Was PCC ever considered?

[Mayuresh Kathe]

On 2019-03-29 07:51 AM, Polytropon wrote:
> On Fri, 29 Mar 2019 02:07:05 +0530, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
>> Since FreeBSD uses Clang/LLVM (which is kind-a huge) I wondered if PCC
>> was ever considered during the GCC days or even while contemplating 
>> the
>> switch to Clang/LLVM.
> 
> When FreeBSD evolved, it was primarily GCC that has been used
> as the system compiler, so it became the standard. With Clang/LLVM
> offering both evolution in compiler design and implementation, as
> well as a licensing difference to GPL-based GCC, it was chosen
> to be the current default.
> 
> I think PCC wasn't on the map yet at that time... ;-)

PCC wasn't on the FreeBSD map! Right?
PCC has existed for a long time.

>> If PCC was considered but rejected, may I know the reasons and 
>> rationale
>> for the same?
> 
> PCC seems to gain more attraction, primarily due to OpenBSD.
> I'm not sure if this project is still alive, but I found this
> statement by A. Magnusson:
> 
> 	The big benefit of it (apart from that it's BSD licensed,
> 	for license geeks :-) is that it is fast, 5-10 times faster
> 	than gcc, while still producing reasonable code [...]
> 	it is also quite simple to port.
> 
> Source:
> 
> http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20070915195203&mode=expanded

The project is very much alive, albeit moving quite slowly as all of the 
developers work only in their spare time.

~Mayuresh