Re: gcc-2.95.3

[martin@v.loewis.de (Martin v. Loewis)]

Peter Koellner <peter@mezzo.net> writes:

> sure. maybe i did not made quite clear, that i did not expect help with
> the compilation error at all, but was asking for the current method to set
> up a debian system for kernel development tasks, so that i don't get
> a response of "use the right compiler version, idiot!" when i send
> in some bug report to a kernel code maintainer.
> 
> see the point too? ;-)

Not really. Please read /usr/src/linux/README and
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/Changes to get an idea what the kernel
authors think the appropriate toolset is (and notice that the
recommendations in these files differ (perhaps depending on the exact
version of your kernel)). A Linux distributor normally won't give more
detailed instructions than that, for reasons that follow.

I think most kernel contributors agree that COMPILER VERSION SHOULD
NOT MATTER. There is a certain minimum gcc version that is needed to
compile the kernel at all, and old compilers have known bugs, but
everything newer than egcs 2.91.66 (anno 1999) should built the kernel
just fine.

Now, there are unfortunately very comlex interactions between the
compiler version and specific constructs used in the Linux kernel that
may cause miscompilations. However, without investigating the specific
case, nobody can give a recommendation which compiler versions to
avoid.

Regards,
Martin