Re: Objective-C bugs and GCC releases

[Robert Dewar]

Adrian Robert wrote:

> Thank you for taking the time to clarify the situation.  But..
>
> Regardless of how you sugar-coat it, designating a language as not
> release critical means in practice you can't rely on GCC going
> forward for that language.  And when there are manpower shortages,
> the situation is not likely to improve -- rather, the gaps that need
> to be filled for support to return will increase.  The direction
> things are going for GCC is to try to make it a cutting edge C/C++
> compiler as you say.  But is closing that 10% or 20% gap separating
> GCC from the IBM and Intel compilers really worth jettisoning entire
> languages along the way?  Could there be a middle ground to holding
> up releases for too long waiting for non-market-majority development
> (a practice which led to the splintering of egcs in the past) on one
> side and gradually but surely becoming a specialist C/C++ solution
> on the other?

I don't see the point here. Holding up the release does not somehow
make more resources available for working on Objective-C. If there
are people interested in objective-C, let them work on it. If not,
I see no basis for holding up the release.

It's the same situation with Ada. We are working away hard (really
most specifically Richard is working furiously) on getting Ada to
work for the latest GCC version. But holding up the release for
Ada would be pointless, it would not generate any more hours in the
day for Richard, and would just inconvenience other people.