Won't contribute KVM build :-( (was: Contributing the build of a KVM image)

On 29.01.24 23:41, Jo Durchholz wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> where do I turn to if I want to contribute to the FreeBSD build/release 
> process so that a KVM image will be built?
> 
> This is not actually about virtualization per se but about the 
> build&release process, so I guess I'd be wrong here.

I'm sorry to report that I can't do it, due to lack of feedback and 
incomplete/outdated documentation.

Current roadblock is that I don't see a list of valid value for TARGET 
and TARGET_ARCH.
After much searching, I found that "make targets" will give me that.

Trying "make.py targets" -> complains about unset MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX.

Some Internet searches later I know it's just a temporary build 
directory, so I put it in ~/obj, export MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX=~/obj
-> complains:
Could not infer value for $XCC. Either set $XCC or pass 
--cross-bindir=/cross/compiler/dir/bin

"which clang" gives me /usr/bin/clang, so why does it not find clang?
Now trying src/tools/build/make.py --cross-bindir=/usr/bin targets
Could not infer value for $XCPP: /usr/bin/clang-cpp

Ehm... sure, no, there is no such thing as a clang-cpp.
I have a clang-cpp-14. Not sure why there's no clang-cpp, 
https://clang.llvm.org/docs/UsersManual.html says it should be there, 
but then again the Debian package maintainer may have run into naming 
conflicts and decided to give a version-specific name.

I could obviously use XCPP=/usr/bin/clang-cpp, but given that I haven't 
gotten an answer to my previous question and that I have to expect more 
roadbumps ahead, plus I'll have to learn the freebsd Arcanist tooling 
just to submit a patch... well, it's been death by a thousand papercuts, 
and sorry, that's more work than I'm willing to invest, and it's a KO 
anyway since I'm making something highly security-critical and I'm not 
confident I can learn enough of FreeBSD to make no stupid mistakes.

So... Linux it will be.
It's sad, because FreeBSD has a pretty impressive security track record 
that I'd really like to leverage, but if I can't achieve the traction to 
bring that advantage to the road, it's not useful for me - I'd need a 
competent FreeBSD person for that, and I don't have one, and my own 
competence seems insufficient.

Please not that THIS IS NOT A CRITICISM OF FREEBSD.
It's just a single data point, for anybody who wants to know what kinds 
of things hold back FreeBSD adoption; if there's no need for that 
(possibly because other things have higher priority, or a gazillion of 
other possible reason), please pretend I never wrote this.

And, thanks for making FreeBSD. I know it's a lot of work.

Regards,
Jo