From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Geoff Keating To: gcc@gcc.gnu.org Subject: Compiler for Red Hat Linux 8 Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 13:04:00 -0000 Message-id: <200107172020.NAA09154@geoffk.org> X-SW-Source: 2001-07/msg01223.html It's now time for us here at Red Hat to begin planning for the next major Red Hat Linux release. One of the first questions that we're looking at is "which compiler should we use?" At present, we have three compilers for the linux releases. There is the default compiler, which is currently based off a 2.96 snapshot. There is a special compiler for the kernel, which is based off egcs 1.1.2. There is also a GNUPro compiler, which is a Red Hat-released compiler on which we offer full support; it came out of the Red Hat internal tree. We'd really like to get this list down to one compiler. These compilers have subtle incompatibilities with each other, and it's really annoying that we can't fully support the compiler that comes with the system. So, one plan being considered is that we take a compiler out of the Red Hat internal tree (based sometime after 3.0), make a release, and ship that as the default compiler. Then if we can make the kernel work with this compiler, we have one compiler, which we can fully support. We didn't have time to do either of these for RHL 7, but we do for RHL 8. The other problem with what we did for RHL 7 was that it was difficult for other distributors to be compatible with our system, because the 2.96 snapshot wasn't binary-compatible with any FSF release. With the release of GCC 3.0, this shouldn't happen for the new compiler; other distributors will be able to use any 3.0-compatible compiler. [I know IA64 has a completely different set of problems; I'm mostly concerned about IA32 and Alpha at this point, but if anyone has suggestions about IA64 we're happy to hear them; the main problem seems to be that the ABI for IA64 is still changing, but the internal tree is better for IA64 than the FSF releases at this point. I also know about the glibc issues on all platforms, but that's a separate issue also.] So, how do people feel about this? Does the SC have an opinion? -- - Geoffrey Keating