From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jan 16 07:15:54 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 6B5BE106566B; Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:15:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from yanefbsd@gmail.com) Received: from mail-bw0-f20.google.com (mail-bw0-f20.google.com [209.85.218.20]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 65B528FC19; Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:15:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from yanefbsd@gmail.com) Received: by bwz13 with SMTP id 13so5071054bwz.19 for ; Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:15:52 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :date:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; bh=snR2oA1vrlOm7TPzQCm9XjZmJm+jloWkqcTa5L5ssng=; b=HFl50+rnFBxc3y+RSVxRYrMW6511OncIZ97LMBv0xsaAmbYdpy/c4MpTR3KwtAfRU0 HBB2kuKu4ARyCF4kU/O6gXROssiTdhGVdczMjdDWyC+6fg5oyXwJQxHhh9YLDw4KvnkM XUzZ54w8YAIR4txxum4t6RK+begMaSKIp485s= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=Q7Y1Uw6sp1iEL3VMNlwefui+YHGup8hS4PyFNctwvFnmoSwuq8ARWmab2KQY/8aZMJ NO09s9A+YhGIFFX9U0U2LFJOvS4psvbPH7Gf5/82D4BobhQGztnOFQiX5g1MobK60y5d X4wFRhYdubsGYUbVk9f7+CWwXrIVePA0V89Zs= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.180.203.3 with SMTP id a3mr737452bkg.146.1232090152221; Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:15:52 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <496FBFCD.6010302@FreeBSD.org> References: <20090115084515.GA91157@freebsd.org> <496FBFCD.6010302@FreeBSD.org> Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:15:52 -0800 Message-ID: <7d6fde3d0901152315y7c6ce36fqe137519bd73e3e@mail.gmail.com> From: Garrett Cooper To: Maxim Sobolev Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Roman Divacky , 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: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:15:54 -0000 On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Maxim Sobolev wrote: > 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 My thoughts: - Although choice is a good thing, I believe that unless you are ready and willing to accept the pains of maintaining multiple toolchains, that there needs to be a small set of acceptable status quo compilers that we work with, otherwise we will end up with a maintenance mess in the end. Take Gentoo Linux: it's a Linux distribution riddled with choices -- so many bloody choices that one has to make to get a working system, that just one library going south with the wrong option can set you back hours or days in order to get up and going again... we shouldn't go down that road or we'll just be begging for pain, if not from a support end, then from a user endpoint because we'll be more efficient manufacturers of rope than ever before, and users will be isolated from folks trying to reproduce their issues. - Like it or not, gcc is the defacto standard, just because it has been around and has been tried and tested for so long. We need to stick with a more gcc-friendly compiler until people in the development community realize that there are other ANSI-C 89/99 standard compilers out there than just what GNU releases. - I believe that our partners should in fact speak about which direction they prefer going in on this compiler issue as they're the ones ultimately holding the bag with the decision on what to do... Cheers, -Garrett