Re: gcc for winders

[Mumit Khan <khan at NanoTech dot Wisc dot EDU>]

On Sat, 31 Mar 2001, Phil Edwards wrote:

> 
> Here's 90-odd percent of the users:
> 
> - GCC:
> 
>     gunzip -c .... | tar xvf -
>     cd .... ; ./configure && make bootstrap install
> 
> And many would even get away with 'all' instead of 'bootstrap'.  (Mmm,
> well, modulo the blddir==srcdir thing, and that's not hard to explain.)

Actually, I'd argue that it's a small percentage of gcc users these days
who build from source. When I started using gcc in the late 80's, that 
was the only way to go; now, on the other hand, with the large number of 
of GNU/Linux installations and the various GNU/Linux distributions, I 
would presume a large percentage of gcc users simply install prebuild 
packages.

Of course, those who develop gcc or use/test the gcc development tree 
build it from scratch, but that's a small number compared to the gcc 
installations worldwide. 

> DaveK argues that we should point towards source for ethical reasons, and
> while I don't disagree with him, I think pointing more towards source should
> be encouraged because -- given the existence of a bootstrapping compiler,
> and half a metric buttload of free diskspace -- building GCC for a native
> compiler just isn't that hard.  I was doing it as a college freshman.

Sure, for personal edification perhaps, but why bother when you can just
use apt-get, rpm, pkgadd, swinstall, etc to do it in a flash.

I for one appreciate the work of the packagers who make my life easier. And,
for the same selfish reason, I like to have pointers to places where these 
nicely packaged binaries are (with accompanying source of course).

Regards,
Mumit