Rob Browning wrote: > (I had a hard time deciding if this was -devel or -policy material.) > > The changelog for egcc claims it's now the standard for Debian. Is > that true? I'm asking because I need it here for other projects, and > I want to know how that can/should interact with building my Debian > packges. > > Is it OK to compile Debian packages with egcs now? Also if egcs is > now the standard, then shouldn't it provide /usr/bin/gcc, or are we > supposed to just stick calling cc? If the latter, then why does the > egcs C++ package provide g++?
The current situation regarding gcc is rather complex. I had fully intended to make egcc the standard gcc for debian. Unfortunately, a lot of people complained. Some of their complaints were very serious: after all, egcc still can't compile the kernel properly. So for those who wanted an ultra-conservative C compiler, and who needed a properly working g++/libstdc++ suite, I built a hybrid environment. The standard C compiler for Debian is gcc, built from the 2.7.2.3 sources. The standard C++ compiler for Debian is in the g++ package, which was built from egcs. The g77 fortran compiler is also an egcs product. The standard c++ library package is libstdc++2.8, and all c++ programs in Debian should be rebuilt to make use of it. This environment has at least one serious disadvantage: It is no longer possible to use the /usr/bin/gcc front-end binary to compile c++ code. There's nothing I can do to change that; the 2.7.2.3 front end doesn't know how to look for the egcs binaries in gcc-lib, and also doesn't know the new compiler flags egcs added. You have to stick with /usr/bin/g++ for now. As egcs becomes more stable, I'm going to start phasing it in as the standard gcc one architecture at a time. (If you look at the egcs debian/rules, you'll find most of it is conditional spaghetti based on whether egcs is the standard or secondary C compiler on that architecture.) --Galen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
