[haiku-development] Re: To __BEOS__ or not to __BEOS__?
- From: "Ryan Leavengood" <leavengood@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: haiku-development@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 17:55:39 -0400
On Thu, May 8, 2008 at 5:22 PM, Axel Dörfler <axeld@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> That's R2 stuff. If only for the reason that we will want to change the
> API in several ways for GCC 4.
OK. I guess it makes sense to couple together API changes with the
GCC4 change, but it does not have to be that way.
> So for R1, GCC4 should be a possibility (as Michael demonstrated), but
> it shouldn't be the default; it should only be used for stuff that
> really needs it.
Anything modern will more than likely need a newer GCC.
> Otherwise, we'll break binary compatibility, and that's just a bad idea
> for any OS that already has an existing software base.
I did suggest a GCC2 compatibility layer which would allow most basic
applications to run. Things that would probably not work with this
scheme is add-ons and probably drivers.
> Making the real switch with R2 will allow us to provide a clean upgrade path
> without much worries for the end user;
Maybe. I am not sure why breaking binary compatibility in a year or
two would make things much better and smoother than doing it sooner.
> in fact, only those apps that will use GCC4 now will be broken for sure.
So the newer apps developed specifically for Haiku (my WebKit port and
browser, the latest Bezilla code) that need GCC4 will be crippled but
old and crusty abandonware from 1998 (TEN YEARS AGO) will work fine?
For me that seems silly. Though for the sake of avoiding feature-creep
and getting R1 out the door maybe that is the best idea. But
considering all this it seems as if R1 will be mostly a tech-demo and
not actually a system people can use. If that is the goal, great, but
that has not been my impression. I cannot use a system without a
modern web browser (I do not think I am alone on this), and for that
we need GCC4, hence my being adamant about this. I really don't want
Haiku to be seen as a toy OS from its first release.
Regards,
Ryan
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