Re: GNAT versions ( was :Ada compiler for PC?)

[Maciej Stachowiak <mstachow@alum.mit.edu>]

Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-dejanews.com> writes:

> In article <7ftfj4$vln$1@Jupiter.mcs.net>,
>
> Obviously it would be possible to mitigate the risks of
> wavefronts if we had the resources to develop two versions
> simultaneously, the development version with all the new
> features, and the old version with minimal bug fixes.
> Indeed this is somewhat what Cygnus does with EGCS.
> Obviously EGCS does not have the new development stuff
> that Cygnus has internally (which is very closely held
> until it is released), but they do spend significant
> resources coordinating bug fixes with EGCS.
> 

This is not IMO a fair description of the EGCS project. EGCS contains
a lot more than bug fixes, it has a lot of new feature development as
well - new optimizations, C++ front-end work and new platform support,
among other things.

Cygnus has regularly delivered the code for major features to the EGCS
tree, and I suspect quite a few major features appeared in the EGCS
tree before they were shipped to Cygnus customers. In fact, EGCS began
as essentially a drop of the Cygnus internal development tree.

Of course, I am not a Cygnus employee so I can't really speak for
their proedures, but that is how it looks to me.

Also, even though Cygnus provides the infrastructure for EGCS and pays
a number of employees to work on it, EGCS is not really controlled by
Cygnus, but rather by a steering committee on which Cygnus employees
constitute a minority.

 - Maciej Stachowiak