Mention of gcc 4.5 as first version with plugin support

Mention of gcc 4.5 as first version with plugin support

[Dave Johansen]

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Currently, the plugin documentation doesn't mention that it requires
gcc 4.5 or later. The patch to add this statement is attached and
here's the ChangeLog:

2013-01-10  Dave Johansen  <davejohansen@gmail.com>

        * gcc/doc/plugins.texi: Added gcc.4.5.0 or later note to
Plugins documentation.

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Index: gcc/doc/plugins.texi
===================================================================
--- gcc/doc/plugins.texi	(revision 195102)
+++ gcc/doc/plugins.texi	(working copy)
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
 transforming code, or analyzing information, plugins
 can be quite useful.
 
+GCC plugin support is available in GCC version 4.5.0 and
+later.
+
 @menu
 * Plugins loading::      How can we load plugins.
 * Plugin API::           The APIs for plugins.

Re: Mention of gcc 4.5 as first version with plugin support

[Dodji Seketeli]

Thank you Dave for this documentation patch that looks OK to my casual
eyes.  Let's CC the documentation maintainers.

Dave Johansen <davejohansen@gmail.com> a écrit:

> Currently, the plugin documentation doesn't mention that it requires
> gcc 4.5 or later. The patch to add this statement is attached and
> here's the ChangeLog:
>
> 2013-01-10  Dave Johansen  <davejohansen@gmail.com>
>
>         * gcc/doc/plugins.texi: Added gcc.4.5.0 or later note to
> Plugins documentation.
>
> Index: gcc/doc/plugins.texi
> ===================================================================
> --- gcc/doc/plugins.texi	(revision 195102)
> +++ gcc/doc/plugins.texi	(working copy)
> @@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
>  transforming code, or analyzing information, plugins
>  can be quite useful.
>  
> +GCC plugin support is available in GCC version 4.5.0 and
> +later.
> +
>  @menu
>  * Plugins loading::      How can we load plugins.
>  * Plugin API::           The APIs for plugins.

-- 
		Dodji

Re: Mention of gcc 4.5 as first version with plugin support

[Diego Novillo]

On Thu, Jan 10, 2013 at 11:00 PM, Dave Johansen <davejohansen@gmail.com> wrote:

> 2013-01-10  Dave Johansen  <davejohansen@gmail.com>
>
>         * gcc/doc/plugins.texi: Added gcc.4.5.0 or later note to
> Plugins documentation.

OK.


Diego.

Re: Mention of gcc 4.5 as first version with plugin support

[Basile Starynkevitch]

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:58:49 +0100
Dodji Seketeli <dodji@seketeli.org> wrote:

> Thank you Dave for this documentation patch that looks OK to my casual
> eyes.  Let's CC the documentation maintainers.
> 
> Dave Johansen <davejohansen@gmail.com> a écrit:
> 
> >  
> > +GCC plugin support is available in GCC version 4.5.0 and
> > +later.

Maybe we should say that a later version is preferable.....
IIRC 4.5 plugin support was not very good -it was more an experimental stage than
anything else. I believe that we should not encourage people to write plugins against
4.5.....

Cheers.

-- 
Basile STARYNKEVITCH         http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/
email: basile<at>starynkevitch<dot>net mobile: +33 6 8501 2359
8, rue de la Faiencerie, 92340 Bourg La Reine, France
*** opinions {are only mine, sont seulement les miennes} ***

Re: Mention of gcc 4.5 as first version with plugin support

[Dave Johansen]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 12:21 AM, Richard Biener
<richard.guenther@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 9:46 PM, Basile Starynkevitch
> <basile@starynkevitch.net> wrote:
>> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:58:49 +0100
>> Dodji Seketeli <dodji@seketeli.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Thank you Dave for this documentation patch that looks OK to my casual
>>> eyes.  Let's CC the documentation maintainers.
>>>
>>> Dave Johansen <davejohansen@gmail.com> a écrit:
>>>
>>> >
>>> > +GCC plugin support is available in GCC version 4.5.0 and
>>> > +later.
>>
>> Maybe we should say that a later version is preferable.....
>> IIRC 4.5 plugin support was not very good -it was more an experimental stage than
>> anything else. I believe that we should not encourage people to write plugins against
>> 4.5.....
>
> What's the value of documenting the availability of an unstable API in
> older versions
> of GCC?  Mind this documentation is version specific.
>
> Richard.
>
>> Cheers.
>>
>> --
>> Basile STARYNKEVITCH         http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/
>> email: basile<at>starynkevitch<dot>net mobile: +33 6 8501 2359
>> 8, rue de la Faiencerie, 92340 Bourg La Reine, France
>> *** opinions {are only mine, sont seulement les miennes} ***

My point wasn't to encourage people to use 4.5 for plugins, but just
to state when it became available. I was looking into
enabling/installing plugin support on RHEL 5/6 and spent several hours
trying to figure out why it wasn't available only to later find out
that it wasn't available in gcc 4.4. If the documentation had at least
mentioned the version when this feature was introduced, then it would
have saved me a lot of headache and is why I submitted this patch.

Re: Mention of gcc 4.5 as first version with plugin support

[Richard Biener]

On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 9:46 PM, Basile Starynkevitch
<basile@starynkevitch.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:58:49 +0100
> Dodji Seketeli <dodji@seketeli.org> wrote:
>
>> Thank you Dave for this documentation patch that looks OK to my casual
>> eyes.  Let's CC the documentation maintainers.
>>
>> Dave Johansen <davejohansen@gmail.com> a écrit:
>>
>> >
>> > +GCC plugin support is available in GCC version 4.5.0 and
>> > +later.
>
> Maybe we should say that a later version is preferable.....
> IIRC 4.5 plugin support was not very good -it was more an experimental stage than
> anything else. I believe that we should not encourage people to write plugins against
> 4.5.....

What's the value of documenting the availability of an unstable API in
older versions
of GCC?  Mind this documentation is version specific.

Richard.

> Cheers.
>
> --
> Basile STARYNKEVITCH         http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/
> email: basile<at>starynkevitch<dot>net mobile: +33 6 8501 2359
> 8, rue de la Faiencerie, 92340 Bourg La Reine, France
> *** opinions {are only mine, sont seulement les miennes} ***

Re: Mention of gcc 4.5 as first version with plugin support

[Gerald Pfeifer]

On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, Dave Johansen wrote:
>>>>> +GCC plugin support is available in GCC version 4.5.0 and
>>>>> +later.
>> What's the value of documenting the availability of an unstable API in
>> older versions
>> of GCC?  Mind this documentation is version specific.
>>
>> Richard.
> My point wasn't to encourage people to use 4.5 for plugins, but just
> to state when it became available. I was looking into
> enabling/installing plugin support on RHEL 5/6 and spent several hours
> trying to figure out why it wasn't available only to later find out
> that it wasn't available in gcc 4.4.

I considered this again and again, and while I understand the
unfortunate situation you ran into with the old system compiler
on older versions of your OS, I am tempted to side with Richard
-- and GCC plugins really make (more) sense with reasonably
current versions of GCC, so by identifying GCC 4.5 we might
set wrong expectations.

Gerald