From owner-freebsd-stable Tue Dec 5 13:24: 8 2000 From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Dec 5 13:24:07 2000 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from rover.village.org (unknown [204.144.255.66]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ED9AA37B400 for ; Tue, 5 Dec 2000 13:24:04 -0800 (PST) Received: from harmony.village.org (harmony.village.org [10.0.0.6]) by rover.village.org (8.11.0/8.11.0) with ESMTP id eB5LO2598886; Tue, 5 Dec 2000 14:24:02 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from imp@harmony.village.org) Received: from harmony.village.org (localhost.village.org [127.0.0.1]) by harmony.village.org (8.9.3/8.8.3) with ESMTP id OAA73236; Tue, 5 Dec 2000 14:24:02 -0700 (MST) Message-Id: <200012052124.OAA73236@harmony.village.org> To: Steve Roome Subject: Re: lint Cc: Donn Miller , stable@FreeBSD.ORG In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 05 Dec 2000 11:10:25 GMT." <20001205111025.I22946@moose.bri.hp.com> References: <20001205111025.I22946@moose.bri.hp.com> <20001204222001.A25490@mmap.nyct.net> Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2000 14:24:02 -0700 From: Warner Losh Sender: imp@harmony.village.org Sender: owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG In message <20001205111025.I22946@moose.bri.hp.com> Steve Roome writes: : In comparison to a real-world compiler, It was a complete load of junk. [[ I know I trimmed this a lot, sorry if I've lost too much context ]] That's the problem with many of the free or semi-free alternatives to gcc. They are junk or, put more politely, aren't up to building all of FreeBSD. It took gcc years and years to get to the point of generating a stable kernel. When I started following it in 1985 or so it was good enough to do many userland programs, but produced buggy code for the kernel. It was a recurring goal to be able to build a kernel and complete system with it. It wasn't until 1989 or 1990 that it hit this on a regular basis. It takes a very long time to create a cmopiler that is robust for the real world. It is a huge effort, one that most free software writers do not have the time or resources to do. Warner To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message