On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 7:04 PM, Basile Starynkevitch <bas...@starynkevitch.net> wrote: > Manuel López-Ibáñez wrote: >> >> On 23 April 2010 23:19, Basile Starynkevitch <bas...@starynkevitch.net> >> wrote: >>> >>> I do know that the legal system of GCC is nearly impossible to change (we >>> all remember how getting the runtime license of GCC compatible with >>> plugins >>> took so long) but I believe it is one of the weaknesses of GCC. My >>> feeling >>> is that the legalese inside GCC have been defined in a different time and >>> world than today! >> > > I was referring to the fact that the threat to GCC is today no more from Sun > (I read a few weeks ago that as a company Sun does not exist today). The > competition is from other free compilers like LLVM CLANG. And it could > happen that LLVM + CLANG would continue to exist even if Apple disappeared. > It could also happen that LLVM + CLANG would supersede GCC.
Competition is a good thing. I personally believe that, in the long run, GCC will benefit largely from it. Remember, the new and shiny kid on the block almost always looks sexy and cool :-) It is true for programming languages, and it is true for the tools we use to execute our programs. I have seen lot of changes to GCC since summer 1997 (when I got interested in EGCS, not just as a user, but as a contributor.) If you look through the archive, you'll realize that some of those changes looked "out of reach" a decade ago. I don't see LLVM+CLANG as a threat. I see it as a stimulating competitor, and I hope core GCC developers and potential contributors see it that way. My dream for GCC is to beat LLVM+CLANG, not emulate it. I don't think lowering our standards will be of any help or good for the long run -- quite the contrary. I understand the copyright issue. I have lived and worked on both sides of the Atlantic (your home country and the US) and I appreciate the differences. I know passion runs deep on both sides about this issue. I submit that at the end of the day, it is more a matter of will than fundamental incompatible philosophical differences. If you build it they will come. The number of GCC contributors has increased over the years. Don't get desperate by the competitors' ads :-) -- Gaby
