[OpenIndiana-discuss] [oi-dev] Studio future in OI (Re: )

[Laurent Blume]

On 11/10/2013 18:14, Udo Grabowski (IMK) wrote:
> This should not happen, this would kill us completely, we
> have commercial applications compiled with Sun Studio, and
> a lot of software that can't even be compiled with gcc-fortran,

I can't help thinking, what will happen to you when *Solaris* Studio
stops working on *OpenIndiana*? Aren't you worried about that? I don't
exactly see Oracle striving to maintain compatibility, and without
source, it's bound to happen...

> we use Sun Studio Fortran since it's way ahead in optimization,
> syntax, and correctness, and a couple of open source precompiled
> binaries that cannot be compiled easily without major efforts.
> So this isn't just a problem of having firefox and thunderbird.
> libicu is used in a couple of other libraries and applications,
> so this will break the one or others production chain. I don't
> see us changing from Sun Studio to gcc any time in the foreseable
> future because there's no real usable alternative for us, and
> surely not for others. So breaking support for the compiler and
> Studio compiled software completely is not an option. And, from
> pure ecological considerations, having a monoculture is not
> a good setup anyway (especially in the case of gcc...), if so,
> we should all move to Linux...

The issue here is not monoculture, it's a choice of an ABI. As I pointed
out: you can use Studio and have the standard GCC ABI.
So do have a try at those compatibility options, and start assessing how
you can make the switch.
It has *already* happen in Solaris' past. So surely, what our
cave-dwelling ancestors could do with their limited stone tools can be
done more easily now that we have actual technology.

Laurent