Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sat, 22 Aug 1998 15:22:47 -0700 | From | "David S. Miller" <> | Subject | Re: pre egcs-1.1 testing and Linux 2.1.x |
| |
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1998 11:18:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@transmeta.com>
I wanted to just clarify the issue of egcs and Linux-2.1.x.
I agree with your quibbles on the most part, _however_:
In this specific instance the regparm problems are a symptom of a much larger issue, SMALL_REGISTER_CLASSES. Linus, I know when you want to add regparm to some function you check it out to see if gcc miscompiles it before actually using it for real right? Well the reasons for these failure cases are actually known by the egcs developers, and they realize how insurmountable it is to fix "right this moment".
Richard Kenner made a huge mistake by letting regparm on the intel into the gcc code in the first place, because of this crucial fundamental flaw which prevents them from working reliably.
So don't blame the egcs people for trying to deal with the mess Kenner created. Give them time, they will fix it eventually, believe me I am working a lot on the egcs project so I know what kind of time frames we are talking about here.
And if they can't fix egcs right now, or in the next release, in this regard, cut them slack for once for crying out loud. They've chosen to disable a feature instead of allowing it to generate incorrect code. I think thats a good engineering decision.
Regparm was always broken, and you even know it, the egcs people are acknowledging it's brokenness, and will (eventually) fix it. But for now, until it is fixed and stops allowing miscompilation, it is off.
I think that with how much you knew yourself about it's brokenness, relying on it for the few cases where your version of gcc happens to get it right is playing with fire.
I'm just getting a little sick of the "I am Linus, hear me roar, nobody use that fucked up EGCS compiler if it's developers don't listen to everything I say and leave on all the features I want for the kernel, even if they are broken." The people who sweat night and day on egcs take offense to this, and now in this instance myself included.
Later, David S. Miller davem@dm.cobaltmicro.com
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.altern.org/andrebalsa/doc/lkml-faq.html
| |