[PATCH:xscope 04/24] Convert some for loops to use C99-style inline variable declarations

Daniel Stone daniel at fooishbar.org
Sat Sep 1 22:49:04 PDT 2012


Hi,

On 1 September 2012 10:21, Alan Coopersmith <alan.coopersmith at oracle.com> wrote:
> I do wonder though about the viability of updating some parts of your system
> to 2012 releases while keeping others stuck at a 2001 release.   I certainly
> don't try to build current X.Org releases on Solaris 8 with our Studio 8
> compilers and wouldn't expect anyone else to put in effort to do so.
>
> We're not going to stay gcc 2.95 compatible forever, especially since few of
> the rest of us have copies handy to check which subsets it was compatible with
>  - it's just a question of how long.   Is work happening on moving to another
> compiler such as clang?   Is every software package in the open source universe
> holding back for these platforms?   Or are they just being increasingly deprecated?

My understanding is that these platforms are m68k (though perhaps not
any longer, as at least Debian has been tracking gcc releases for
quite a long time, including 4.4 now being the default), VAX, and some
even more obscure/esoteric platforms.  Given that I'm pretty sure we
have absolutely no hardware support for them in the server anymore, I
don't think it's worth us putting in any real effort towards it if
no-one has bothered updating the compiler in thirteen years.

My (much) younger sister was born the same year as GCC 2.95.  A couple
of weeks ago, I found out through Facebook that she now has a
boyfriend.  If your compiler is this old, your platform is dead.

In 1999, the world was listening to Britney Spears, the Backstreet
Boys, Mambo No. 5, and TLC's 'No Scrubs'.  Some people even used
Napster 1.0 to download them.  We freaked out about Y2K whilst fending
off Melissa.  People were talking about NATO maybe intervening in
Kosovo, including Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and US President
Bill Clinton (when Ken Starr wasn't trying to impeach him); the EU
were involved too, but were also busy introducing the euro.  We loved
The Matrix, were keenly awaiting Star Wars Episode 1, and hadn't seen
the Blair Witch Project but heard it was a bit shit.  GeoCities was
bought for $3.5 billion, news you might've received via Netscape
Communicator 4.61 or the very first version of MSN Messenger.

East Timor, Interlaken and Columbine.  JFK Jr.  Nelson Mandela.
Seattle WTO.  Dreamcast.  Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - the
premiere.  George Clooney on ER, The Nanny, Melrose Place, and Home
Improvement.

If your compiler lived through all these things, then I'm not bending
over backwards for it.

Cheers,
Daniel


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