Re: [bug-libsigsegv] new clisp/libffcall/libsigsegv for testing

[Bruno Haible]

Hi Mojca,

You wrote in <http://tug.org/pipermail/tlbuild/2017q2/003774.html>
(and I couldn't reply earlier because I'm not subscribed to that list
and you didn't CC me):

> I optimistically tried to cross-compile on Mac OS X, but libffcall
> fails to detect the proper architecture and libsigsegv's "make check"
> fails. I'll try to see if I can trick the compiler to avoid having to
> go to a different machine with different architecture just for the
> sake of compiling clisp (the rest of TL works just fine this way).

None of clisp/libffcall/libsigsegv supports effortless cross-compilation
because:
  * libffcall and libsigsegv run behavioral tests at configure time
    (cf. AC_RUN_IFELSE), and we don't have a complete database of the
    outcome of these tests on the various platforms. (I have access to
    ca. 50 platforms - you can imagine the amount of work it would be
    to keep this database up to date.)
  * clisp creates memory images as part of its build process, and these
    memory images are highly platform dependent (on the memory word size
    in particular).

Bruno