Building 32-bit binaries on 64-bit 6.3

[Oliver Fromme]

David Schwartz wrote:
 >         I've been looking for a way to build 32-bit x86 binaries on an AMD64
 > install of FreeBSD 6.3 STABLE.

Doing it within a 32bit chroot (or jail) is probably the
easiest way.  At least it was for me.  I simply took a
32bit install from an FTP mirror, installed it into
/usr/i386, mounted devfs inside it (and mdfs on tmp),
then chrooted into it, and everything worked as expected.
Of course, if you have a 32bit world on some other box,
you can simply make a copy of it for your chroot.

Of course, be sure that your amd64 kernel contains the
line "options COMPAT_IA32" (it's in GENERIC by default),
so the i386 binary compatibility is enabled.  You also
have to make a link inside the chroot's /libexec:
# cd libexec
# ln ld-elf.so.1 ld-elf32.so.1

And finally, certain Makefiles (including our buildworld
target) will be confused and think that you're attempting
to cross-compile.  In order to trick them into assuming
that you're running on a 32bit kernel, you have to set
these environment variables before:
# export UNAME_m=i386
# export UNAME_p=i386
If you're using csh or tcsh, use this syntax instead:
% setenv UNAME_m i386
% setenv UNAME_p i386

With the above settings, I was able to perform a full
buildworld + installworld within a 32bit chroot on a
64bit host.  The result was still a 32bit world, of
course.

Best regards
   Oliver

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Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M.
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