Public SourceMage Discussion List

["Peng Chang (Charles)" <chp516 AT gmail.com>]

Dear all,

After compiling Source Mage for several times. I noticed that compiling
the compilers consumes much more time than necessary, for all gcc
frontends bootstrap gcc the C compiler first, whichk takes over 30
minutes on a Core2 Duo 2.0GHz machine with make -j5, and then compiles
the compiler requested.

There are other flaws with this approach as well:
1. The gcc bootstrapped each time cannot be guaranteed to be the same.
   This may matter if you are highly concerned about the consistency and
   interoperability between compilers.
2. Re have to maintain the spec files manually, which can be generated
   automatically.
3. To be discussed...

As I discussed with ruskie ealier today, we may combine the frontends
into a single spell, with the frontends as sub_depends of the spell.

Advantages:
1. This saves time because gcc gets compiled once.
2. The compilers interact perfectly.
3. The structure of the spell is clear and easy.
4. To be discussed...

Disadvantages:
1. This saves time only when someone decides what compilers to have
   early.
2. If someone wants to dispel/modify a single compiler, it consumes more
   time. (Who wants to do this?)
3. To be discussed...

We also need to think about how to support non-official frontends in
this approach.

Cheers,
Charles