Clang as default compiler November 4th

Dimitry Andric dim at FreeBSD.org
Tue Sep 11 14:10:15 UTC 2012


On 2012-09-11 15:24, Steve Kargl wrote:
...
> How fast clang builds world in comparison to gcc is irrelevant.

Not at all irrelevant: this proposal is about changing the default
compiler for the FreeBSD system itself, not for all software out there.

If certain software performs significantly better with gcc, and using
newer versions of the GPL is no problem, then it is obviously the better
choice.

However, I think the majority of users can get by just fine using clang,
right now.  Doug Barton even confirmed in this thread that 80% of our
ports already work with it!


> What is important is whether software built with clang functions
> correctly.  See for example,
>
> http://math-atlas.sourceforge.net/errata.html#WhatComp

Yes, maths support, specifically precision, is admittedly still one of
clang's (really llvm's) weaker points.  It is currently not really a
high priority item for upstream.

This is obviously something that a certain part of our userbase will
care a lot about, while most of the time they won't care so much about
licensing or politics.  So those people are probably better off using
gcc for the time being.


> Has anyone run Spec CPU2006 on i386 and amd64 FreeBSD?

I am not aware of it, but is that test available publicly?  I might take
a shot, if I can get my hands on it.


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