Re: [TESTING]: ClangBSD branch needs testing before the import to HEAD

On Mon, May 31, 2010 at 01:22:05PM +0100, Bruce Cran wrote:
> From previous messages I don't think sparc64 is currently supported by
> clang very well, if at all, so I think we'll still need gcc in the base
> system for some time.

I'll put on my "tier-2 package builder hat" for a moment.

IMHO it helps FreeBSD's robustness to have our other architectures.  In
particular, fixing bugs in sparc64 may be helping us fix bugs that would
affect arm/mips/powerpc, which are key for our embedded userbase.

Perhaps I'm just invested in this from having spent time on sparc64 ...

But a counter-argument is that if the two archs that llvm currently does
not support well (sparc64 and ia64) start holding back major progress on
amd64/i386, then we should give the most weight to what 90%+ of our
userbase is on, and act accordingly.  Hopefully that just means "keep
gcc as the default for our tier-2 archs."

I've been finding it intellectually interesting to work on these, but
really, they shouldn't be allowed to hold up the parade.

Final note: there is indeed active kernel work on sparc64, ia64, and
powerpc, so things are not stalled.

mcl