[rescue] Sunshack and Sun stuff to giveaway

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Oct 28, 2007, at 4:26 PM, der Mouse wrote:


>> Well, I'm still interested in SS20s; they're the best (FSVO  
>> "best") Sun
> that's actually usable.  I've got some Ultras, but I ran into a bug
> that looked to me like a gcc sparc64 codegen bug

[ snip ]

That seems a silly reason to not use Ultra hardware.

For one thing, there are still codegen bugs in 32-bit GNU compilers,  
and with each release of it, there could well be yet more.

There are also hardware bugs in the older CPUs.  For example, the Sun  
I sent to you has a CPU bug that will bring the machine down hard  
from userland with a 1 instruction assembly program.  There is no way  
around it. All of the 170MHz Fujitsu SPARCs have it.  You just have  
to hope the compiler never spits it out.  Most compiler writers  
should be aware of it, but you never know...

I suspect the error you've found is already be fixed, depending on  
what version of the compiler you have.  Bugs like that pop up from  
time to time, and always will.

DEC, Sun, and Intel compilers have also had bugs like that now and then.

That's why I generally like to stick with a compiler that is known to  
work well and not keep switching them.

Unfortunately, the way software is managed these days, that can be  
hard to manage at times.

Did you try reporting this problem to the GCC guys?  Reporting it on  
a NetBSD list isn't likely to do much.

I generally worry about the GNU compilers all the time on all  
platforms, because they have a history of some fairly serious bugs  
and other problems.

I use them for the same reason everyone else does: they are free and  
everywhere.

If I had a choice, I'd be using something else.

Personally, I think the industry has a dire need of a better  
universal compiler, and one without the GPL.

With the release of GPL v3, I worry a lot that GNU compilers might  
start using that license.



-- 
"Where some they sell their dreams for small desires."