From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jan 15 22:59:55 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2DDCF106566B; Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:59:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sobomax@FreeBSD.org) Received: from sippysoft.com (gk1.360sip.com [72.236.70.240]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E57938FC19; Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:59:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sobomax@FreeBSD.org) Received: from [192.168.1.38] (S0106001372fd1e07.vs.shawcable.net [70.71.171.106]) (authenticated bits=0) by sippysoft.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id n0FMxrPe021913 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:59:53 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from sobomax@FreeBSD.org) Message-ID: <496FBFCD.6010302@FreeBSD.org> Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:59:25 -0800 From: Maxim Sobolev Organization: Sippy Software, Inc. User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.19 (Windows/20081209) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Roman Divacky References: <20090115084515.GA91157@freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <20090115084515.GA91157@freebsd.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-current@FreeBSD.org, Sabeeh Baig Subject: Re: Alternatives to gcc (was Re: gcc 4.3: when will it become standard compiler?) X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:59:56 -0000 Roman Divacky wrote: > On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 06:07:48PM -0500, Sabeeh Baig wrote: >> There is work being done on PCC, which is already capable of compiling >> the OpenBSD and NetBSD userlands. PCC is also quite a bit smaller and >> already performs better than GCC. OpenBSD folks are helping with the >> development of PCC, so they can replace GCC in the base. That might >> be a solution for FreeBSD too, at least as a system compiler. GCC >> could be available as an add-on through ports for those who need it. > > I really dont see any reason why there must be only ONE compiler that > can be used to compile FreeBSD. > > If you will work on making FreeBSD compile with pcc I am sure noone > will mind. I am working on clang..... someone else might pick cparser > and god knows what else.... Nice idea, but... I think that one thing that people often forget about when talking about using external compiler to build base system is that FreeBSD is not only self-hosted, but also that it supports cross-builds of any of the supported arches. This feature would be physically impossible to maintain for any extended period of time with 10 supported compilers maintained outside of the tree. -Maxim