From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 4402 invoked by alias); 4 Dec 2007 19:46:39 -0000 Received: (qmail 4393 invoked by uid 22791); 4 Dec 2007 19:46:38 -0000 X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Received: from elasmtp-masked.atl.sa.earthlink.net (HELO elasmtp-masked.atl.sa.earthlink.net) (209.86.89.68) by sourceware.org (qpsmtpd/0.31) with ESMTP; Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:46:32 +0000 Received: from [67.169.18.28] (helo=ix.netcom.com) by elasmtp-masked.atl.sa.earthlink.net with asmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1Izdiv-0004rb-T1; Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:46:30 -0500 Message-ID: <4755AE18.8040801@ix.netcom.com> Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:46:00 -0000 From: Thomas Dineen User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "Peter A. Friend" CC: gcc-help@gcc.gnu.org Subject: Re: Serious Bugs In Gcc Builds References: <4755A3B9.9060601@ix.netcom.com> <530296C8-E107-4676-A419-AC33415AB576@corp.earthlink.net> In-Reply-To: <530296C8-E107-4676-A419-AC33415AB576@corp.earthlink.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-ELNK-Trace: 8fd196f32229d336776432462e451d7bd15d05d9470ff7100029b1d7fbc35ef5888741bc23718ee5350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c X-IsSubscribed: yes Mailing-List: contact gcc-help-help@gcc.gnu.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Id: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: Sender: gcc-help-owner@gcc.gnu.org X-SW-Source: 2007-12/txt/msg00097.txt.bz2 Peter: I think the idea here is the make the S/W easier to access and use, thus opening up the user base to become hopefully larger, maybe exponentially larger. Keep in mind I and one of the biggest supporters or fans of GNU Freeware, and conversely one of the biggest haters of Microsoft. To destroy MS you must make your tools easier to access and use, to the point of being usable by the average user. BTW my skills are well beyond average and if I cannot succeed here a large number of even knowledgeable users will not succeed here. Thomas Dineen Peter A. Friend wrote: > > On Dec 4, 2007, at 11:00 AM, Thomas Dineen wrote: > >> >> By the way don't bother flaming back at me I am way beyond >> this and thus impervious! Hopefully by fixing the issues documented >> below you will open up the GCC software to be usable by a larger >> audience of users. > > > Well, if one politely requests help it generally will not result in > flames. > >> >> Issue 1) The configure and build scripts insist (read that fight to the >> death) on using the solaris linker (/usr/ccs/bin/ld) despite every >> effort to the contrary, and this of course causes errors. The following >> were my failed efforts to redirect it to the Gnu Linker (/opt/sfw/ >> bin/gld): >> a) Providing explicit command line direction to configure. >> /export/home/tools/gcc/gcc-4.0.4/configure --with-gnu-ld --with- >> gnu-as >> --with-as=/opt/sfw/bin/as --with-ld=/opt/sfw/bin/ld >> b) Provide links in the object directory attempting to redirect it: >> ln -s /opt/sfw/bin/gld ld >> c) Provide links in the executable directory attempting to redirect it: >> ln -s gld ld >> d) Reordering the path so that the Gnu Tools would appear first. >> e) Removing the Solaris Linker from the path. > > > Why do you wish to use GNU ld and as? On Solaris systems I have > always used Sun ld and as, and if I recall correctly, the older GCC > documentation would tell you to do that. I don't immediately recall > what the issue was, and I don't know if it's still an issue. If there > is a specific need to use GNU ld and as then perhaps someone else can > chime in on this one. > >> Issue 4) What's In A Name? Or what the hell should we name it? >> When I down load and install various releases of GNU Bintools a >> tool like GNU Make is sometimes called gmake and sometimes called >> make. This causes confusion and thus errors in that the Gcc build >> scripts >> use make. I would suggest standardizing on the names to prevent >> confusion. >> To this end I would suggest that GNU Make always, always, always be >> called gmake and when you want to use GNU Make in your project that >> you type gmake. > > > I don't see how this is a GNU bug, it's more of a development > environment issue. When we install GNU make we install it as "make" > and also provide a hard link as "gmake". If it was only installed as > gmake then people would have to alter all of their stuff (something > they may not have access to do) to call gmake. > > For my Solaris environment I have the GNU tools in my path first, > followed by /usr/ccs/bin. This makes sure that GNU versions of m4, > grep, sed and make are used, and Sun versions of as and ld are used. > > >> Issue 5) The build process is way to complicated for the average user >> to negotiate successfully. The user interface should be simplified >> to the >> following for a native compiler: >> ./configure >> gmake >> gmake install > > > The build procedure for GCC can be cumbersome. There are a lot of > options, a lot of systems to support, and a lot of ways for the > procedure to break. This in itself is an argument against average > users trying to attempt builds themselves. > > Cheers, > > Peter > > >