GCC 4.1 Released 343
Luineancaion writes "Looks like GCC 4.1 has been released. From what I know this includes the GNU Classpath merge and means that Azureus can now be used in a 100% Free-Software system. Thanks to everyone that worked on it, and keep up the good work!"
Home depot (Score:5, Insightful)
Masters of understatement (Score:3, Insightful)
I am interested in how well it supports ARM5, seeing as how it was dropped as the recommended compiler for certain platforms.
GCC is the Key to Open Source's Success (Score:5, Insightful)
Back in the day the first step in loading up a UNIX workstation with Open Source tools, was to go out and grab a limited precompiled version of GCC, then bootstrap compile an more suitable version, then go to town on compiling all the rest of the goodies that we couldn't live without. We did it so often that it became second nature to go through this process.
I salute you, makers and maintainers of GCC.
A big thanks to the GCC team. (Score:3, Insightful)
Thanks folks, and happy Thanksgiving.
Re:That's good. (Score:3, Insightful)
I doubt that. It's probably movies and tv shows.
Re:I'm thinking of contributing to GCC... (Score:5, Insightful)
The basics of compilers aren't difficult. 2nd year CS students can understand toy compilers. But gcc isn't a toy compiler, it's a real compiler in the real world dealing with a sometimes crazy language, and even crazier users. If you can write better optimizing code, prove it works, and it doesn't infringe on any patents, submit your code.
Re:GCC is the Key to Open Source's Success (Score:5, Insightful)
Please do take this in the supportive spirit in which it is intended. It's a letter from GCC's initial author, Richard Stallman [com.com] (also founder of the free software movement) to a CNet article author who referred to GCC as an "open source" programming tool.
Quoting from that letter:
Of course, this is not a letter from RMS to you or directly pertaining to your article. However, I thought that it was worth mentioning in case people want to tell their friends about the new GCC release. It seems that people who frequent /. go to some length to make sure that they describe Linus Torvalds' initial authorship of the Linux kernel in a manner according to his chosen movement. I thought that the same respect should be due to RMS.
C and Objective-C (Score:3, Insightful)
I wince at the thought. The sick f*ck(s) deserves a pat on the back and a six-pack at least. Oh and a pay raise.
LOL. (Score:0, Insightful)
It is virtually free to copy and distribute software (though someone has to pay for the bandwidth), and the act of producing one more copy does not use any physical resources.
Hammers and screwdrivers cost money to manufacture and ship, and producing one more uses limited physical resources like wood, plastic, and metal.
Until hammers and screwdrivers are virtually free to reproduce and distribute, and producing one more does not use limited resources, please don't compare apples to oranges.
Re:GCC is the Key to Open Source's Success (Score:3, Insightful)
You would make the butt of jokes anyone who tried to demand that you call Roma tomatoes "Roma Tomatoes" every single time you referred to them instead of referring to them generally as tomatoes. It simply does not make any difference to anyone what you call them as long as you get the point across that the thing in question falls into a certain group. You can make that group as broad as you want or as narrow as you want, but there is a happy medium where the label is non-offensive and clear to any and all that hear it. Going too narrow may provide more information but at a loss of understanding to your audience.
RMS is in error here, but not because he thinks that software designated Free Software ought not be referred to as Open Source software, but because he thinks that anyone cares.
RMS wrote GCC to pursue software freedom. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Let me know when it stops sucking (Score:4, Insightful)
The true ideal is to be able to write code that if it compiles on gcc you can say "i know for certain that this is valid c++". Such a goal is difficult, if not impossible (many things are "implementation defined") but is stilla goal worth shooting for.
Re:RMS wrote GCC to pursue software freedom. (Score:1, Insightful)
Open Source Software is software that is available also in source code format. Under this grouping you can have everything from Free Software (GPL), freer software (BSD), not-so-free software (MPL), and wholly un-free software (MS Shared Source). However, the key ingredient here is that the source is available. Hence "Open Source".
Now you can go ahead and say, well Free Software gives you a bunch of other rights and obligations beyond what the other OSS types give you, but that does not in any way diminish the fact that its source is available, making it "Open Source".
In fact, gcc is more than just RMS' "Free Software tool", it is actually a "Free Software multi-computer-language source code compiler for multiple CPU instruction sets." You can go about as specific as you like, but at some point the rest of us are rolling ours eyes and waiting for the tirade to end so we can go back to referring to it as an Open Source tool.
As far as your contention that history is somehow violated because the "Open Source" community ignores the Freedom aspects of the Free Software movement, you are incorrect there as well. You will find that in most cases proponents of OSS are also strong believers in FS. The primary difference is that they see the benefits of Freedom as the primary reasons to choose OSS, whereas Free Software zealots can't see the forest for the trees. In order to realize the benefits of Open Source software, Software Freedom is a necessity. Here's a quote from opensource.org:
The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves.
None of this is possible without some degree of Software Freedom, and OSS proponents recognize this inherently. What they also recognize is that bitching about definitions and the assignment of credit is pointless and doesn't motivate anyone except the lunatic fringes.
Re:What was wrong with Azureus? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Home depot (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, gcc is a great compiler, but it is not as good as a commercial compiler like Intel's, or PathScale's, or the Portland groups' or another compiler that is designed for a specific platorm.
I use it by default on my Itanium, Alpha, x86, and SPARC systems, but when performance matters, I go for one that is better optimized.
The most grateful aspect of gcc to the world is that Linux would be impossible without it. And that in itself is enough. I learned C from using gcc, and like I said, I use it daily, but it is not the best performing compiler on the block. It is not uncommon to get up to 100% speedup using an optimized compiler for the platform over gcc, but for portability and familiarity of the compiler across platforms (which is its purpose), it is damn good. Especially when many vendors do not provide a C/C++ compiler for their OS without extra charge.
Thank you GNU and the gcc people.
Re:RMS wrote GCC to pursue software freedom. (Score:1, Insightful)
His revolution is done. It won. It continues to win, despite his constant screwing with the definitions of "Free".
Take a look at the damage he is now trying to do to 'his' movement with the updates to the GPL. That's not software Freedom, it's just as much about lock-in as any proprietary license. If he continues down this path, touting Software Freedom when he means nothing of the kind, his movement will be eclipsed by other more balanced and sensible movements. In some ways, this has already happened with the non-religious OSI taking the limelight away from the FSF.
The philosophical stuff has its place. And luckily for it, it has already won over the majority of people. In fact, it has been so successful that many people now believe that something without a tangible physical presence has no value, and they are actively circumventing the law in order to "share".
Make no mistake, Free Software, indeed the whole idea of Information Freedom has succeeded. What remains are business issues, legal issues, and the rest of the day-to-day issues involved with any usage paradigm. RMS and the FSF have outlived their purpose, and prove that with every release of a new and more onerous "Free" license such as the restrictive GPL4 or the wholly un-Free GFDL.
But, if you gotta suck RMS' dick, Slashdot is probably the best place to do it.
Re:GCC is the Key to Open Source's Success (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:GCC is the Key to Open Source's Success (Score:4, Insightful)
Here is a list of contributors to GCC: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Contributors.ht
I would be quite annoyed with all this talk about initial authorship if I had just worked my butt of to get the current release out of the door.
More people than you imagine ... (Score:4, Insightful)
More people than you imagine do care.
I know I do, and I know lots of others do, too.
NOT a subset (Score:3, Insightful)
Bogus Blathering (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:GCC is important, but what about progress in C+ (Score:1, Insightful)
you'd rather be programming in Java. So why don't you?
I use C++ for high performance real time software. I don't
want GC or libraries which depend on it. If I were writing
software for a bank or something, I'd use Java - it's easier,
and already has all the tools and libraries. Why screw around
with C++ if you don't need performance? And if you do need
performance, why are you using garbage collection and other
stuff which will just turn your C++ compiler into a poor man's
java compiler? I don't get it... use the right tool for the job!
-- Tristan
Re:NOT a subset (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Buffer overflows a non-issue. (Score:3, Insightful)
Or, put another way, if half the security holes are a non-issue, then the other half cannot be more of an issue, hence we have no security problem at all (check my math, please).
Perhaps you can see why I prefer to use programs written in safe languages.