cross compiling -- building programs to run on build system

[John W. Eaton]

What is the right way to use autoconf to determine the compiler and
system characteristics for tools that are written in C and must be run
as part of a larger build that is cross compiled?

For example, Octave has some programs that are written in C++ that are
compiled and run during the build process to generate some
documentation.  Thse programs should not be compiled by the cross
compiler tools, but by the normal build system tools so they will run
on the build system (they are not needed on the host system).  This is
a simple case because the programs are also simple, and don't rely on
any OS-specific features.

In a more general case, I suppose you would also need to check
features for the two systems (host and build) separately, and try to
keep track of the results separately.

If necessary, I could put these tools in a separate directory with an
independent configure script, but then what is the correct way to tell
configure that it should ignore any setting of host and not set up for
cross compiling?

I apologize if this is a FAQ -- point me in the direction of some docs
or previous discussion and I'll be happy.

Thanks,

jwe

-- 
www.octave.org        | Unfortunately we were hopelessly optimistic in 1954
www.che.wisc.edu/~jwe | about the problems of debugging FORTRAN programs.
                      |                                       -- J. Backus