Re: Time to remove old gcc support

Linus Torvalds (torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi)
Tue, 23 Apr 1996 11:36:08 +0300 (EET DST)

> > Well, Alan Cox has reported that GCC 2.5.8 generates incorrect code
> > for the networking stuff. That means people will try to compile the
> > kernel with it, and get bitten by bugs later. Doesn't seem very
> > stable to me.
>
> This is terrible. The networking stuff should be fixed with the
> proper hack for gcc 2.5.8. The hack can be removed in 2.1.0, but
> 2.0.xx should work with gcc 2.5.8. When 2.1.0 comes out, add the
> old gcc to the victims list _then_ remove the hacks.

Get real!

This is a COMPILER BUG!

I don't see why people keep on thinking that the kernel should make excuses for
user programs. It should NOT. Excusing bad programming is a shooting offence,
no matter _what_ the circumstances. It is at least understandable if there is
no way to fix the software bug (ie commercial compiler), but in this case it's
just a matter of upgrading your compiler to a working version.

If gcc-2.5.8 is buggy, you'd better not use it. It's a simple as that. Use the
old kernels if it works for you, but I'm _not_ going to make the current
kernels do the same broken things that the old ones did.

Note that hardware bugs are a separate matter: those can be considered
"environment problems", and if they can be worked around, they should. But
software bugs? No way.

Linus