a bad example, since libc is searched both first and last)

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

On 5.1.0 there is the extra problem of bad library loader scripts.

There is an extra speed bump here in the communications channel.

What you name a: "library loader script" is a: "ld control script".
ld control scripts use only 4 keywords, and tcc only recognizes two of them.

The "loader script", written in the general purpose ld scripting language, defines how objects and object symbols are laid out in memory.
Alternates to the default one are introduced by "-T" (or "-c" if using MRI scripts) with software that recognizes the "loader script" option(s).

"-L" affects the search/use of "ld control script(s)" and libraries, it does not affect the search/use of "loader scripts" (unless "-T" is present).