Re: [Qemu-devel] [patch 1/2] machine struct - use C99 initializers

[M. Warner Losh]

In message: <address@hidden>
            Paul Brook <address@hidden> writes:
: > > GCC is sufficiently C99 compliant to handle this style of
: > > initializers.
: > > Maybe it's not C99 compliant enough for other stuff, but on this front
: > > it does just fine.
: >
: > You're missing the point: GCC today is not necessarily GCC 4.3+ or
: > whatever has just been released these days and included in your
: > favorite Linux distro. Just like Sun continues to ship GCC 3.4.3 on
: > their latest OpenSolaris builds, the BeOS world and therefore its
: > successor(s) are stuck with GCC 2.95.3 due to C++ ABI breakage in
: > between major GCC versions. GCC 2 was originally released in '98 iirc
: > and hence not C99 compliant. I'd expect your IRIX to face a similar
: > issue, at EOL.
: 
: If a host system hasn't bothered upgrading their toolchain in 10 years then I 
: refuse to care. If you really want to run and ancient obsolete OS you should 
: expect to run equally ancient software.

You assume that all upgrades are a good thing.  There are often
serious regressions in newer software, especially in not Intel
platforms, that makes it much harder to upgrade and have a working
system afterwards.

I'm saying there needs to be a balance between the latest and
greatest, and known working software...

Warner