Messages in this thread | | | From | Miguel Ojeda <> | Date | Tue, 4 May 2021 14:09:24 +0200 | Subject | Re: [PATCH] Raise the minimum GCC version to 5.2 |
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On Tue, May 4, 2021 at 11:22 AM Michal Suchánek <msuchanek@suse.de> wrote: > > Except it makes answering the question "Is this bug we see on this > ancient system still present in upstream?" needlessly more difficult to > answer.
Can you please provide some details? If you are talking about testing a new kernel image in the ancient system "as-is", why wouldn't you build it in a newer system? If you are talking about particular problems about bisecting (kernel, compiler) pairs etc., details would also be welcome.
> Sure, throwing out old compiler versions that are known to cause > problems makes sense. Updating to latest just because much less so.
I definitely did not argue for "latest compiler" or "updating just because".
> One of the selling point of C in general and gcc in particular is > stability. If we need the latest compiler we can as well rewrite the > kernel in Rust which has a required update cycle of a few months.
Rust does not have a "required update cycle" and it does not break old code unless really required, just like C and common compilers.
Concerning GCC, they patch releases for ~2.5 years, sure, but for many projects that is not nearly enough. So you still need custom support, which is anyway what most people care about.
> Because some mainline kernel features rely on bleeding edge tools I end > up building mainline with current tools anyway but if you do not need > BTF or whatever other latest gimmick older toolchains should do.
It would be better to hear concrete arguments about why "older toolchains should do", rather than calling things a gimmick.
Cheers, Miguel
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