[ I foolishly sent this with the document as an attachment... hopefully
it gets rejected and anyone interested can simply download the document
from the wiki..]
Over the past couple of months, I've slowly been putting together an
action plan to help modernize GCC's source base. We've had various
ideas put forth over the years, and a few of the more meritorious ones
have been incorporated. My primary goal is to disentangle the front end
from the middle/back ends, giving us better control over their data
structures.
The biggest challenge is having an executable plan which allows the
source to be updated incrementally. Ie, we need a way to get from
'Here' to 'There' that does not impact ongoing normal activities, nor
noticeably affect the performance of the compiler. This is a huge
effort and it will require a large time commitment on my part to see it
through.
I've attached a link to a document which outlines my proposal. Since
putting it together, I've performed a couple of actual file conversions
(albeit minor ones) beyond the simple examples I used in the document
from the original proof of concept. I've been refining some of the
actual implementation details and logged the various design decisions
that I encounter for later discussions This document is a work in
progress, and should be considered a strategic guide rather than an
implementation bible.
There will be a BOF at Cauldron for anyone interested in discussing
aspects of this. I should also have a list of the interesting issues
I've encountered for discussion there.
Im on vacation for about half the time between now and Cauldron, so I
wanted to get this out now. As for a time line, I wont be able to get
seriously started on it for a couple of months since I have the C11
_Atomic and gimple-atomic implementations to get delivered. That gives
us a reasonable amount of time to address concerns and sort out the
overall approach as well other nitty gritty before any serious work
commences. Once underway, I expect there would be plenty to do for
anyone else interesting in volunteering some time.
Here's the proposal document... happy reading! Feedback is welcome.
I hope this link will work :-)...
http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/AndrewMacLeod?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=gccrestructureplan2.1.odt
Highlander
