On Debian armel, a snapshot of GHC 7.8 from 20140228 fails to build as follows:

https://buildd.debian.org/status/fetch.php?pkg=ghc&arch=armel&ver=7.8.20140228-1&stamp=1394495564

"inplace/bin/ghc-stage2" -o utils/haddock/dist/build/tmp/haddock -hisuf hi -osuf  o -hcsuf hc -static  -H32m -O -lffi -optl-pthread -optc-mlong-calls    -hide-all-packages -i -iutils/haddock/driver -iutils/haddock/src -iutils/haddock/vendor/attoparsec-0.10.4.0 -iutils/haddock/dist/build -iutils/haddock/dist/build/autogen -Iutils/haddock/dist/build -Iutils/haddock/dist/build/autogen    -optP-DIN_GHC_TREE -optP-include -optPutils/haddock/dist/build/autogen/cabal_macros.h -package Cabal-1.18.1.3 -package array-0.5.0.0 -package base-4.7.0.0 -package bytestring-0.10.4.0 -package containers-0.5.4.0 -package deepseq-1.3.0.2 -package directory-1.2.0.2 -package filepath-1.3.0.2 -package ghc-7.8.0.20140228 -package xhtml-3000.2.1 -funbox-strict-fields -Wall -fwarn-tabs -O2 -XHaskell2010  -no-user-package-db -rtsopts      -odir utils/haddock/dist/build -hidir utils/haddock/dist/build -stubdir utils/haddock/dist/build     utils/haddock/dist/build/Main.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Documentation/Haddock.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Data/Attoparsec.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Data/Attoparsec/ByteString.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Data/Attoparsec/ByteString/Char8.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Data/Attoparsec/Combinator.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Data/Attoparsec/Number.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Data/Attoparsec/ByteString/FastSet.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Data/Attoparsec/ByteString/Internal.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Data/Attoparsec/Internal.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Data/Attoparsec/Internal/Types.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Interface.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Interface/Rename.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Interface/Create.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Interface/AttachInstances.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Interface/LexParseRn.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Interface/ParseModuleHeader.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Parser.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Parser/Util.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Utf8.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Utils.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/Xhtml.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/Xhtml/Decl.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/Xhtml/DocMarkup.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/Xhtml/Layout.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/Xhtml/Names.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/Xhtml/Themes.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/Xhtml/Types.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/Xhtml/Utils.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/LaTeX.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/HaddockDB.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Backends/Hoogle.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/ModuleTree.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Types.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Doc.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Version.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/InterfaceFile.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Options.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/GhcUtils.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Haddock/Convert.o utils/haddock/dist/build/Paths_haddock.o    
/«PKGBUILDDIR»/compiler/stage2/build/libHSghc-7.8.0.20140228.a(genSym.o): In function `genSym':
genSym.c:(.text+0x84): undefined reference to `arm_atomic_spin_lock'
genSym.c:(.text+0x88): undefined reference to `arm_atomic_spin_unlock'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [utils/haddock/dist/build/tmp/haddock] Error 1

Our armel architecture satisfies "arm_HOST_ARCH && defined(arm_HOST_ARCH_PRE_ARMv6)", so cas() in includes/stg/SMP.h will (uniquely among architectures) not be entirely inline: it calls arm_atomic_spin_lock and arm_atomic_spin_unlock, which are in libHSrts. 7.8 introduces compiler/cbits/genSym.c which uses atomic_inc. How should the linkage requirements be satisfied here?