C++ compilers on Linux supporting 64bit architecture?

[Bo Berglund]

On Sat, 01 Sep 2007 09:36:09 -0400, Sam Varshavchik
<mrsam at courier-mta.com> wrote:

>Chris Jones writes:
>
>> 
>>> 1) Is it possible to cross-compile on Linux 32 bit to produce an
>>> executable for the 64bit architecture Linux as well as 32 bit?
>> 
>> No, I don't think a 32bit only processor can produce 64bit binaries. The other
>
>It's not the question of processor, but rather compiler support.
>
>This is certainly doable, you just have to build your own custom version of 
>binutils, and gcc, that cross compile to elf_x86-64.
>
>But all of this is irrelevant. The stupid reasons why one has to do this -- 
>target Win64 binaries on a Win32 box -- simply do not exist on Linux. If you 
>intend to run 64 bit binaries, you can just build them directly on the 64 
>bit hardware. It's not like you'll have to pay a small fortune for a native 
>64 bit Linux compiler, like you'd have to for a 64 bit version of Visual 
>Studio, so none of that nonsense is really needed.

Well, if you have a bunch of Windows developers all having a
workstation running 32 bit Windows on a 32 bit CPU, then the option is
not there simply to furnish them all with a new laptop with 64bit CPU
and a Linux 64 bit version to compile the 64bit program.
Their main job will still remain to work on windows software (which
one can actually sell).

So  my question comes from a suggestion to run a 32 bit Linux inside a
VirtualPC virtual machine in the Windows laptops for development.
Then we need only a single 64 bit machine running Linux to test the
performance of the compiled binaries.
This requires the use of a cross-compiler able to compiule 64 bit
binaries on a 32 bit system.
Notice also that VPC2007 does not support running anything but a 32
bit virtual machine emulation.

Bo Berglund