GCC 3.0 Status Report

[Mike Stump]

> From: Joe Buck <jbuck@synopsys.COM>
> To: mrs@windriver.com (Mike Stump)
> Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 03:14:14 -0700 (PDT)

> The answer to your question is that there is no abi compatibility
> for the library, only for the compiler.

Ah, ok, thanks for the explanation.  I understand the difference, I
just hope that we communicate it with folks.  From
http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-3.0/criteria.html:

C++ ABI

     In order to avoid changing the C++ ABI from release to release,
     as GCC has done to date, there must be a stable ABI.

C++ Standard Library

     The standard library is a part of the ABI. Changing the standard
     library interfaces is effectively a change in the ABI. It is
     important that we provide a standards-conforming C++ standard
     library.

It seems to want to lump the library ABI in with the compiler one.
This could lead to confusion, though, since it doesn't say anything
much, it isn't wrong.