Status and rationale for toplevel bootstrap (was Re: Example of debugging GCC with toplevel bootstrap)

[Eric Botcazou]

> So the previous system was easy?  IMO it's just that it's been tested for
> 15 years.  Personally it took me a lot of time to understand the working of
> bubblestrap, stage*_copy, stage*_build, and so on

The previous "make" was easy.  Now even "make" is too much intricate for 
common mortals.

> The point is that you have to decide in advance if the toplevel will
> bootstrap.  If you use --disable-bootstrap, it will not.

I know, I exclusively use that nowadays. :-)

> --disable-bootstrap will *not* disappear;rather, "../configure
> --disable-bootstrap && make bootstrap", which currently triggers the
> old-style GCC-only bootstrap, will disappear.

That's good news and actually sufficient to allay most of my concerns.  And 
you can count on me to yell if --disable-bootstrap breaks. :-)

-- 
Eric Botcazou