several newbie questions (spec files, "pathing", static linking, etc)

["Wolcott, Ken (MED, Compuware)" <Ken dot Wolcott at med dot ge dot com>]

Hi;

  I have some newbie questions that I've not been able to find answers to in 
the gcc manual, gdb manual and other documents on the web.  Perhaps the 
answers are sitting right under my nose, and I apologize in advance if that 
is the case.

  Using crosstool 0.24 (http://www.kegel.com/crosstool/), I was able to create 
a dynamically linked gcc cross compiler (based on gcc 3.3 and glibc 3.2.3),  
hosted on pc-linux, targeting arm9.

  However, my developers would like to have the the cross compiler tool chain 
to be statically linked rather than dynamically linked.  So is this done via 
configure --enable-static when compiling gcc and glibc or via configure 
--disable-shared?  Or do I have to modify the associated Makefiles manually 
of all components so that LD is given -static?

  Also, there is some mention of manually modifying the "spec" file(s).  What 
are the gcc spec files?  What I can tell so far is that this mechanism is 
used so that gcc subcomponents can be found by gcc.  One of my developers 
calls this "pathing" and he is concerned that gcc picks up libraries that 
have nothing to do with the target. Could somebody elaborate on the existence 
of and the purpose of the spec files?

  My developers also would like to have a gdb that is thread-enabled that can 
properly understand an arm9 core file.  Would that be a cross compilied gdb 
using the cross compiler tool chain.  They would also like the gdb to be 
statically linked.  And they would also like to debug remotely (using a 
pc-linux gdb?) from the host to/from the arm9 target.

  Where do I find documentation/faqs/manuals on the web that would help me 
understand these issues?  The gcc and gdb manuals are nice but don't address 
these issues or I missed it somehow.  The configure shell script (or 
configure --help) doesn't seem to clear this up for me either.

Thanks in advance,
Ken