[ale] GCC compiler questions... [was: Ramdisk Error on RH 7.1 Install]

[Charles Marcus]

OK, thanks for clearing that up...

Now three possibly obviously newbie questions:

1) Why does Redhat ship a compiler that won't compile the kernel, and

2) Can you have BOTH installed, and

3) What are the advantages (and disadvantages) of each?

Thanks again

Charles

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ale at ale.org [mailto:owner-ale at ale.org]On Behalf Of Stuffed
> Crust
> Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2001 12:50 PM
> To: Jeff Hubbs; f at shaftnet.org
> Cc: Atlanta Linux User Group (E-mail)
> Subject: Re: [ale] Ramdisk Error on RH 7.1 Install
> 
> 
> On Thu, May 17, 2001 at 11:24:59AM -0400, Charles Marcus wrote:
> > Or are you, I HOPE, getting this backwards?  They 
> definitely DID release 7.0
> > with a broken version of GCC, and this was a major issue.  
> I cannot believe
> > that they did it again!
> 
> For the umpteenth time, GCC 2.96 (aka GCC 3.0pre) is NOT 
> broken.  It is
> no worse than egcs-1.1.2, It is no worse than GCC 2.95.x; and it is in
> many ways LESS buggy.
> 
> However, the Linux kernel is only guaranteed to compile correctly with
> egcs-1.1.2 and gcc-2.95.1 That's because the Linux kernel 
> uses all sorts
> of nonstandard extensions and hacks.
> 
> It wasn't until fairly recently (2.2.18, IIRC) that 2.95 would work!
> Did that mean 2.95 was broken?  No, because the problems lie with the
> source code.
> 
> From the Kernel Changes file:
> 
> The recommended compiler for the kernel is egcs 1.1.2 (gcc 
> 2.91.66), and
> it should be used when you need absolute stability. You may use gcc
> 2.95.x instead if you wish, although it may cause problems. Later
> versions of gcc have not received much testing for Linux kernel
> compilation, and there are almost certainly bugs (mainly, but not
> exclusively, in the kernel) that will need to be fixed in order to use
> these compilers. In any case, using pgcc instead of egcs or 
> plain gcc is
> just asking for trouble.
> 
> Note that gcc 2.7.2.3 is no longer a supported kernel compiler. The
> kernel no longer works around bugs in gcc 2.7.2.3 and, in fact, will
> refuse to be compiled with it.
> 
> In addition, please pay attention to compiler optimization.  Anything
> greater than -O2 may not be wise.  Similarly, if you choose to use
> gcc-2.95.x or derivatives, be sure not to use 
> -fstrict-aliasing (which,
> depending on your version of gcc 2.95.x, may necessitate using
> -fno-strict-aliasing).
> 
> ****
> 
> Anyhow!
> 
>  - Pizza
> -- 
> Solomon Peachy                                    
> pizzaATfucktheusers.org
> I ain't broke, but I'm badly bent.                           
> ICQ# 1318344
> Patience comes to those who wait.
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