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Re: Default gcc for sarge, libunwind



On Thu, Dec 16, 2004 at 08:13:31PM +0100, Adeodato Simó wrote:

>   no, there is no error on your part. the package 'gcc-defaults' gets to
>   decide where do the cpp, gcc, g++, etc. links point to, and at the
>   moment those point to 3.3 versions in both sid an sarge.

>   however, note that in all architectures except hppa and m68k, the
>   libgcc1 package is provided by the gcc-3.4 source package and not by
>   gcc-3.3, which makes packages depend on libgcc1 =~ 3.4 and so (as is
>   happening now for a bunch of packages) gcc-3.4 can block those
>   entering from sarge.

>   for the reasons for having libgcc1 provided by gcc-3.4 (which is not
>   the default compiler) and not by gcc-3.3. (which is), you should ask
>   someone like Matthias Klose, I guess. though I'd say that the change
>   has been made in all architectures for which the 3.3 -> 3.4 GCC
>   transition does not mean an ABI change (since libgcc1 =~ 3.4 is
>   probably "better" than =~ 3.3 and there is no reason against using it).

gcc 3.3->3.4 should only be an ABI change for *C++* code; libgcc is
implemented in C, and is therefore not affected by the ABI transition,
making it reasonable to use the newer version of libgcc in sarge.

> > Secondly, I'd like to learn what this libunwind is about and why
> > tetex-bin is linked against it on some (many!) arches, but not on
> > i386. The package description wasn't really helpful there.

>   nfi about this, sorry.

This is not "many", or even "some"; there is precisely one architecture
which includes libunwind7, ia64, where AIUI this library plays a role in
being able to properly debug program call stacks.

Why this library was suddenly deemed critical for the architecture after
we were already 3 months into a toolchain freeze is another question.

FWIW, these questions seem more appropriate to debian-devel than
debian-mentors; these are not what I would call novice packaging 
questions. :)

-- 
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer

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