GCC 4 Preview in RHEL 4

Posted Feb 24, 2005 10:31 UTC (Thu) by rmyorston (subscriber, #6626)
In reply to: GCC 4 Preview in RHEL 4 by dowdle
Parent article: Fedora Core 4 Test 1 slips

Compiler versions, and ABI compatibility, are a big deal, particularly in the commercial world where things tend to move more slowly. We're still living with the consequences of the GCC 3.0 compilers that shipped with RH72 and then were backed out of RH73.

To interoperate with a third-party product we need to use their closed-source C++ libraries, which were built with the RH72 GCC 3.0 compiler. These libraries are compatible with nothing in the modern world. Using them requires a specially tailored build environment and the installation of ancient support libraries on runtime systems.

I'm happy that Red Hat seem to have learned the lesson of the GCC 3.0 debacle and are being suitably cautious in their Enterprise systems but adventurous in Fedora Core.

GCC 4 Preview in RHEL 4

Posted Feb 25, 2005 11:49 UTC (Fri) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link]

Quoting Richard Stallman, the quote I use in my USENET and mailing list sig:

"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- and if you use the program, he is your master."

Let some closed source program be your master, and you are forever enslaved to the whims of its master -- until you break free of that closed source bondage, anyway.

Duncan