Converting ubuntu 12.04 to soft float

Hi guys,

I need to get oracle jdk installed on my beaglebone. However oracle provides support only for soft floats. I was wondering if there is any place in the kernel configuaration where I can set whether soft float os turned on or not(In linux-dev directory ./build_kernel.sh). If not is rolling back to oneiric 11.10 my only choice?

There's nothing in the kernel configuration to tune for armel or armhf
as there is no floating point in the kernel...

Actually "Quantal" is your last 'armel' choice, look up "multiarch" to
install armel libraries in an armhf system..

(armel is gone in Raring)

Regards,

When you say Quantal do you mean Ubuntu 12.10 ? Multiarch-Didnt know about that -will definitely look it up.
This may seem stupid but I was unable to understand the last statement - armel is gone in Raring. Could you please explain a little more on it.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2012-November/036106.html

Regards,

Thanks for the link!

So if I say
dpkg --add-architecture i386
echo “foreign-architecture i386” > /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/architectures

and then install the i386 oracle jdk from oracle and run the ./java --version it should ideally work right? Or are there anyother steps that I have to take to get it working correctly?

If you install an i386 binary on an architecture that's not i386
compatible, it won't run (without something like qemu). Most likely,
Oracle's jvm is not java bytecode but a true binary. I'm not sure what
else Oracle's jdk gives you, but without a functioning jvm I don't think
you'll get very far running java code.

If your intention is to use Oracle's jvm/jdk and they don't currently
offer what you need, call them and give them money, they seem to like
money.

-Andrew

Please keep the list CC'ed.

Shouldnt multiarch take care of the difference in architecture?

Multiarch can't take care of differences in architecture for actually
running applications from ARM to i386. It's more of a way to install
libs, build dependencies, and other assorted dependencies for
architectures that are binary compatible. If you want to do
multiarch for i386 and x86_64, then yes, multiarch should mostly take
care of running those apps. For ARM, going from armel to armhf might
work (but armel's going away for Ubuntu, real soon now) but I haven't
tried it.

Mutliarch from the point of view going from x86 to ARM is mostly to
ease cross building dependencies and having multiple sets of
compilers / libs / build deps around. For example, try out the mess
that happens when using xapt [1] compared to the relative ease of
getting a cross building setup going on Ubuntu 12.04.

[1]:EmdebianToolchain - Debian Wiki

In order to run the jvm, you're going to need the jvm compiled for ARM.

-Andrew

Why oh why did you pick i386, your running on arm???

When using an "armhf" system, and your looking to run an "armel"
oracle release, you'd add "armel"? Right?

sudo dpkg --add-architecture armel
sudo apt-get update

Although, i still think it's silly, you'd rather use Oracle's release
over the openjdk in armhf...

Regards,

I got overexcited when I heard of multiarch. I hadnt heard of it before. I perhaps thought if I was able to run packages for the i386 processors , it would solve a lot of compatibility issues and make my life much much simpler.
But things arent that simple are they?
Plus I just wanted to experiment and see if it would actually work.
Thanks for all the help.

Well, that is one of the ideas behind mulitarch... running i386 on
arm, but at this point that specific thing isn't really piratical
'speed' wise...

Regards,

So if I put aside speed concerns it should work right?

In my mind, watching paint dry is not really considered working..

Regards,

I guess I get the idea now :-).

Hi there,

Why not? That would be the next logical step... :wink:

root@hades:/# dpkg --version
Debian `dpkg' package management program version 1.16.9 (armhf).
This is free software; see the GNU General Public License version 2 or
later for copying conditions. There is NO warranty.
root@hades:/# cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep AMD
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
model name : AMD A6-3500 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
model name : AMD A6-3500 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
model name : AMD A6-3500 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics

so armhf on x86_64 via qemu-arm-static..

So other then "speed" there's really no reason you could not "do it"..

Regards,

Hi Robert,