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

-- 
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Paul L. Allen                       | paula@boeing.com
Boeing Advanced Technology Center   | ...!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!bcsaic!paula