According to the crosstool documentation at www.kegel.com:
Most combinations of gcc 3.x.x and binutils fails when you try to build a softfloat toolchain All tested combinations of gcc-4.x.x and binutils fails if softfloat is enabled. If you want to use gcc 4, you cannot build u-boot as is.
FYI, I have successfully used GCC 4.1.1 and binutils 2.16.1 to build not only a working armv5teb softfloat toolchain (with glibc 2.4 to boot), but also build and use u-boot 1.1.4 and the latest git head with no problems at all.
Granted, I built the toolchain from scratch - it takes a number of tweaks to build correctly, all of which are not in crosstool.
Is there any true benefit of using a softfloat toochain? The number of floating point operation is surely minimal in U.boot. Anyone got an idea if there is any code saving.
Best Regards Ulf Samuelsson