Re: Releasing Potato

[Ben Pfaff <pfaffben@msu.edu>]

Martin Schulze <joey@carelia.infodrom.north.de> writes:

> > 4. Kernel 2.2.1[234567] as default kernel.  Source packages have
> >    gcc272 as compiler in Makefile, and depend on gcc272.
> >    cfr. discussion on linux-kernel (it's not just union aliasing that
> >    breaks the kernel on Intel).
> 
> New kernel will be selected by boot-floppies, should be 2.2.x by
> that time - if boot-floppies are usable.
> 
> gcc, I thought our default compiler was some egcs these days.  Being
> wrong?

gcc 2.7.2 is the recommended compiler for the Linux kernel on i386.
Newer versions sometimes produce code with bugs under newer gcc's, and
up until recently ISTR that gcc 2.9.5 wouldn't even compile the Linux
kernel due to some changes in the inline assembly handling.  This is
an ongoing issue on the linux-kernel mailing list.

(Other programs will normally work with egcs and gcc 2.9.5 because
they are not as tightly bound to kernel features as the kernel.)