Just wondering...

p0indext0r · 2004-02-21 00:22:20

It's been about 3 weeks now since I first installed arch and let me say, WHOA! . So far it's been nothing but a joy to work with. I was a slackware user before so this distro isn't too much of a learning curve.
Anyway on to my question:

I was just wondering about ABS and/or compiling source on arch. My question is... is it possible to compile packages with athlon-xp optimizations? Or will it have issues running on arch since everything is optimized for i686.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I figure that there is no harm in asking.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

neocephas · 2004-02-21 00:30:18

If you look at the /etc/makepkg.conf file you can set your CFLAGs, just like in gentoo.

#
# /etc/makepkg.conf
#

....

# Pentium Pro/Pentium II/Pentium III+/Pentium 4/Athlon exclusive (binaries
# will use the P6 instruction set and only run on P6+ systems)
export CFLAGS="-march=i686 -O2 -pipe"
export CXXFLAGS="-march=i686 -O2 -pipe"

....

However, you really shouldn't modify the flags if you are making packages for general use. For personal use its fine.

Mr Green · 2004-02-21 09:21:13

Hi

you can custom build your kernel but for the hassle are you going to get any real increase in performance ( that you will notice :? )

If you want to do that then its up to you ...which XP cpu you runnin....?

Mr Green

jlowell · 2004-02-21 14:29:47

p0indext0r,

My Arch systems are entirely source built, but they are PII, PIII, and PIV systems, not AMD. Someone else will have to answer that one for you. The path I took to do this was as follows:

1. Installation
2. Edit /etc/makepkg to show "-march=pentiumx (where x= appropriate CPU) -03 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
3. With cvsup and wget installed and cvsup run, ran abs.
4. Rebuilt packages one at a time with makepkg -bci.

There are both official and unofficial scripts that offer ways of automating all or part of the rebuild but I've yet to employ them in any serious way. That doesn't mean that they can't be of help to you.

Maintenence after taking these steps is easy. Periodically run pacman -Syu to get a take on what packages can be upgraded but opt out of the process by selecting "n". Run abs, change directory to the directory that holds the PKGBUILD upgrade and run makepkg -bci. There will be only a few packages to rebuild each week.

Periodically you may wish to clear the stored source code and other cruft from your system to make sure it's not slowing you down. I check /var/cache/pacman/pkg and /var/cache/pacman/src every once in a while and remove the contents. You can also clear /var/abs/* and rerun abs, although there are more elegant solutions.

Now if we can get someone to jump in with an answer to the athlon question.

jlowell

p0indext0r · 2004-02-21 21:30:11

Cool, because I was considering rebuilding everything one at a time to optimize them for an athlon-x system (for personal use only of course).

I run an athlon-xp 2500 and was curious if its possible. Maybe I'll play around with lfs(on a seperate hd of course. Arch... it's a keeper ).

Oh, I just thought of another question. I was curious as to when I compile my kernel (which I have no problems with and am comfortable doing so) what processor arch should I choose? Because I remember (back in my gentoo days) that they had a selection for athlon-xp in the kernel itself, and the stock kernel that basically every other distro uses does not have this option. They only have the regular athlon as a choice. Does this even make a difference? Did the gentoo dev's make a patch for their kernel? Just curious, and thanks for the replies.

sarah31 · 2004-02-21 22:32:45

p0indext0r wrote:

Oh, I just thought of another question. I was curious as to when I compile my kernel (which I have no problems with and am comfortable doing so) what processor arch should I choose?

athlon k7

Because I remember (back in my gentoo days) that they had a selection for athlon-xp in the kernel itself, and the stock kernel that basically every other distro uses does not have this option. They only have the regular athlon as a choice. Does this even make a difference?

the XP is a athlon it complies fully with a k7 architecture

Did the gentoo dev's make a patch for their kernel? Just curious, and thanks for the replies.

no they didn't thereis no specific selection for XP and XP is a k7 i believe there is an option within the 2.6 kernel for some more XP specific instructions.

jlowell · 2004-02-21 22:34:19

p0indext0r,

As I'd mentioned above, I have absolutely no experience with AMDs and would hesitate to make any suggestions for fear of toasting your system somehow. I wouldn't know an athlon-xp from windows xp.

Perhaps some one else can step up to the plate?

jlowell

p0indext0r · 2004-02-21 23:19:47

Ahh ic, so the athlon option also caters to k7's(correct me if i missunderstood anything). Oh and jlowell dont worry about it , but thanks for replying anyway.

Well, if i think of anymore questions I know where to go. Thanks a lot to those who replied and to those who thought of replying but didnt have an answer.

sarah31 · 2004-02-22 16:58:41

          
               ( ) 386                                                   x x     
     x x      ( ) 486                                                   x x     
     x x      ( ) 586/K5/5x86/6x86/6x86MX                               x x     
     x x      ( ) Pentium-Classic                                       x x     
     x x      ( ) Pentium-MMX                                           x x     
     x x      ( ) Pentium-Pro                         
                ( ) Pentium-II/Celeron(pre-Coppermine)                    x x     
     x x      ( ) Pentium-III/Celeron(Coppermine)/Pentium-III Xeon      x x     
     x x      ( ) Pentium-4/Celeron(P4-based)/Xeon                      x x     
     x x      ( ) K6/K6-II/K6-III                                       x x     
     x x      (X) Athlon/Duron/K7                                       x x     
     x x      ( ) Opteron/Athlon64/Hammer/K8       x      
               ( ) Elan                                                  x x     
     x x      ( ) Crusoe                                                x x     
     x x      ( ) Winchip-C6                                            x x     
     x x      ( ) Winchip-2                                             x x     
     x x      ( ) Winchip-2A/Winchip-3                                  x x     
     x x      ( ) VIA C3-2 (Nehemiah)                                   
               ( ) CyrixIII/VIA-C3                                       x x

this is from menuconfig's processor options please tell me where you see athlon-xp.

athlon-xp is a CFLAG not a processor option.

p0indext0r · 2004-02-22 19:44:39

Yeah, I figured it all out, and there is no and has never been a selection for an athlon-xp specific choice as a processor. I do know that in the gentoo kernel there is(but who cares about gentoo, well i don't at least). I don't think they did anything to their kernel besides patch it for bootsplash and some other little tweaks. I personally don't like to patch the kernel unless I need too, such as for a bootsplash.

Arch Linux

#1 2004-02-21 00:22:20

Just wondering...

#2 2004-02-21 00:30:18

Re: Just wondering...

#3 2004-02-21 09:21:13

Re: Just wondering...

#4 2004-02-21 14:29:47

Re: Just wondering...

#5 2004-02-21 21:30:11

Re: Just wondering...

#6 2004-02-21 22:32:45

Re: Just wondering...

#7 2004-02-21 22:34:19

Re: Just wondering...

#8 2004-02-21 23:19:47

Re: Just wondering...

#9 2004-02-22 16:58:41

Re: Just wondering...

#10 2004-02-22 19:44:39

Re: Just wondering...

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