Re: 3.2 and 3.3 release questions

[Gerald Pfeifer <pfeifer at dbai dot tuwien dot ac dot at>]

On Fri, 4 Oct 2002, BONNER,MATT (HP-Vancouver,ex1) wrote:
> Since I'm sure your time for Q&A is limited, here's the short version:
>
> 1. Is the ABI stable as of 3.2 or are more changes planned?

If you ask whether the ABI will be unchanged between 3.2, 3.2.1,
and 3.2.2, the answer is Yes.

> 2. Are 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 releases still planned?

3.2.1 for sure, 3.2.2 possibly (probably depending on the actual release
dates of 3.2.1 and 3.3.)

> 3. Does 3.3 change the ABI from 3.2?

It's my understanding that 3.3 will be ABI-compatible with 3.2 either a)
out of the box, or b) by provding a flag which requests this compliance.

> With the apparently fairly stable release of 3.2, we are looking at
> migrating again.  My first and main question is "what is the plan
> with respect to the ABI?"  Is it now hoped to be stable, or are
> further changes planned?

We are, unfortunately, aware of several problems in GCC 3.2 which already
have been fixed on mainline (which will become GCC 3.3). These fixed are
keyed to an internal flag, but as far as I know it has not yet been
decided what the default setting of that flag will be in GCC 3.3.

> As a secondary question, are 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 still planned?  The web
> page claims a Sep 15 2002 release for 3.2.1, but I see only a dubious
> mention of it on http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-3.2/changes.html , where
> first the page says it's about 3.2 and then says it's about 3.2.1.

This I'll shortly adress both issues by updating that page. 3.2.1 has
not been released yet.

> If any of these questions are covered on web pages I should have read,
> by all means point me at them and I'll try to read more carefully next
> time.

If you have any further questions (or updates/patches for the web page),
please do not hesitate!

Gerald
-- 
Gerald "Jerry" pfeifer@dbai.tuwien.ac.at http://www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/~pfeifer/