Purpose: Document common problems attempting to compile Tcl or some extension.

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  I. When I run configure I get:

     loading cache ./config.cache
     checking for ranlib... :
     checking whether cross-compiling... yes
                        .
                        .
Well, I would point you to some threads at http://www.deja.com/ , ''(You can usually trim most of the junk out of a Deja pathname, as it seems to usually be related to the search that lead you to the info, and not the thread itself - DKF)''
but they use such bizarre pathnames that it causes Wiki to have
heartburn.  So here's what I can tell you:

The cross-compiling yes message is generally trouble.  Cross-compiling is a feature of at least gcc (and perhaps other compilers as well) where executable code for platform A is generated on platform B.  The reason that tests cannot be run is that in general processor B can't execute
code for processor A.  For instance, if your SGI computer/compiler were generating MSDOS executable code, it is unlikely that configure would know how to run MSDOS code.

Other reasons configure think it's cross-compiling:
   1. licensing difficulties:  the compiler is installed, but doesn't generate legit objects because it's somehow disabled
   2. unclean source directory:  if
      a.  the source tree is NFS-mounted from a foreign OS, or
      b.  someone duplicated a source tree from a foreign OS, there will
          often be enough configuration information from the foreign OS
          to make configure think it's cross-compiling
   3. dueling compilers:  if there are a couple of compilers present (/usr/ucb/cc, /bin/cc, /usr/local/bin/gcc), and your PATH is weird enough to trigger a configure misfeature, configure will be confused about what it's doing, and collapse in the direction of cross-compilation.
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''JC'', regarding the heartburn mentioned above: see the archive of *-URL messages for pointers to deja.com which work: http://www.purl.org/mini/cgi-bin/url/ (like [http://www.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=535284301] or [http://www.dejanews.com/thread/535686282]).