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4.1 Configuration Name Definition

This is a string of the form cpu-manufacturer-operating_system. In some cases, this is extended to a four part form: cpu-manufacturer-kernel-operating_system.

When using a configuration name in a configure option, it is normally not necessary to specify an entire name. In particular, the manufacturer field is often omitted, leading to strings such as `i386-linux' or `sparc-sunos'. The shell script `config.sub' will translate these shortened strings into the canonical form. autoconf will arrange for `config.sub' to be run automatically when it is needed.

The fields of a configuration name are as follows:

cpu
The type of processor. This is typically something like `i386' or `sparc'. More specific variants are used as well, such as `mipsel' to indicate a little endian MIPS processor.
manufacturer
A somewhat freeform field which indicates the manufacturer of the system. This is often simply `unknown'. Other common strings are `pc' for an IBM PC compatible system, or the name of a workstation vendor, such as `sun'.
operating_system
The name of the operating system which is run on the system. This will be something like `solaris2.5' or `irix6.3'. There is no particular restriction on the version number, and strings like `aix4.1.4.0' are seen. For an embedded system, which has no operating system, this field normally indicates the type of object file format, such as `elf' or `coff'.
kernel
This is used mainly for GNU/Linux. A typical GNU/Linux configuration name is `i586-pc-linux-gnulibc1'. In this case the kernel, `linux', is separated from the operating system, `gnulibc1'.

The shell script `config.guess' will normally print the correct configuration name for the system on which it is run. It does by running `uname' and by examining other characteristics of the system.

Because `config.guess' can normally determine the configuration name for a machine, it is normally only necessary to specify a configuration name when building a cross-compiler or when building using a cross-compiler.


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