Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!bcsaic!paula From: paula@bcsaic.UUCP (Paul Allen) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: GNU c and c++ under MINIX Message-ID: <7756@bcsaic.UUCP> Date: 19 Sep 88 19:42:13 GMT References: <2358@alliant.Alliant.COM> <7656@bcsaic.UUCP> <68536@sun.uucp> <206@dcs.UUCP> <3342@cs.utexas.edu> Reply-To: paula@bcsaic.UUCP (Paul Allen) Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle Lines: 42 In article <3342@cs.utexas.edu> bunda@cs.utexas.edu (John Bunda) writes: >I have considerable experience with gcc, porting it to an experimental >architecture, and I've seen far too much discussion of what I consider Aha! A gcc wizard! Great! >to be a moot point. The technical obstacles to getting gcc to run >under MINIX are so formidable that the protracted discussion we are >reading here is not really worth continuing. >The availability of the 386 port of gcc should not be in any way mistaken >for a sign that ports to the IBM PC architecture are at all feasible. I don't Nobody is suggesting that a port of gcc to the IBM PC is feasible. What I want to see is a port of minix to the 386. Then the problem reduces to porting gcc to V7. Based on your gcc experience, is that feasible? >consider a cross-compiler running on a mainframe or having to buy a 386 >class machine to be in the spirit of MINIX or the budgets of most MINIX >users. If a new compiler is desirable or necessary, I would look elsewhere Well, yes. Requiring a 386-class machine is outside the original intent of MINIX. Should that stop those of us who *have* such machines from trying to build a version of MINIX to take full advantage of our machines? I think not, and I'd like to move forward. >before I even attempted to try to shoehorn gcc into a PC. Not that gcc >isn't a fine piece of work - it's just that it wasn't designed to fit >in the cramped quarters of PC addressability and word size. Sort of >like trying to put a V-8 in a Volkswagen. It's not *impossible*, but >near enough that it's probably not worth attempting. Hey, I've *seen* Volkswagens with V-8's! Shoehorning gcc into a PC would be harder than that! Let's talk about shoehorning it into a 386-based MINIX. Paul -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paul L. Allen | paula@boeing.com Boeing Advanced Technology Center | ...!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!bcsaic!paula