GCC 3.0 Release Criteria

[Mark Mitchell]

>>>>> "Jeffrey" == Jeffrey A Law <law@cygnus.com> writes:

    Jeffrey> obstacks need to stay -- consider languages like Ada,
    Jeffrey> Pascal, Modula-3.

I don't think that's a given.  Those languages can be converted to use
the GC framework as well.  (I would certainly object to any new
language front-end being added to the tree that didn't use the GC
framework.)

No, we shouldn't do that for no reason.  Yes, we should provide
assistance with the conversion, and better documentation on the GC
framework.  Yes, we should have a documented, stable front-end API.

However, we don't yet have a stable API.  We somewhat routinely change
the front-end API -- various aspects have changed since 2.95.2, for
example.  I doubt the Modula-3 front-end that worked with the 2.7.x
series still works with 2.95.2, without substantial modifications.

I don't think we should rule out a change that will give us
substantially simpler, more reliable, more easily maintainable code
merely on this criteria.  Instead, we should work towards establishing
a documented API (including the GC memory-management bits), and *then*
we should promise not to break that API.

--
Mark Mitchell                   mark@codesourcery.com
CodeSourcery, LLC               http://www.codesourcery.com