On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 10:29:37PM +0300, Peter Eisentraut wrote: > There is a bit of discussion in bug #487546 about whether using cc or gcc as > the compiler is appropriate. > > Particular questions: > > * Are Debian packages supposed to be built by default using /usr/bin/gcc (or > whatever gcc is first in the path)? Or is it valid to use cc? cc has traditionally been the system-default compiler for a Unix system. Generally, it will support those options specified by POSIX for c99, since those are a fairly barebones set of options, but it is not mandated to (since it is not specified). Since Debian has it specified as an alternative, I would assume that any C compiler which implements those options would be satisfactory. Whether cc is a valid choice depends on whether the code will work with any such compiler. If a program requires GCC, then it should specify gcc; if any old compiler will work, then cc should be fine. > * What interface is the "cc" alternative offering? Is it a GCC-compatible > compiler, or a POSIX/SUS-compatible compiler? If you want a POSIX-compatible compiler, then you need to use c99; that's the interface that POSIX mandates. I would assume that all C compilers used for cc will at least support C89/C90 and the POSIX options, since, as I said before, those are a very minimal set of options. Also note that POSIX specifies that "the -W (capital-W) option shall be reserved for vendor options." > Currently, packages using cdbs will usually end up using CC=cc as their > compiler, which is typically gcc, but doesn't have to. The submitter of the > bug isn't really telling what exactly he is doing, but I guess it's > a ruling to the contrary on the above questions. I would consider it a bug if a package that specified CC=cc (whether intentionally or unintentionally) failed to build with a non-GCC compiler. I think the matter is really a package-specific matter. I see it much like the /bin/sh issue: if a script requires bash, it should specify bash. If any /bin/sh will do, then /bin/sh is fine. -- brian m. carlson / brian with sandals: Houston, Texas, US +1 713 440 7475 | http://crustytoothpaste.ath.cx/~bmc | My opinion only OpenPGP: RSA v4 4096b 88AC E9B2 9196 305B A994 7552 F1BA 225C 0223 B187
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