> Has the possibility of using GCC as-distributed been entertained?  GCC
> doesn't need GNU make, so it should be possible to write some rules
> for the Makefile a level above that do the right thing.

Yes.

The problem with using third party programs as they are distributed is
that it would reduce the consistancy of the build process.  I think that
that consistancy is a good part of the "value added" that NetBSD versions
of those programs provide for both developers and users. 

Once a program is integrated into NetBSD, first and foremost it becomes a
part of NetBSD.  Programs get integrated for a purpose.  And part of that
purpose is to provide a quality operating system.  I don't think that we 
can achieve the desired quality, especially with a volunteer labour 
force, if we have to deal with exceptions to the build process.

> It seems to me that this kind of drop-in friendliness would be good
> for the project.  That way, we could upgrade painlessly to new
> versions of the C compiler without major headaches.

I think that if it was really easy for people to drop in the next version 
of the compiler as it was released we _would_ see major headaches.

It is unfortunate, but it seems that the quality of FSF releases is not
what it used to be.  I don't want to have lots of traffic in the
newsgroups, mailing lists, and bug database from people who have
"upgraded" their compiler ahead of the core developers.

	--jtc



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