[rescue] Re: Solaris 9 issues

[Skeezics Boondoggle]

> > > Don't they now include gcc on "bonus" discs?
> > Word on the net is that it is broken for 64bit installations.
> replace broken with doesn't generate 64-bit binaries for sparc that work
> at all.

Well, I have nothing against gcc, but I still prefer to use the Sun
compiler for generating even 32-bit SPARC binaries.  It can be trying at
times, after many years of head<bang>desk applying patches to code that
was obviously never compiled outside of one random guy's heavily tweaked
Linux box with gcc... I still chuckle when I see READMEs that say "you
MUST use a strict ANSI C compiler!" and then run the code through Sun cc
with -Xc and find hundreds of warnings and errors, while gcc doesn't whine
at all...

The real lunacy is that the compilers now cost MORE than the machines
they're selling as "developer" systems - the SunBlade 100 costs $995
_list_ (and developers pay a bit less than that) but the compilers can
cost upwards of $5K.  Penalizing the developers is a disasterously stupid
idea.  (Case in point: NeXT bundled the dev tools at first, then unbundled
them for $799, then jacked the price up through the roof.  Duh-uh-umb.  
MacOS X fans, get your copy NOW before history repeats itself...)

Secondly, ain't nobody gonna have gcc cranking out results on the newest
Ultra-III cu CPUs like the Forte 7 compilers allegedly do - recall the
hubbub about the insane jump in SPEC numbers with the new US3/1050+Forte7
compiler... Sun has no reason to support improved code generation for
SPARC in gcc so long as they're trying to sell compiler licenses.  But
with the general warming trend toward various bits of open source software
(I mean, wow, they finally acknowledged that Perl exists, and now SSH and
gcc?  Someone find a cure for NIH syndrome?) maybe we'll see the egregious
compiler fiasco finally reversed?

Not exactly holding my breath on that one, but I still do hope they'll 
correct that rectocranial inversion someday.  With all the tons of other 
cool crap they've now bundled in to Solaris, the lack of compiler just 
seems really silly...

-- Chris