< Forwarded due to missing address>
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: new plugin events
Date: Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:25:21 +0100
From: Basile STARYNKEVITCH <bas...@starynkevitch.net>
To: Terrence Miller <terren...@sbcglobal.net>
References: <4ae72a4f.8000...@starynkevitch.net>
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<4af47257.8040...@starynkevitch.net> <4af6fb88.4030...@sbcglobal.net>
Terrence Miller wrote:
I think this debate is missing one important issue. In order to generate
a patch to GCC
you have to know a lot more about the compiler internals than is
required to create
a plugin. I am doing some casual experimentation with compiler based
source browsing
and would love to have the DECL event(described below) added to the
plugin API.
I would prefer to not have to figure where that plugin should be called.
It is perhaps true for the DECL event you are talking about (which I did not understood fully), but I won't say that
coding a plugin is *in general* easier than proposing a patch to core GCC.
My perception is that most *middle* end plugins are working on Gimple and other middle-end representations. Usually,
they do that by adding a pass in the pass machinery. And knowing what pass to add (or replace) is as difficult when
coding a plugin than when coding a patch to GCC core.
Conversely, I would suspect than many previous patches (which have now bee incorporated in GCC core) could have if a
plugin machinery have been available at their time (which is false since plugin facilities is just coming in 4.5 which
has not yet been released), first been developped as plugins -at least to experiment their viability & interest- and
later one proposed as a patch.
This is why I believe that plugins will probably -at least for middle-end processing- have also the role of GCC branches
today, with a very important difference. Almost nobody compiles branches today (in the general GCC user community - I am
not talking of the smaller GCC developper community), and it could be the case that some plugins will be used.
For example, as far as I know, no common Linux distribution provides a package for any kind of GCC branch. I believe
(perhaps I am too optimistic) that some Linux distributions will package some few GCC plugins.
Apparently you did not sent your reply to gcc@; feel free to forward this (or
any reply to gcc@ if you want).
Regards.
--
Basile STARYNKEVITCH http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/
email: basile<at>starynkevitch<dot>net mobile: +33 6 8501 2359
8, rue de la Faiencerie, 92340 Bourg La Reine, France
*** opinions {are only mines, sont seulement les miennes} ***
