[openbeos] Re: How not to actively prevent a PPC version of your software and write better code at the same time
- From: "Nathan Whitehorn" <nathan.whitehorn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2002 21:46:01 EDT (-0400)
> >Of course, *some* of his points are valid (like writing nice code :-
> > ).
>
> Agreed.
>
> >OTOH, PPC is not officially supported, this is an open source
> > software,
>
> Right. With a limited number of volunteers and a lot of work to do.
>
> >AND there is absolutely *no* point in supporting ugly things for the
> >metrowerks compiler as this will be dropped anyway.
>
> Exactly! That is the thing. This is not PPC or no PPC. This is "PPC
> with an R5 kernel
> as a development environment" vs "PPC when the new kernel is ready".
> I don't think that
> the added work on everyone's part to add _EXPORT, along with whatever
> other
> issues may or may not come up are worth it, RIGHT NOW, to support 5
> year old HW
> (which is all that will run R5's kernel).
I named all the issues. I have been taking BeOS x86 GCC software to PPC
for *years*. I think I am competent to state the issues. Nor is it
purely an mwcc thing, as I mentioned in my other mail.
> IF newer Macs were supported on the R5 kernel OR
> the change wasn't all of source control wide OR
> it would be necessary anyway,
> I would have a different opinion. But to put everyone to extra work
> for the, what, 5 PPC users on the
> project who MIGHT write code in the next N months (where N is a
> single digit), I don't think it is worthwhile.
Hmmm, guess we shouldn't port anything to Alpha, ever, since there are
no BeOS Alpha users...
> >Having only one compiler greatly reduces all kinds of problem. And
> > we
> >have decided for now to use the gcc, with an option to gcc3 in the
> >future.
> >Those two are source compatible.
>
> Yes. One thing that I would really like to do, someday, is build on a
> couple of different compilers to see if it works
> and if any errors fall out. But having one compiler across all
> platforms is a good thing.
Trust me. You have lots and lots and lots of errors. There is an
enormous amount of code that has been written with proprietary GCC
extensions (like not using _EXPORT). The points I raised remove 99% of
them.
-Nathan
--
Fortune Cookie Says:
When the Ngdanga tribe of West Africa hold their moon love ceremonies,
the men of the tribe bang their heads on sacred trees until they get a
nose bleed, which usually cures them of ____that.
-- Mike Harding, "The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac"
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