Re: What about a non-free compiler? (Re: new port: debian-win32. when ?)
Eray Ozkural writes:
> Would it be okay
> to distribute package binaries generated with the non-free compiler?
No, at least because you would loose one of the benefits of free
software. For example, I imagine it's quite easy for a compiler to
add a troyan to the binary - well, only in binaries big enough so that
noone would ever notice...
> My guess is that it would be okay, even better. What
> do you think? If there is a compiler that does a better
> job than gcc, I'd like to try binaries done with that.
Well, you can still recompile them yourself if you want, and maybe
make them available, but I believe they would not be accepted into the
distribution.
Or maybe they can live in contrib. You could either build a package
for the compiler in non-free (if redistribution of the compiler is
allowed) or an installer package in contrib. I think there already
has been such a situation, but then there was no free replacement.
> But assume that the non-free
> alternative is so much better, and a free alternative won't
> be here for a long time
It may be slightly better in the short run (is it even worth ? Did
you bench the executables ?), but a better long-term alternative would
be to identify what this compiler does when it's better.
For example, Sun cc used to be far better on Solaris than gcc, until
gcc 2.8.x I think. Current gcc 2.95.x are now on par with this
non-free expensive one.
Will you take the challenge ? There are plenty of guys (check the
addresses, I'm not sure of all of the first: gcc@gnu.org,
gcc@packages.debian.org) around there who would be quite motivated by
a benchmark showing significant improvement in the compiled code, so I
think you could try to launch this.
> PS: I'm not referring to any existent product. I only
> know of KAI C/C++ which might function as a replacement,
> but I don't think it has the sort of compatibility outlined
> above. Or does it?
I don't know of this one. Well-behaved C compilers should respect the
ABI of the system for which they compile, so the C compatibility
is nearly certain. As for C++, I don't know of 2 different compilers
that would be compatible with each other.
Best wishes for this new project ;)
--
Yann Dirson <ydirson@altern.org> | Why make M$-Bill richer & richer ?
debian-email: <dirson@debian.org> | Support Debian GNU/Linux:
| Cheaper, more Powerful, more Stable !
http://www.altern.org/ydirson/ | Check <http://www.debian.org/>
Reply to: