On Wed, 18 Apr 2007, Joerg Schilling wrote:
Alan DuBoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
No system to date is without sacrifice in some way for Solaris. I'd like
to hear a lot more of how we can make Solaris be itself. I mean this in
regards to pkgsrc wanting things in /usr/pkg, belenix wanting /usr/foss,
and even Solaris using /usr/sfw...or duplication of libs running wild
amongst the community, and even the gcc vs. SunStudio ABI situation with
c++ code. This cross-ABI problem seems to bite us hard. Maybe the idea
that our community can work together as a whole is merely a dream.
I believe that the C++ ABI problem cannot be soved as this would force at least
(all -1) compiler authors to completely change their internal compiler source
structures.
What we can do for the problem?
- Use as many pure C ABIs as possible
- Create something like /usr/lib/gcc/
to document the fact that the libraries inside are not compatible
with the Sun compiler C++ ABI
This is one of the double edge swords we face.
As long as we have 2 different ABIs, I don't see a simple solution. The
potential to blow up in the ABIs will always be a potential risk.
Don't we have the later today? I mean, we have other gcc type
consolodations, Nexenta, Blastwave, as a case in point. Blastwave used to
use the SunStudio compiler on most stuff, but I think packages like KDE
use the gcc compiler. This is a recipe for ABI blowout, IMO. OTOH, I run
an old KDE from the companion CD on *some* systems, and it doesn't blow up
on me. Paul Cunningham used to use gcc for it.
Recentely I'm using GNOME/JDS, and have weened myself from KMail so I
could do that more easily.
I have heard people who use the KDE from Blastwave say, "it only blows up
once in a while", which is too much for my desktop, FWIW.
The only way to safely nail this down is to use SunStudio.
This is just one example, others certainly exist.
The problem is there is a lot of C++ code in the real world, and it's hard
for us to ignore it. The best way is to try and make it right for our
environment, which is by using the same compiler (easier said than done in
some cases...KDE is a case in point).
Some code does compile fine with C++ using either compiler,
mozilla/firefox/thunderbird are cases where that works on large code
bases, AFAIK.
--
Alan DuBoff - Solaris x86 IHV/OEM Group
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