Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:05:59 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman <matthew@FreeBSD.org> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Why Clang Message-ID: <4FCF9C07.2000607@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <4FCF9333.70201@speakeasy.org> References: <4FCF9333.70201@speakeasy.org>
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This is an OpenPGP/MIME signed message (RFC 2440 and 3156) --------------enig91CE1C817C026024A8245F05 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On 06/06/2012 18:28, Thomas D. Dean wrote: > Has the discussion on why change to clang been made available? Yes, endlessly. Mostly on lists like freebsd-hackers@... and at various conferences and developer summits. Check the list archives. > I would like to know the reasoning. It's simple. gcc-4.2, which is what the base system compiler is derived from is: * fairly old * doesn't perform as well as more recent compilers * doesn't adhere to recently established standards Clearly an update was necessary. Unfortunately, later versions of gcc have switched to GPLv3, which is a viral license and unacceptable to the FreeBSD project. Therefore clang was chosen from amongst a number of alternatives as the best replacement. That makes it sound as if clang is a second class option compared to recent gcc, but this is certainly not the case: results from clang are comparable to the latest gcc versions and the design of clang is such that further optimizations and improvements can be readily incorporated. > Or, is it simply a gratuitous change? I can assure you that the changes were not made specifically to annoy you. Of course there were very solid technical reasons behind what was selected. Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey --------------enig91CE1C817C026024A8245F05 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG/MacGPG2 v2.0.16 (Darwin) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAk/PnAgACgkQ8Mjk52CukIytXACfU2lcpUTkoFNd/5TP1ycd7FwQ tfcAoIE3OreQLeNt0l5igkceM4j3MqFh =djx4 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --------------enig91CE1C817C026024A8245F05--
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