Re: Pending issues wrt integrating objc-improvements-branch withmainline

[Mark Mitchell <mark at codesourcery dot com>]

Ziemowit Laski wrote:

> (1) How should I discharge my obligation regarding ObjC++  
> documentation?  Given that there is next to no _ObjC_ documentation
>     in GCC at present :-), I am tempted to simply point GCC users at
>
>          
> http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/ObjectiveC/ 
> index.html
>
>     which discusses both ObjC and ObjC++.  Would this be OK, and if 
> so,  where should I insert it?

I think that's an OK reference.  As for where to insert it, I would 
think that the place in the manual where you describe the switch that 
activates Objective-C++ would be good.

There are a lot of things not documented in the brief section in 
Objective-C++ in the manual.  For example, can you do overload 
resolution on functions which take an Objective-C class and how does 
that work?  Can you instantiate a template with an Objective-C class?  Etc.

I think the situation you are in is that without any specification of 
that behavior, you are getting what you get.  That includes the fact 
that changes to the C++ front end in these areas may affect 
Objective-C++.  If that happens, I don't think people will look 
favorably at trying to add back the old behavior to preserve 
Objective-C++ semantics.  So, your expectation should be that 
Objective-C++ code might break over time, if the C++ side of things 
moves around.

> (2) How would you like me to stage the actual integration once it is  
> ready to happen?  To minimize the burden placed on other maintainers,
>     I propose to break this down as follows:
>       (a1)  Merge in (minor) changes to the C front-end;
>       (a2)  Merge in changes specific to the objc/ and 
> testsuite/objc*  directories;
>       (b)   Merge in the c-objc-common and cp/cp-objcp-common  
> lang-hooks rewrite (this basically just moves stuff around);
>       (c1)  Merge in changes to the C++ front-end; aside from a big 
> new  chunk going into cp/parser.c, these are also minor;
>       (c2)  Merge in the objcp/ and testsuite/obj-c++.dg/ directories.
>
>     This assumes that (a1) and (a2) occur quasi-simultaneously,  
> followed by (b) and then by (c1)-(c2) (also quasi-simultaneously).
>     I can carry out (a2) and (c2) under my ObjC/ObjC++ mullah powers,  
> but will need global maintainer approval for the other three.

This seems like a good plan.  I can review (c1); you'll need someone 
else (Joseph Myers?) for (a1) and (b).

Good luck,

--
Mark Mitchell
CodeSourcery, LLC
(916) 791-8304
mark@codesourcery.com