Re: GCC Deprecating Archs

[David Holland <dholland-tech%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 11:52:02PM -0700, Kevin Bowling wrote:
 > I seemed to have trolled the GCC ML pretty hard by asking about the
 > deprecation of an arch, RIOS1 and RIOS2.
 > 
 > http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2010-06/msg00811.html
 > 
 > This would prevent PowerPC 601 support in NetBSD if GCC 4.6 is ever
 > imported.  It also affects the rs6000 port that uses RSC, POWER1 and
 > POWER2.
 > 
 > Is there an expectation that a newer GCC will be imported for future
 > releases?  Does NetBSD maintain patches in such a case?

Sooner or later we'll either update gcc or adopt a different compiler,
or possibly both. While in theory we could maintain patches, or apply
patches maintained by a third party, in practice we'd probably rather
not.

In the past they've been pretty responsive about not removing ports
people are actually using, so if you're using that arch the best bet
in the long run is probably to persuade them gently... or code up
support for pcc or llvm, which are currently the most promising-
looking alternatives.

-- 
David A. Holland
dholland%netbsd.org@localhost