Re: next Binutils release (really: IA-64)

["David O'Brien" <obrien at FreeBSD dot org>]

On Mon, Nov 27, 2000 at 02:20:22PM -0800, Jim Wilson wrote:
> >What is the state of the IA-64 bits?  Are there still large portions of
> >them in an internal Cygnus tree?  Or is the FSF/GNU Binutils ready to
> >become the official IA-64 Binutils?
> 
> I think you are confusing the unofficial stable snapshots I've been
> making with the official but unstable development snapshots that the
> FSF makes.  The FSF binutils tree has been the official IA-64 binutils
> tree since mid-April when we contributed the code.  I haven't been
> recommending the FSF tree, but that is only because stable snapshots
> were more useful to OS developers than official snapshots while we were
> still doing binutils development work.

Not sure why you think I'm confused.  Correct me if I am wrong -- the
Linux IA-64 efforts are using a Binutils _not_ created from the FSF
sources.  Thus there is no one using the FSF sources for an IA-64 `as'
and `ld'.  If this is correct, does that mean the FSF binutils isn't
getting the bugs flushed out for IA-64?  Since we are headed for a
February 2.11 release, I wanted to ask about the status.

> The FSF has had all generic IA-64 and ia64-linux specific binutils code
> since mid-April, when the port was contributed.  I don't understand why
> you would even ask this question.  We are not withholding any necessary
> IA-64 code from the FSF.

The same for GCC, but you have told me in private email that there were
changes in the GCC MI code for IA-64 and since it would affect other
arches hadn't been committed into the FSF GCC sources.  So I am asking if
there are any simular issues with the Binutils sources.

> I've stated publicly on the linux-ia64 list that I want my next stable
> snapshot to come from FSF trees instead of Cygnus internal trees.  I
> expect that I will be able to use a gcc 3.0 release or pre-release.  If
> there is a binutils release or pre-release available also, then I will
> certainly use that.

Since we are headed for a February Binutils release, can you evaluate the
state of the Binutils [HEAD] tree for IA-64 use?

Enjoy!
-- 
-- David  (obrien@FreeBSD.org)