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Re: source code database
- From: dewar at gnat dot com (Robert Dewar)
- To: Mathieu dot Lacage at sophia dot inria dot fr, gcc at gcc dot gnu dot org
- Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 09:40:01 -0500 (EST)
- Subject: Re: source code database
Mathieu said
> A bit of googling showed that the topic of dumping internal compiler
> information into a database is pretty controvertial.
Incidentally, the GNAT compiler does have a capability for dumping internal
trees with full semantic information (this is the -gnatt switch, and it is
essential for implementation of ASIS). Theoretically, it would indeed be
possible to build a code generator that operated from this tree. A jury
would have to decide if that was or was not a violation of the GPL (it is
not at all the case that the decision to use an intermediate file somehow
automatically insulates you from GPL conformance problems, so no one should
make that assumption).
I also do not want to open up the discussion of this general issue, but I
thought it important for people to know that the GNAT compiler does have
this capability (it could easily be removed from the version at FSF, with
consequent loss of ASIS capability, if anyone really objects, but I will
say that so far, it simply has not been an issue).
Robert Dewar