Re: gcc 3.3.4 cross build for mipsel mischooses the `as' to run

[Mike Stump <mrs at apple dot com>]

On Aug 4, 2004, at 9:01 PM, Zack Weinberg wrote:
> in practice I find that on any system where
> there's a choice between (GNU as and/or ld) and (the system-provided
> as and/or ld), I have to hit configure over the head with explicit
> --with-{as,ld}=<path> AND the appropriate --with/--without-gnu-{as,ld}
> in order to get it to pick the ones I want and then feed them the
> appropriate input.

configure is broken beyond belief, it can be fixed.  I much preferred 
the old way it did it.  All the nonsense with -with-gnu-as and the 
-with-as=path is just unfortunate, but like all bugs, can be fixed.

I don't think there are more than 10 bugs that need to be fixed for it 
to be solid.

It should never be necessary to give -with-gnu-{as,ld} when the as or 
ld selected is a GNU as or ld, and the document that claims otherwise 
is broken and should be fixed: "(Confusion may also
result if the compiler finds the GNU assembler but has not been
configured with @option{--with-gnu-as}.)"

When the compiler searches for as post install and find the system as, 
and the configured as was a GNU as, and the system as is not a GNU as, 
the compiler should run the as that was found during the build of the 
compiler instead of the system as, and the documentation that claims 
otherwise is broken and can be fixed: "However, this does not modify
the rules to find an assembler and will result in confusion if the
assembler found is not actually the GNU assembler."

Not checking the PATH I think is wrong, and should be fixed and the 
document can be fixed: "Note that these rules do not check for the 
value of @env{PATH}."

If we really would rather not check PATH, that is fine, but then let's 
just sym link from whatever as/ld we want into the directory that has 
cc1 and be done with it.  It is checked first, and once found there, 
we're done with the search.