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Date:      Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:42:20 -0500
From:      "Adrian Chadd" <adrian@freebsd.org>
To:        "Maxim Sobolev" <sobomax@freebsd.org>
Cc:        freebsd-current@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Alternatives to gcc (was Re: gcc 4.3: when will it become standard compiler?)
Message-ID:  <d763ac660901132142m1de92969nf1473e5037e4e439@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <496D64A0.1090309@FreeBSD.org>
References:  <20090113044111.134EC1CC0B@ptavv.es.net> <20090113222023.GA51810@lor.one-eyed-alien.net> <496D1ED6.4090202@FreeBSD.org> <200901132356.40820.ken@mthelicon.com> <496D64A0.1090309@FreeBSD.org>

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2009/1/13 Maxim Sobolev <sobomax@freebsd.org>:

> Well, this is workaround not a solution. Sooner or later FreeBSD will hit
> some principal limitation of the current compiler, like for example it was
> in the old days of gcc 2.xx, when FreeBSD had stuck with version that was
> outdated by few years resulting in inability to use any more or less modern
> C++ code with the system compiler. Existing processors develop all the time
> (SSE 4.2 for example) and the new architectures emerge (Cell for example),
> so that it's just matter of time when it happens again.

So have people actually done some tests with the latest gcc and the
freebsd world/kernel and  -demonstrated- a speedup with that?

I'd be happy with a crappy but fast and standard compiler in /usr/src
if it build the world and kernel and the kernel was within 5% or so of
the hyper-optimised very-latest compiler.

But then, I seem to have falled square in the "compilers can't do all
the magic; stop writing crappy code" school who believes you should
only need a magically awesome compiler for about 1% of your codebase,
and the rest should just be well-written to start with.

So I re-iterate. Why all of the discussion having the default compiler
be something new and shiny, when those who need the performance gains
can just install -that- compiler as a port and use that?



Adrian



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