Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262398AbUKDUK7 (ORCPT ); Thu, 4 Nov 2004 15:10:59 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262386AbUKDUIW (ORCPT ); Thu, 4 Nov 2004 15:08:22 -0500 Received: from fw.osdl.org ([65.172.181.6]:44220 "EHLO mail.osdl.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262382AbUKDTi5 (ORCPT ); Thu, 4 Nov 2004 14:38:57 -0500 Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 11:38:47 -0800 (PST) From: Linus Torvalds To: Adam Heath cc: Chris Wedgwood , Christoph Hellwig , Timothy Miller , Linux Kernel Mailing List Subject: Re: support of older compilers In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: <41894779.10706@techsource.com> <20041103211353.GA24084@infradead.org> <20041103233029.GA16982@taniwha.stupidest.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1234 Lines: 40 On Thu, 4 Nov 2004, Adam Heath wrote: > > On Wed, 3 Nov 2004, Chris Wedgwood wrote: > > > On Wed, Nov 03, 2004 at 05:06:56PM -0600, Adam Heath wrote: > > > > > You can't be serious that this is a problem. > > > > try it, say gcc 2.95 vs gcc 4.0 ... i think last i checked the older > > gcc was over twice as fast > > I didn't deny the speed difference of older and newer compilers. > > But why is this an issue when compiling a kernel? How often do you compile > your kernel? First off, for some people that is literally where _most_ of the CPU cycles go. Second, it's not just that the compilers are slower. Historically, new gcc versions are: - slower - generate worse code - buggier For a _long_ time, the only reason to upgrade gcc was literally C++ support: basic C support was getting _worse_ with new compilers in pretty much every regard. Things seem to have improved a bit lately. The gcc-3.x series was basically not worth it for plain C until 3.3 or so. Linus - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/