Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 23 Apr 1996 11:36:08 +0300 (EET DST) | From | Linus Torvalds <> | Subject | Re: Time to remove old gcc support |
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> > Well, Alan Cox has reported that GCC 2.5.8 generates incorrect code > > for the networking stuff. That means people will try to compile the > > kernel with it, and get bitten by bugs later. Doesn't seem very > > stable to me. > > This is terrible. The networking stuff should be fixed with the > proper hack for gcc 2.5.8. The hack can be removed in 2.1.0, but > 2.0.xx should work with gcc 2.5.8. When 2.1.0 comes out, add the > old gcc to the victims list _then_ remove the hacks.
Get real!
This is a COMPILER BUG!
I don't see why people keep on thinking that the kernel should make excuses for user programs. It should NOT. Excusing bad programming is a shooting offence, no matter _what_ the circumstances. It is at least understandable if there is no way to fix the software bug (ie commercial compiler), but in this case it's just a matter of upgrading your compiler to a working version.
If gcc-2.5.8 is buggy, you'd better not use it. It's a simple as that. Use the old kernels if it works for you, but I'm _not_ going to make the current kernels do the same broken things that the old ones did.
Note that hardware bugs are a separate matter: those can be considered "environment problems", and if they can be worked around, they should. But software bugs? No way.
Linus
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