Re: upgrading GCC 4.1 branch

[der Mouse <mouse%Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA@localhost>]

>>> The major problem is C++ frontends.
>> What do we have that needs C++?
> In base?  groff is the biggest issue, because it's big and messy and
> sane people don't want to go near it.

:-)  Is there a publicly available spec for the *roff language?  I'd
like to have a look and at least consider building an implementation in
C.  (When I find my code in tones of trouble, / Friends and colleagues
come to me, / Speaking words of wisdom:  "Write in C".)

> But realistically there are enough C++ things in pkgsrc that if
> there's no C++ compiler in base, there will always be one installed
> in /usr/pkg, which doesn't seem like much of an improvement.

It does to me.  You could say similar things about perl, or GNU make,
or various other things - but they're not in base and I don't think
they should be.  (Besides, except for manpage formatting, I don't think
*I* use anything requiring C++... :-)

> Convincing the world to migrate onward from C++ is an option too, in
> the long run, but that requires first inventing a credible migration
> path.

Moving our C++ compiler to pkgsrc might provide a little incentive....

/~\ The ASCII                           der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
 X  Against HTML               mouse%rodents.montreal.qc.ca@localhost
/ \ Email!           7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B