Re: egcs & gcc 2.8 ??

[Joe Buck <jbuck at synopsys dot com>]

>   In message <199712111819.KAA02784@telaviv.tmai.com>you write:
>   > Many of egcs users, I believe, assume that a code 
>   > compiled with egcs's gcc/g++ could be compiled eventually
>   > with the official gcc-<l>.<m>.<n>.
>   > Therefore, we would all like to help with early feedback on further 
>   > gcc development.
> That's probably not a safe assumption.  We're moving forward at a much faster
> pace than gcc2.  Odds are we've already got some g++ features in egcs that
> are not in gcc2.

No, I think it is a safe assumption (that C++ code that compiles with egcs
g++ will compile eventually with gcc2) -- the intent is that the C++ front
end be installed in both egcs and gcc2, as I understand things.  At any
given point in time, egcs may be slightly ahead.  *Warning*: this assumes
that you attempt to write standard C++, not just whatever the compiler
will accept; in the past, g++ has accepted invalid input due to bugs and
folks complain when the next release fixes the bug and rejects the invalid
input.

>   > So the questions are really:
>   > 
>   >   * How gcc's official release is determined.
> I don't know how to answer that.  That's one of the problems with the whole
> gcc-2.8 process, nobody knows how/when releases will happen.  I (and othes)
> complained more than once about this problem, but nothing ever happened.

Richard Kenner decides -- it seems he now wants to get a release out ASAP,
but there are still a couple of serious bugs.  (and thanks to the recent
merge these bugs are now in the latest egcs snapshot).

>   >   * What are the egcs features that will not make it
>   >     into the next gcc release.
> That depends mostly on the gcc2 folks.  It's mostly out of our hands.

haifa and -frepo, to name two.  Otherwise they aren't going to be all that
different, I think.

>   >   * What is the expected time length for a bug-fix in some egcs snap-shot
>   >     to propogate to the official gcc release.
> Again, depends on the gcc2 folks.

I suspect that many egcs-generated bug-fixes will appear relatively
quickly in the gcc2 *snapshots*.  How long it will take before a release
occurs is another matter.