Re: [gnat] reuse of ASTs already constructed

[Dave Korn <dave dot korn dot cygwin at googlemail dot com>]

Oliver Kellogg wrote:

> Further question, what is the process for integrating my changes
> into the GCC trunk?

  The generic procedure is documented at the gcc web site:

	http://gcc.gnu.org/contribute.html
	http://gcc.gnu.org/svnwrite.html

> I would assume that I need to
> 1) Make my modifications complete and functioning
> 2) Make sure bootstrap works for all languages
> 3) Run the gcc testsuite and make sure I do not introduce regressions

  Basically, that's what it says on those pages, yep!  Probably still worth
having a quick browse of the above links, to fill out the details.

> 4) What about testing on different platforms? I'm only testing on x86
>  SuSE Linux and setting up other platforms could be a problem.
>  (Coming to think, I could actually test on x86_64 SuSE Linux with
>  small effort, though.)

  Knowing how much testing to do can be tricky, it depends on the nature of
the changes.  Target-specific changes need testing on the targets they affect;
with more generic changes (IIUC you're contemplating FE changes in this
thread) it's usually sufficient to show bootstrap + no testsuite regressions
on any of the primary or secondary supported platforms.  I'd recommend doing
that before submitting the patch, and the relevant maintainers can ask you to
do further testing if they feel it's needed.

  Testing on both 32 and 64 bit platforms is an obvious good way to spot minor
type-size-assumption bugs.  One thing that does have a tendency to go a bit
undertested and break from time to time is SjLj EH, which GNAT uses on at
least some platforms (non-ZCX targets), you might want to try testing one each
way for extra brownie points :)

    cheers,
      DaveK