From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jan 21 22:49:21 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 92D53106564A for ; Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:49:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions@herveybayaustralia.com.au) Received: from mail.unitedinsong.com.au (mail.unitedinsong.com.au [150.101.178.33]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3DC678FC08 for ; Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:49:20 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail.unitedinsong.com.au (bell.herveybayaustralia.com.au [192.168.0.40]) by mail.unitedinsong.com.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7A7BB5C28 for ; Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:01:52 +1000 (EST) Received: from laptop1.herveybayaustralia.com.au (laptop1.herveybayaustralia.com.au [192.168.0.179]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mail.unitedinsong.com.au (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 4FDFA5C21 for ; Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:01:52 +1000 (EST) Message-ID: <4F1B4006.2050002@herveybayaustralia.com.au> Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:45:26 +1000 From: Da Rock User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD amd64; rv:7.0.1) Gecko/20111109 Thunderbird/7.0.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <4F1AAB66.5070100@herveybayaustralia.com.au> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Clang - what is the story? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:49:21 -0000 On 01/22/12 02:39, David Jackson wrote: > On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 7:11 AM, Da Rock< > freebsd-questions@herveybayaustralia.com.au> wrote: > >> I've been seeing a lot of hoorays and pats on the back and a general >> feeling satisfaction in being able to use clang to compile FreeBSD and >> ports. The only reason I can see from searching is a need to get away from >> gcc (which is tried and tested since the beginning of time) which is now >> apparently GPLv3. >> >> Can someone offer some clarity as to the importance of this? I'm guessing >> the that stepping away from GPL is generally a good thing, especially if >> there is something similar with similar license structure to BSD; I just >> can't understand the rush of it. >> >> Even under GPL anything built using gcc can be licensed as you like, so I >> doubt it could be that. >> >> I'm not skeptical, just curious- trying to get my head around some of the >> dev side of things :) >> ______________________________**_________________ >> freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list >> http://lists.freebsd.org/**mailman/listinfo/freebsd-**questions >> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-** >> unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >> > > The reasons for Clang are not just for the GPLv3 issue, but Clang is > architecturally superior in many ways over GCC, Clang was designed from the > ground up to learn from GCCs mistakes and to be a better C compiler. One of > the Clang's features is better debugging and a more modular architecture > that is easier to develop and extend. GCC has often been criticised for its > monolithic and inflexible structure that has often hindered implementing > new features and functionality. One of the advantages of Clang is that it > can be more easily plugged into IDEs for integrated debugging. > > You can read all about the many advantages and innovations of clang and how > it exceeds GCC here: > http://clang.llvm.org/ That was the first place I looked to see if anything stood out as the reason why, and I couldn't quite see apart from license. Apparently I had missed some aspects in the license.... Thanks for the answers guys. Legal issues can be real tricky sometimes can't they? I definitely would have missed that about the libraries- its obvious now :) That also explains the issues with other compilers (especially ones on other platforms). Cheers