future of gcc for ppc

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
how do think apples decision to 'go intel' for future products will affect the development of gnu gcc?

will the even smaller 'market' of ppc based computers make ppc-specific development of gcc even slower?



(i'm asking this from a general point of view, not only as a macosx user)

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    I'd say gcc/PPC isn't going to get another major release like it recently did because Apple simply isn't going to be pouring work/convincing others to work on it any more.



    As it is I've heard that gcc isn't terribly fond of the PPC code in there now, so I simply can't see any decent pace of development on the PPC side without Apple pushing it.



    There are a lot of PPC chips out there, but mostly in embedded use (Freescale) or servers (IBM) and neither need gcc like Apple did. Whether or not gcc continues at a fair clip depends if Freescale's customers need it I would think.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tubgirl

    how do think apples decision to 'go intel' for future products will affect the development of gnu gcc?

    will the even smaller 'market' of ppc based computers make ppc-specific development of gcc even slower?



    (i'm asking this from a general point of view, not only as a macosx user)




    Apple promised to continue support of PPC-based Macs for five years after the transition to Intel is complete. Apple does its commercial development in Xcode. gcc is the compiler suite used by Xcode. Apple will continue to develop gcc. I fully expect that the roles of the x86 and PPC will flip in Apple's development plans. This is to say that Apple will continue to develop Darwin/PPC and MacOS X/PPC "just in case." It would not surprise me to see Apple's OS ported to a yet unrevealed platform. The bottomline is that I fully expect that gcc/PPC will get the same upgrades that it gives gcc/86 until 2012, at least.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    IBM will probably continue to fund GCC for PPC.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by wmf

    IBM will probably continue to fund GCC for PPC.



    IBM has the XL suite of high-performance commercial compilers. I don't think that it will put a lot of effort into the free gcc suite.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    IBM has been paying people to work on GCC for years. Why would they stop now?
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