* GCC infrastructure and non-GPLed optimizers
@ 2003-05-20 10:26 S. Bosscher
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From: S. Bosscher @ 2003-05-20 10:26 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: 'gcc@gcc.gnu.org'
Hi,
Yesterday in the discussion about Geoff's "intermodule optimisation patch"
one of the reasons mentioned against the intermodule approach proposed by
Chris Lattner was that "(it) permits people to write non-GPLed optimisers
and code generators and still use GCC's parsers."
(http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2003-05/msg01679.html)
The optimization framework proposed by Chris is very similar to the
intermodule framework proposed by many papers, and in fact similar to what
existing compilers, like ORC/Open64, do with some success. So if this
argument holds, then GCC could never have such a framework for intermodule
optimizers.
In a way, the argument blocks the development of GCC itself. Maybe it
should be reconsidered.
So the question is: How relevant do you all think this argument still is
today, considering the facts that:
- Like Chris said, there already are backends
available that write out enough information
(XML, C backends) for a separate non-GPLed
compiler with its own optimizers and backends.
- It does not look very difficult to modify the
tree dumpers in the tree-ssa branch to dump
tree-optimized, compilable C/C++ source code.
So anyone who would want to use GCC's parsers in combination with non-GPLed
optimizers/backends can already do so with only a few modifications. Then
the argument seems to be quite irrelevant.
Thoughts?
Greetz
Steven
PS. Wasn't this argument also used in the past to block making the backend
library a shared library?
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