Re: [Mingw-cross-env-list] Gentoo doc update (was error when compiling gcc)

[Tony Theodore]

On 6 June 2010 05:04, Volker Grabsch <address@hidden> wrote:
> Tony Theodore <address@hidden> schrieb:
>> Attached
>> is a patch to add a Gentoo section with the install commands from
>> Robin and a pointer to the patched gcc.mk if required; and the patched
>> file itself. I imagine we could put this somewhere in the project's
>> download directory so people can find it.
>
> This file would quickly become outdated and thus would do more harm
> than good. We should better provide a patch that adds the $(SED)
> line. Or just include that $(SED) line. (see below)

Fair point, it's not the same as pointing to a previous revision or
indicating that a file can be safely removed. We would have to update
this every release, even a patch would need review to see it still
applies cleanly.

>> My main reason for not proposing this as a change to mingw-cross-env
>> is that there's no way (I can find) to make it an upstream change. I
>> think we should leave it as a pointer in the docs for the time being.
>
> We already do have changes that won't ever make it into upstream. The
> question is whether the change will do any harm to the non-Gentoo users
> of Mingw-cross-env.
>
> So what do you think? Could that $(SED) command cause any trouble on
> non-Gentoo systems?

I think it wouldn't affect non-Gentoo systems, but I also think it
doesn't affect all Gentoo systems. If it does, getting GCC (4.5) to
build is really a problem for the Gentoo devs to sort out. It's not on
the list of supported compilers, but I take that to mean it's not
fully tested as a main system compiler to build an entire Gentoo
system, not that it doesn't build at all.

Then again, we're talking about a space at the end of a version
string. AFAIK, this is only visible in the output of gcc -v. Nothing
can rely on what's between the parentheses, since that can be set by
--with-pkgversion. It's only the space after the closing parenthesis
that is set in some opaque way, and causes problems.

> If not, please include the $(SED) line permanently with an explaining
> comment in src/gcc.mk.

Let's leave the patched gcc.mk out altogether for the moment, there's
something I just "don't like" about it. The Gentoo "emerge" section
may still be worthwhile, but I'm happy to leave that out till we have
confirmed builds.

As an aside, do you think adding a "Mailing List' link to the main
navigation section on the left would help people find it more easily?

Tony