On 9/4/2018 5:37 PM, bachmeier wrote:
Having to deal with the
possibility that others might have any of twelve different compiler versions
installed just isn't sustainable.
Back in the bad old DOS days, my compiler depended on the Microsoft linker,
which was helpfully included on the DOS distribution disks (!)
The problem, however, was Microsoft kept changing the linker, and every linker
was different. At one point I had my "linker disk" which was packed with every
version of MS-Link I could find.
Now that was unsustainable.
The eventual solution was Bjorn Freeman-Benson wrote a linker (BLINK) which we
then used. When it had a bug, we fixed it. When we shipped a compiler, it had a
predictable linker with it. It made all the difference in the world.
Hence my penchant for "controlling our destiny" that I've remarked on now and
then. It's also why the DMD toolchain is boost licensed - nobody is subject to
our whims.
