Re: [Tinycc-devel] Using tinycc for full source bootstrapping

[Michael B. Smith]

You funny.

I've still got hundreds of thousands of lines of C in K&R C. In production. 
Supporting major applications.

You are obviously one of those people who thinks that COBOL is ancient and 
unused, aren't you?

Because I've got millions of production LOC in COBOL.

No offense, but I don't think you understand the real world.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tinycc-devel [mailto:address@hidden On Behalf Of KHMan
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2017 9:41 PM
To: address@hidden
Subject: Re: [Tinycc-devel] Using tinycc for full source bootstrapping

On 9/27/2017 5:30 AM, address@hidden wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 24, 2017 at 07:40:32PM +0200, grischka wrote:
>> Also as source tcc is supposed to be C89, except maybe 'long long'
>> and maybe some minor things here or there which we could change 
>> indeed if that is wanted (for example usage of compound initializers 
>> in arm-gen.c)
>
> [not a tinycc developer but using / depending on compiler 
> bootstrapping]
>
> I would find it awesome if tinycc would restrict its source to C89.

2017 - 1989 = 28.

Twenty-Eight Years. It would be kinda nice to move forward. Will we stick to 
C89 simply because of certain platforms that may never move forward? It's kinda 
like tying stones to one's legs. Or a lowest common denominator scenario.

> Compilers written in C89 and understanding C99 hardly exist. This 
> makes it hard to do a proper bootstrap from the ground with minimal 
> dependency on existing binaries.

Could you give an example/examples where the starting point for a bootstrap is 
C89 for the foreseeable future? (Not trying to be a nitpick pest, but actual 
data points are usually a good thing, and tcc supports only a few processors, 
so it would be nice to know which one and what platform, or is it some future 
thing.)

I like Larry's posting. Item 1 can also be done by text processing.

Or make a minimally functioning tcc C89 branch.

Or bootstrap it the Pascal P4 way.

> (Offtopic, but tightly related to the full bootstrapping: if tcc would 
> also become relicensed to BSD-alike, this would not only make such 
> deep bootstrapping easier but also allow getting to C99 without 
> relying on GPL, which matters to some people and scenarios)
>
> Thanks for your work on tcc,
> Rune

--
Cheers,
Kein-Hong Man (esq.)
Selangor, Malaysia


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