[geeks] GCC vs Sun Studio

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

I'd like to rebuild[0] of all the software I run on my Solaris systems,
and I'm faced with that same old question: "GCC or Sun cc?".

For my code, there's no thinking to it; I want to build the stuff I
write with the most anal-retentive compilers available, so that leaves
GCC out in the cold.  However, not everyone thinks like I do, so a large
amount of the time I spend in a rebuild is tweaking others' code so that
it compiles cleanly with compilers that actually expect to receive valid
C and C++ source code as input.

Historically, I've seen enough performance benefit in the output of
Sun's C and C++ compilers to justify the time spent fixing things.  But,
the latest versions I've used are GCC 3.3 and Sun Studio 8; GCC 4.0.2
and Sun Studio 10 are current, and I have both of them.

Has anyone here performed any sort of performance analysis between the
current versions these two compilers?  I'd really -like- to be able to
use GCC to save time on my part, but I don't want bloated crap output,
either.


[0] Partially for version-jumps, partially for building RPMs so that
      I can get a better handle on what runs on which systems.
-- 
Jonathan Patschke   )  "What good fortune for governments that the
Elgin, TX          (    people do not think!"       --Adolf Hitler