Algol 68 Front End

[David Edelsohn]

On Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 7:11 PM Jose E. Marchesi <jose.marchesi@oracle.com>
wrote:

>
> Hi David and Steering Committee.
>
> We appreciate the trust in us and our work, and we can only assure you
> that the GCC community, hackers and users both, will not be disappointed
> and will not regret having accepted this front-end.  We will do our best
> to not be a burden to anyone, and on the contrary contribute with as
> much value as possible to the rest of the compiler.  We are very happy
> with the opportunity; it is a privilege to be in GCC, and we REALLY
> appreciate it for what it's worth.  So thank you and the community.
>
> We find all four stipulations perfectly reasonable and agree to them.
>
> Two questions:
>
> - We interpret the first stipulation as not building the algol68
>   front-end when --enable-language=all is specified.  Is this correct?
>   In that case, we will adapt the patches to make it so.
>

Algol 68 should not be part of the default bootstrap languages.  You can
refine that with the Global Maintainers.


>
> - Once the previous point is clarified, should we push the patch series
>   as submitted to gcc-patches, even if they are not bisectable, or is it
>   preferred to squash the patches into a single big commit?
>

Please coordinate with the Global Maintainers on how they wish the patch
to be committed.

Thanks, David


>
> As for suggestions on how to make it easier to maintain GCC front-ends
> outside of trunk, we don't have any specific suggestion right now, but
> it is an interesting topic and will follow up in a different thread
> sharing our experience, in the hope something useful can be extracted
> from it.
>
> Thanks!
>
> > The GCC Steering Committee has agreed to include the Algol 68 Front End
> in
> > trunk designated as experimental with stipulations:
> >
> > 1. Algol 68 is not part of all languages built by default.
> > 2. Algol 68 is not part of the GCC release criteria.
> > 3. All GCC developers who are not responsible for the Algol 68 Front End
> > may decline to work on issues related to the Algol 68 Front End.
> > 4. If the Algol 68 Front End bit rots or is not maintained, it will be
> > removed.
> >
> > To permit Algol 68 development to continue, Jose E. Marchesi is appointed
> > as Algol 68 front end maintainer.
> >
> > If maintaining a Front End outside of trunk is difficult, the Algol 68
> > developers are invited to propose concrete changes to make it easier to
> > maintain front ends in a branch of the GCC repository outside of trunk.
> >
> > Happy Hacking!
> > David
>