[TAG] Compile on one, run on another machine

[Ferenc-Jan]

Hi there!

I've got a question that may be of interest to the linuxgazette 
community. Where does one go to find out more about cross compiling? 
(I'm not even sure cross compiling is the correct term for this.) 

The case is this: I often want to compile stuff on one machine but 
run it on another. My permanently-in-disrepair, bleedingly fast & 
incredibly messy test system is the machine of choice for compiling 
all kinds of linux stuff. The barely alive, old laptop or the lean & 
mean firewall box aren't - besides, I don't want a full blown gcc 
environment on those. But I run into problems most of the time. 

Approach A: compile it as per instructions. Then I have to go and 
find all the nitty bitty parts of the package, that are now residing 
everywhere on the test system's drive. This often fails because 
missing parts don't always generate comprehensible error messages.

Approach B: try to install it to a different directory, i.e. /tmp/ 
and then move it to the other machine. This often founders on hard 
coded file location, i.e. when /tmp/lib/something is actually at 
/usr/local/lib/something (like it should be.)

I don't consider myself a beginner, but who does. I don't seem to be 
able to google the answer to this problem, but surely I'm not the 
only one running into this?

Any hints would be much appreciated, but I understand this must be 
relevant to linuxzgazette before you can spend your time on this. 
Thanks anyway!

cheers

Ferenc-Jan