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Re: [RFC] Suggested replacement for specs and switch handling
On 02-Jul-2001, Neil Booth <neil@daikokuya.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Alexandre Oliva wrote:-
>
> > > Why? (I've lost the gist of this thread). I agreed that the front
> > > end options be split out into a separate file. Does that address your
> > > concerns?
> >
> > Not if you pre-compile all of the options at build time, because then
> > you'd have to go back and collect all previously-installed front-end
> > options, merge them with whatever new front-end you want to install,
> > and pre-compile them again.
>
> OK, that's where the disconnect is. My understanding of what Joesph
> and others meant by "drop-in" front ends was referring to the source
> tree, not to the run-time environment. i.e. that we should be able to
> add front ends and not have to muck about with anything in the higher
> level directory (we are a long, long way from either, anyway).
It's currently possible to drop in a new front-end into the source
tree without any changes elsewhere and have it work OK. Maybe not 100%
perfectly but it has been adequate for my purposes with the Mercury
front-end.
I agree that dropping a new front-end into the installed run-time
environment doesn't work, although I'm not convinced that it is
"a long, long way" away.
> If someone has gone to the trouble of compiling a new front end, not
> having to re-compile the one or two files that is the driver is very
> little gain for a lot of coding effort and performance loss, IMO.
The problem comes when users want to install e.g. both the Ada and the
COBOL front-ends, and each of these comes with a modified version
of the `gcc' driver that adds support for their language, but neither
driver supports both languages. Getting this to work with binary
distribution formats like RPM is a real pain.
--
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au> | "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne | of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh> | -- the last words of T. S. Garp.