Re: proposal for setting minimum upgraded compiler version

[Greg Troxel <gdt%lexort.com@localhost>]

PHO <pho%cielonegro.org@localhost> writes:

>> The proposal (which is drafty) is
>>    define MIN_UPGRADED_GCC_VERSION.   This can be set in
>> platform.mk, and
>>    if not will be a default in some gcc.mk.  Or it can be set by the
>>    user.
>>    Allow defining MIN_UPGRADED_FOO_VERSION for other compilers, even
>> if
>>    not implemented.
>>    Whenever base gcc is not good enough, if MIN_UPGRADED_GCC_VERSION
>> is
>>    >= the version that is required, use MIN_UPGRADED_GCC_VERSION instead.
>>    Similarly for other compilers, even if not implemented.
>>    Use MIN_UPGRADED_GCC_VERSION when building gfortran etc.
>> 
>
> So if the base compiler is GCC 8 and MIN_UPGRADED_GCC_VERSION is set to 10,
>
> 1. Packages with no version constraints will be built with base GCC.
> 2. Packages requiring GCC >= 8 will be built with base GCC.
> 3. Packages requiring GCC >= 9 will be built with pkgsrc GCC 10, not 9.
> 4. Packages requiring GCC >= 10 will be built with pkgsrc GCC 10.
> 5. Packages requiring GCC >= 11 will be built with pkgsrc GCC 11.
> 6. Packages requiring GCC >= 12 will be built with pkgsrc GCC 12.
>
> Is this what your proposal means?

Yes, exactly.

The trick is picking the best MIN_UPGRADED_GCC_VERSION, which can be per
platform.  And we can change it over time of course.   Likely it's the
most recent version which 1) has no issues and 2) can be built with the
base gcc.

I said 10 as a conservative default.  On netbsd-9, I have not built
anything that needed more than 10.  I have no good argument that 10 is a
better choice than 12 -- and that was really an example, separate from
the overall concept.