binutils

[Alexander Best]

there's a project called binutils in p4 but i don't know anything about it
(version, status, etc.). the problem with binutils from the portsdir is that
even when it's installed gcc still uses the the base-binaries because gcc is
statically linked. so in order to use the binutils from the ports dir you also
have to install a gcc port (which gets linkey dynamically).

a very dirty workaround is to install binutils from the ports, rename the base
binary you don't want to use anymore and instead create a link to
/usr/local/bin/*.

here's an example. this way i could build mplayer with sse3 support. although
the base gcc (4.2.1 in my case running 9-current) supports sse3, the base GNU
assembler version (2.15) doesn't.

what i did was to install the binutils port, `mv /usr/bin/as /usr/bin/as_old`
and `ln -s /usr/local/bin/as /usr/bin/as`.

now the base gcc picks up the new GNU assembler binary.

cheers.
alex


oh...and i agree: binutils should be updated. actually a lot of base code
needs to be updated. some of it hasn't been touched for over a decade. ;)