Solaris version number stew

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

One of the issues with gcc on RISC architectures is optimizations. GCC 
is an excellent compiler, but on RISC processors it generally does not 
include things like scheduling. Scheduling, or reordering is normally part 
of a post compile step where it takes the generated machine code and 
optimizes it for the specific chip or architecture. Also, the Sun compilers 
for Solaris 8.0 can generate 64 bit code where gcc is only 32 bit. So, if 
you have a commercial product that needs to achieve the best 
performance, then the vendor's native compiler is usually the best. This is 
why Compaq's C compilers are available on Alpha/Linux.  
On 25 Jan 2001, at 12:21, Patrick McManus wrote:

> circa 1997 or so I was forced to use the sun compiler/ilinker (part of
> sparcworks at least at the time) for compatibility with some 3rd party
> object only libraries.. one was from a vendor whom I no longer recall,
> and the other was the oracle OCI stuff.. oracle stated this as a
> requirement, I don't know if that's still true.
> 
> the issues were more in depth than simply name mangling as well.. I
> believe they focused around alignment issues and assumptions made by
> the libraries. (unarticulated assumptions that I couldn't emulate in
> my code without more reverse engineering than the schedule allowed.)
> 
> -P
> 
> [John Abreau: Thu, Jan 25, 2001 at 11:34:48AM -0500]
> > On Wed, 24 Jan 2001, David Allan wrote:
> > 
> > > What's the general take on gcc for Solaris?  I know the C compiler that
> > > ships isn't great, and you can buy a better one from Sun, but I've used
> > > gcc to build stuff and it seems ok.  I'm no programmer, though.
> > > 
> > > Dave
> > 
> > Actually, Sun doesn't ship a C compiler with Solaris at all. There's a
> > dummy "cc" program in /usr/ucb that just prints an error message:
> > 
> >     /usr/ucb/cc:  language optional software package not installed
> > 
> > Most of the claims I've heard were that gcc gave better code, but I've
> > never seen hard data regarding the issue.
> > 
> > --
> > John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix 
> > ICQ#28611923 / AIM abreauj / Email jabr at blu.org
> > 
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Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Associate Director
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org
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