Subject: Re: Old gnu tools
To: Kerry James Paulson <umpaul11@cc.UManitoba.CA>
From: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@nas.nasa.gov>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 08/25/1995 10:49:37
umpaul11@cc.UManitoba.CA (Kerry James Paulson) writes:

 >   I think it would be a good idea to freeze current now (it's been a long
 > time since the last release) and update all the GNU tools to the latest
 > version.  If the source is in a relatively bug free state prior to the
 > release any bugs caused by the compiler upgrade will be easier to find and
 > correct. 

This approach seems flawed.  For one, if you've frozen the source tree, 
you can't upgrade the toolchain, by definition.  Secondly, it seems to me 
like it's a Bad Idea to upgrade the compiler just before a release.  
(That's the kind of thing you want to do just _after_ a release.)

It's also not clear to me that the `latest verion' of the GNU toolchain 
is bug-free enough to upgrade to.  I've heard of bad code generation for 
the m68k under 2.7.0.

Don't get me wrong, I want a new toolchain as much as anyone else, but 
the upgrade needs to be approached _very_ carefully (indeed, you're kind 
of screwed if you break the compiler).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jason R. Thorpe                                       thorpej@nas.nasa.gov
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