[RFC] Why FreeBSD ports should have branches by OS version

[Thomas Mueller]

from Mark Linimon:

> Remember that NetBSD runs on dozens of targets*, of which only two support
> Ada AFAIK.

> mcl

> * http://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-7.1/

I follow http://releng.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/builds.cgi

which shows 72 targets for HEAD, 67 targets for netbsd-7 and netbsd-8, 60 targets for netbsd-6.

Ada, developed by the US Department of Defense, was not originally for amd64 and i386.

A large part of the problem is that building Ada requires a preexisting GNAT.

Full GCC suite includes Ada, and is capable of cross-compilation, raising the possibility of building for other targets.

I can not say with authority which targets would succeed.

Dragonlace.net shows a port for FreeBSD aarch64.

Tom