Re: Clang as default compiler November 4th

On 09/11/2012 02:52 AM, Erik Cederstrand wrote:
> So can we do a sweep on the ports tree and mark the 2232 ports with USE_GCC=4.2 until they can actually build with clang?

Unfortunately it isn't that simple. We already have a statistically
significant number of ports that don't even compile with gcc 4.2.1. How
many compilers do we expect the users to install? :)

What we need to do is what I and others have been asking to do for
years. We need to designate a modern version of gcc (no less than 4.6)
as the official default ports compiler, and rework whatever is needed to
support this. Fortunately, that goal is much more easily achieved than
fixing ports to build and run with clang. (It's harder than it sounds
because there are certain key libs that define some paths depending on
what compiler they were built with, but still easier than dealing with
clang in the short term.)

Once that is done, the compiler in the base is an afterthought, and we
can do away with gcc in the base altogether much more easily. Users who
want to help support building ports with clang can continue to do so.

Doug