Rant: So you want help?

[Kevin Krammer]

On Sunday, 2010-11-07, Francis Corvin wrote:
> At 2010-11-06 17:00, Thomas Friedrichsmeier wrote:
> >Right now one central problem with having a time gap between the compilers
> >is that it will cause serious confusion. Suppose MSVC is at 4.5.3,
> >while MinGW is
> >still at 4.4.4. Right now, users will
> >1. select a mirror
> >2. select a compiler (let's suppose user choses MinGW, here)
> >3. select a release (obviously user selects the latest one, i.e. 4.5.3)
> >4. select packages (but our example user will not see *any* packages,
> >since there are no MinGW 4.5.3 packages)
> >
> >What I am suggesting is that users will
> >3. select a release _type_ (stable / unstable / nightly)
> >4. MinGW users will be able to select 4.4.4 packages, MSVC users will see
> >4.5.3 packages.
> 
> To me the whole idea that users should have to select a compiler is
> completely ludicrous. How many decent windows installers ask you that
> sort of question? None. Who cares? No-one, users just want the bloody
> app. Which user can say what compiler was used for this or that
> application outside the KDE world? Developer might care, but let's
> not kid ourselves that it is for any other reason than their own
> preferences.

AFAIK the main problem is that GCC is like a solitary island that does not 
like to cooperate, i.e. it always creates its own ABI not matter what the 
platform's C++ ABI is.

So you end up having to build all dependencies with GCC if you want one 
application to be built with GCC.

Maybe the things that are currently a problem for MSVC can be built with a 
different compiler but one that is following the platform standard?
Intel's or Borland's maybe?

Cheers,
Kevin
-- 
Kevin Krammer, KDE developer, xdg-utils developer
KDE user support, developer mentoring
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