fate of libxml2 in gcc

[Jeffrey Law]

On 1/18/2026 1:00 PM, James K. Lowden wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 16:44:37 -0700
> Jeffrey Law <jeffreyalaw@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 1/16/2026 1:00 PM, James K. Lowden wrote:
>>> At present libgcobol requires the target to supply libxml2.  That
>>> complicates building cross compilers and mitigates against how
>>> distributions are normally built.  The remedy is to make libgcobol a
>>> bootstrap library,
>> So does libxml2 get linked into target code?  Or libxml2 needed to
>> build the compiler itself?
> The gcobol compiler does not use libxml2.  libgcobol mediates between
> libxml2 and the compiled COBOL program.  By that means, libxml2 is
> linked into the target code.
>
> When libgcobol is built, it is linked to libxml2 because libgcobol
> provides support for the XML PARSE statement in COBOL.  The
> compiled COBOL program is linked to libgcobol, which is linked to
> libxml2, which is -- somehow -- provided by the target environment.
>
> As of now, libgcobol/configure.ac confirms that libxml2 is installed.
> The build relies on the host to supply the header files and library.
But is libgcobol target or not?  Based on the above it sounds like it's 
target side.

Ultimately the question that I'm looking to get answered is where does 
the libxml2 code run?  Is it for the host, build or target machine?

We don't include the C library with GCC, but we do include the C++ 
runtime library with GCC.  The decisions here aren't necessarily that 
clear cut.


jeff