[svlug] Linux application hardware compatibility

[Hans Cathcart]

Could someone explain to me what the deal is with running linux
applications on different hardware platforms?

I understand different versions of the Linux kernel are compiled for
different hardware systems (ie: Intel x86, PowerPC, MIPS, Sun).

Now, if I download any Linux application from the net, like a USENET
netnews server for Linux, can I compile this application for any of those
hardware platforms? Do I need to hack the Makefiles in order to tell the
software what hardware platform I am using? If I don't know how to hack
Makefiles, will I get hopelessly lost, and should stick with Intel hardware
and RedHat RPM software?

-
Hans Cathcart ________________________ http://www.itavera.com/~hans/
Are you an IT System Administrator? ____ http://zork.net/fed-up.html
________ Linux - The Operating System for the 21st Century _________



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