[Flac-dev] flac/metaflac 32/64 Universal OS X builds

[Brian Willoughby]

In my experience, with the gcc compiler, cross-compiling is highly  
reliable.  If your code runs on one processor, then it will run on  
all.  Linking and such might be an issue, which you will discover  
immediately when the first person tries to run what you've built on  
their system.

It still would be great to run these tests on all four.  Actually,  
you should be able to test 32-bit and 64-bit on the same machine,  
provided that you have the release of the OS that is capable of 64- 
bit (but it might require a new test harness).  Testing 32-bit and 64- 
bit for the non-native processor should be a simple matter of handing  
off the binaries to a tester for confirmation before making a public  
release of those binaries.

There is no reason to suspect that cross-compiled binaries have any  
more errors than the native compile, at least not with Xcode and Mac  
OS X.

Brian Willoughby
Sound Consulting


On May 5, 2008, at 15:19, Erik de Castro Lopo wrote:
> Stephen F. Booth wrote:
>> I've just finished an Xcode 3.1 project file for flac and metaflac
>> that builds both tools as 32/64 bit universal binaries.  If anyone is
>> interested in either the binaries or the project, I'll be happy to
>> share them.
>
> The thing that always made me curious is how do you test these
> universal binaries. I meean automated testing. Josh already has
> a large test suite, but if you don't run that test suite on
> all four versions why bother?
>
> Sure, you can test the native compile without problems, but how
> do you test the other three? Its also the three cross-compiled
> ones which are the most likely to be wrong.
>
> Erik