Re: gcc web pages: feature / version matching?

[Joe Buck <jbuck at synopsys dot COM>]

> The GCC home page features a list of news items:
> so-and-so has contributed such-and-such a new
> feature, or infrastructure change, or whatever.
> These are usually linked to more detailed pages
> that explain what the new code does. So far, so
> good. But these announcements never seem to say
> "... and version 3.1 will make use of the new code"
> or "... but at the moment it still needs a lot of
> integration, so you shouldn't expect to see the
> benefits until version 4.9.13".

This is because, at the time these announcements are made, we typically
don't know the answers to such questions.  One thing, however, that you
can assume is that if only the third number changes (e.g. 3.0.1 -> 3.0.2),
you will not normally see new features, but only bug fixes.

> Presumably readers shouldn't assume that every
> feature mentioned in the announcements will be
> present in the next version of GCC (since, e.g.,
> such announcements often occur between successive
> 0.0.1 releases); there seems to be no way of telling
> when they are expected to appear. (Or even, for older
> announcements, whether they're in already.)

For releases that are already out, the release notes (e.g. the NEWS
file and/or the release announcement) will list such things.

For releases not yet out, we usually avoid making promises; when
we have, you'll generally find a "release criteria" web page.