Subject: Re: gcc in NetBSD
To: Holger Veit <Holger.Veit@gmd.de>
From: Jason R. Thorpe <thorpej@cs.orst.edu>
List: current-users
Date: 02/07/1994 11:03:27
On Mon, 7 Feb 1994, Holger Veit wrote:

> > gcc, as included in NetBSD, has undergone a massive reorganization in
> > directory structure. Now the question: What else has changed?
> > Anything? Special shared library support?
> > 
> > I have been using FSF gcc-2.5.8 for some time now, and everything
> > *seems* to work. In going to try the kernel next...
> 
> gcc-2.5.8 and in particular its companion g++-2.5.8 is heavily broken
> (if one wants to do more complex c++ than 'main() { cout<<"Hello"<<endl;}')
> Our applications at work at GMD were almost entirely broken when moving
> to gcc/g++-2.5.X (they BTW compile and run well with any cfront/Glockenspiel/
> ObjectCenter/Borland on different platforms).
> It's not only me who considers it a large step back from 2.4.5, in other
> newsgroups this is also a topic.

Well...Pardon my coming into this thread late...but from my experience, 
the 2.5.x gcc's are broken...I installed it on two Sequents and several 
HPs...had nothing but problems...Decided to go back to 2.4.5, which works 
like a champ...

Please don't fix something that isn't broken...:-)

> Maybe gcc could be integrated, but as long as gcc and g++ share code
> it wouldn't make much sense to have the new probably working gcc and the
> old half-working g++ in one distribution. Also changing a compiler is
> often accompanied by changing 'collect', 'cpp', 'libg++', possibly also
> by shared lib adaption you mentioned (c.f. mangling/demangling bugs).
> Even worse: a gcc that "seems" to work with e.g. i386 might fail with
> sparc, 68k, mips, whatever and cause quite subtle bugs there.
> It may be possible to replace all the other packages by the greatest, 
> latest version, but the compiler used to compile the whole system
> is a thing not to change without need. Why replace the known bugs by
> new, unknown ones?
> 
> > Since gcc-2.5.8 appears to be the end of the 2.5 line, would it not
> "End of the 2.5 line": I already heard this about 2.5.6.
> 
> > make sence to upgrade NetBSD's gcc now? Is the reorganization of the
> > files automatic in some way so that one still can use the powerful cvs
> > import command?
> I doubt so, but others might correct me.
> 
> > 
> > Just my 2 cent's worth...
> > 
> > 	Dirk
> > 
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Dirk W. Steinberg - RWTH Aachen - Internet email: steinber@ert.rwth-aachen.de
> > Aachen University of Technology / IS2-Integrated Systems in Signal Processing
> > Rhein.Westf.Tech.Hochsch. Aachen / Integrierte Systeme der Signalverarbeitung
> > Templergraben 55 / D-52056 Aachen / phone:+49 241 807879 / fax:+49 241 807631
> > Home address: Kleikstr. 63, D-52134 Herzogenrath,Germany/phone: +49 2406 7225
> > 
> 
> 
> -- 
>          Dr. Holger Veit                   | INTERNET: Holger.Veit@gmd.de
> |  |   / GMD-SET German National Research  | Phone: (+49) 2241 14 2448
> |__|  /  Center for Computer Science       | Fax:   (+49) 2241 14 2342
> |  | /   Schloss Birlinghoven              | Had a nightmare yesterday:
> |  |/    53754 St. Augustin, Germany       | My system started up with
>                                            | ... Booting vmunix.el ...
> 

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Jason R. Thorpe                thorpej@cs.orst.edu                   737-9533
OSU CS Support                    CSWest Room 12                     737-2552
      'These are my opinions and not necessarily those of anyone else.'


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