* Service:: How to find suppliers of support for GCC.
* Contributing:: How to contribute to testing and developing GCC.
* VMS:: Using GCC on VMS.
-* Makefile:: List of Makefile targets.
+* Makefile:: Additional Makefile and configure information.
@end ifset
@ifset INTERNALS
* Portability:: Goals of GCC's portability features.
number of changes to your source code.
@node Makefile
-@chapter Makefile Targets
+@chapter Additional Makefile and configure information.
+
+@section Makefile Targets
@cindex makefile targets
@cindex targets, makefile
@end table
+@section Configure Terms and History
+@cindex configure terms
+@cindex canadian
+
+This section is not instructions for building GCC. If you are trying to
+do a build, you should first read @uref{http://gcc.gnu.org/install/} or
+whatever installation instructions came with your source package.
+
+The configure and build process has a long and colorful history, and can
+be confusing to anyone who doesn't know why things are the way they are.
+While there are other documents which describe the configuration process
+in detail, here are a few things that everyone working on GCC should
+know.
+
+There are three system names that the build knows about: the machine you
+are building on (@dfn{build}), the machine that you are building for
+(@dfn{host}), and the machine that GCC will produce code for
+(@dfn{target}). When you configure GCC, you specify these with
+@option{--build=}, @option{--host=}, and @option{--target=}.
+
+Specifying the host without specifying the build should be avoided, as
+@command{configure} may (and once did) assume that the host you specify
+is also the build, which may not be true.
+
+If build, host, and target are all the same, this is called a
+@dfn{native}. If build and host are the same but target is different,
+this is called a @dfn{cross}. If build, host, and target are all
+different this is called a @dfn{canadian} (for obscure reasons dealing
+with Canada's political party and the background of the person working
+on the build at that time). If host and target are the same, but build
+is different, you are using a cross-compiler to build a native for a
+different system. Some people call this a @dfn{host-x-host},
+@dfn{crossed native}, or @dfn{cross-built native}. If build and target
+are the same, but host is different, you are using a cross compiler to
+build a cross compiler that produces code for the machine you're
+building on. This is rare, so there is no common say of describing it
+(although I propose calling it a @dfn{crossback}).
+
+If build and host are the same, the GCC you are building will also be
+used to build the target libraries (like @code{libstdc++}). If build and host
+are different, you must have already build and installed a cross
+compiler that will be used to build the target libraries (if you
+configured with @option{--target=foo-bar}, this compiler will be called
+@command{foo-bar-gcc}).
+
+In the case of target libraries, the machine you're building for is the
+machine you specified with @option{--target}. So, build is the machine
+you're building on (no change there), host is the machine you're
+building for (the target libraries are built for the target, so host is
+the target you specified), and target doesn't apply (because you're not
+building a compiler, you're building libraries). The configure/make
+process will adjust these variables as needed. It also sets
+@code{$with_cross_host} to the original @option{--host} value in case you
+need it.
+
+Libiberty, for example, is built twice. The first time, host comes from
+@option{--host} and the second time host comes from @option{--target}.
+Historically, libiberty has not been built for the build machine,
+though, which causes some interesting issues with programs used to
+generate sources for the build. Fixing this, so that libiberty is built
+three times, has long been on the to-do list.
+
@end ifset
@ifset INTERNALS