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Re: m68k MacOS target support?


David Huggins-Daines <dhd@linuxcare.com> wrote:

> I do find it sad that we require a highly non-free
> compiler [...]
>
> [...] And the
> gratis MPW compilers really suck compared to GCC (no inline assembly,
> etc, so on).

I can't say anything for sure until I get the sources for Stan Shebs' two ports
and get answers to the questions about the C library and the headers, but it
looks like as the m68k port maintainer I'll be able to create a UNIX-hosted
MacOS-targeting port with very little additional work beyond what I would have
to do anyway for other projects that interest me, and thus it would be
imprudent for me as the m68k port maintainer not to do so. This port would be
very good from the GNU viewpoint (full proper current GCC and Binutils), but
would do very little from the Mac viewpoint other than letting you call MacOS
APIs yourself with no involvement from the compiler. I would use Cygnus Newlib,
and all of its free-standing embedded functionality would be fully working,
which is great, but not being a Mac programmer and having no interest in the
actual Mac business, I'm the wrong guy to ask for things like implementing
UNIX-like open, read, write, console I/O, etc. on top of MacOS or for hosting
on MacOS.

I wonder, how would this compare to what most proprietary Mac compilers offer
in terms of the C library? (I'm not a Mac person and have never used any, so I
don't know.) Do they offer free-standing functions that are better or worse
than Cygnus Newlib? Do they offer open, read, write, etc. on top of the MacOS
filesystem?

In any case this would be a start that other interested people can build upon,
while being self-contained and complete enough to be checked into the mainline
source (in the m68k-specific subdirectories, so that the m68k port maintainer's
authority is enough without bugging the higher-up maintainers).

--
Michael Sokolov		Harhan Engineering Laboratory
Public Service Agent	International Free Computing Task Force
			International Engineering and Science Task Force
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Phone: +1-214-824-7693 (Harhan Eng Lab office)
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