1: On many systems pkgsrc supports, gcc is the standard compiler. In
2: general, different versions of each OS have different gcc versions,
3: and some packages require newer gcc versions, in order to support
4: newer language standards (e.g. c++11, written in the style of
5: USE_LANGUAGES), or because older versions don't work (infrequently).
6:
7: This page discusses issues related to version selection, and intends
8: to be a design document for how pkgsrc should address this problem, to
9: be converted into historical design rationale once implemented. It
10: freely takes content from extensive mailinglist discussions, and
11: attempts to follow the rough consensus that has emerged.
12:
13: ## Base system gcc vs pkgsrc gcc
14:
15: Systems using gcc (e.g. NetBSD) have a compiler as /usr/bin/gcc, and
16: this is usable by pkgsrc without any bootstrapping activity. One can
17: build gcc versions (typically newer versions) from pkgsrc, resulting
18: in a compiler within ${PREFIX}, e.g. /usr/pkg/gcc6/bin/gcc. This
19: compiler can then be used to compile other packages.
20:
21: The Issue with using base system gcc is typically that it is too old,
22: such as gcc 4.5 with NetBSD 6, which cannot compile c++11.
23:
24: Issues when using pkgsrc gcc are that
25:
26: - it must be bootstrapped, requiring compiling a number of packages
27: with the system compiler
28: - C++ packages that are linked together should be built with the
29: same compiler, because the standard library ABI is not necessarily
30: the same for each compiler version
31: - While C packages can be built with mixed versions, the binary
32: should be linked with the higher version because the support
33: library is backwards compatible but not forward compatible.
34:
35: ## Specific constraints and requirements
36:
37: This section attempts to gather all the requirements.
38:
39: - By default, pkgsrc should be able to build working packages, even
40: for packages that need a newer compiler than that provided in the
41: base system.
42:
43: - The set of packages that are needed when building a bootstrap
44: compiler should be minimized.
45:
46: - All packages that use C should have final linking with the highest
47: version used in any included library.
48:
49: - All packages that use C++ should be built with the same compiler
50: version. Because these in the general case may include C, the
51: version used for C++ must be at least as new as the version used
52: for any used C package.
53:
54: - pkgsrc should avoid building gcc unless it is more or less
55: necessary to build packges. (As an example, if the base system
56: gcc can build c99 but not c++11, building a c99-only program
57: should not trigger building a gcc version adequate for c++11.)
58:
59: - The compiler selection logic should work on NetBSD 6 and newer,
60: and other systems currently supported by pkgsrc, including in-use
61: LTS GNU/Linux systems. It should work on systems that default to
62: clang, when set to use GCC, at least as well as the current
63: scheme. It is desirable for this logic to work on NetBSD 5.
64:
65: - The compiler selection logic should be understandable and not brittle.
66:
67: ## Design
68:
69: The above requirements could in theory be satisfied in many ways, but
70: most of them are too complicated. We present a design that aims to be
71: sound while mimimizing complexity.
72:
73: - Packages declare what languages they need, with c++, c++11, and
74: c++14 being expressed differently. (This is exactly current
75: practice and just noted for completeness.)
76:
77: - The package-settable variable GCC_REQD will be used only when a
78: compiler that generally can compile the declared language version
79: is insufficient. These cases are expected to be relatively rare;
80: an example is firefox that is in c++ (but not c+11) and needs gcc
81: 4.9.
82:
83: - A user-settable variable PKGSRC_GCC_VERSION will declare the
84: version of gcc to be used for C programs, with an OS- and
85: version--specific default.
86:
87: - A user-settable variable PKGSRC_GXX_VERSION will declare the version of gcc to
88: be used for all C++ programs, again with an OS- and
89: version-specific default. It must be at least PKGSRC_GCC_VERSION.
90:
91: - Each of c99, c++, c++11, and c++14 will be associated with a
92: minimum gcc version, such that almost all programs declaring that
93: language can be built with that version. (This avoids issues of
94: strict compliance with c++11, which requires a far higher version
95: of gcc than the version required to compile almost all actual
96: programs in c++11.)
97:
98: - The minimum version inferred from the language tag will be
99: combined with any GCC_REQD declarations to find a minimum version
100: for a specific package. If that is greater than
101: PKGSRC_GCC_VERSION (programs using only C) or PKGSRC_GXX_VERSION,
102: package building will fail. We call the resulting
103: PKGSRC_GCC_VERSION or PKGSRC_GXX_VERSION the chosen version.
104:
105: - When building a program using C or C++, if the chosen version is
106: not provided by the base system, and the chosen version is not
107: installed via pkgsrc, then it (and its dependencies) will be built
108: from pkgsrc in a special bootstrap mode. When building in
109: bootstrap mode, the version selection logic is ignored and the
110: base system compiler is used. Consistency and reproducible builds
111: require that a package built with the normal prefix must be the
112: same whether built because of compiler bootstrapping or normal
113: use.
114:
115: There are thus two choices for dealing with bootstrapping. One is
116: to use a distinct prefix, which will ensure that all packages that
117: are part of the compiler bootstrap will not be linked into normal
118: pkgsrc programs. This implies that any dependencies of gcc may
119: exist twice, once in bootstrap mode and once if built normally. A
120: gcc version itself will be built twice, if it is desired for
121: regular use. This double building and the complexity of a second
122: prefix are the negatives of this approach.
123:
124: The other choice is to mark gcc and all depending packages as used
125: for compiler bootstrapping, and to always build those with the
126: base compiler. We use the package-settable variable
127: PKGSRC_GCC_BOOTSTRAP=yes to denote this. The negative with this
128: approach is possible inconsistency with gcc's dependencies being
129: built with the base compiler and used later.
130:
131: - We hope that the chosen version can be built using the base system
132: version, and hope to avoid multi-stage bootstrapping.
133:
134: - We expect that any program containing C++ will undergo final
135: linking with a C++ compiler. This is not a change from the
136: current situation.
137:
138: ## Remaining issues
139:
140: ### gcc dependencies
141:
142: Because gcc can have dependencies, there could be packages built with
143: the system compiler that are then later used with the chosen version.
144: For now, we defer worrying about these problems (judging that they
145: will be less serious than the current situation where all c++11
146: programs fail to build on NetBSD 6).
147:
148: \todo: Analyze what build-time and install-time dependencies actually
149: exist.
150:
151: \todo: Discuss adjusting options to minimize dependencies, including
152: gcc-inplace-math and nls.
153:
154: ### Differing GCC and GXX versions
155:
156: Perhaps it is a mistake to allow the chosen GCC and GXX versions to
157: differ. If we require them to be the same, then essentially all
158: systems with a base system compiler older than gcc 5 will have to
159: bootstrap the compiler. For now, we allow them to differ and will
160: permit the defaults to differ.
161:
162: ### Default versions for various systems
163:
164: Note that if for any particular system's set of installed packages (or
165: bulk build), a newer gcc has to be built, it does not hurt to have
166: built it earlier.
167:
168: When the base system is old (e.g., gcc 4.5 in NetBSD 6, or 4.1, in
169: NetBSD 5), then it is clear that a newer version must be built. For
170: these, PKGSRC_GXX_VERSION should default to a newish gcc, avoiding
171: being so new as to cause building issues. Currently, gcc5 is probably
172: a good choice, with gcc6 compiling significantly but not vastly fewer
173: packages. PKGSRC_GCC_VERSION should probably default to the system
174: version if it can build all C99 programs, or match PKGSRC_GXX_VERSION,
175: if the system version is too old. Perhaps gcc 4.5 would be used, but
176: 4.1 not used. \todo Discuss.
177:
178: When the base system is almost new enough, the decision about the
179: default is more complicated. A key example is gcc 4.8, found in
180: NetBSD 7. Firefox requires gcc 4.9, and all programs using c++14 also
181: need a newer version. One options is to choose 4.8, resulting in
182: firefox failing, as well as all c++14 programs. Another is to choose
183: 4.9, but this makes little sense because c++14 programs will still
184: fail, and the general rule of moving to the most recent
185: generally-acceptable version applies, which currently leads to gcc6.
186: This is in effect a declaration that "almost new enough" does not
187: count as new enough. Thus the plan for NetBSD 7 is to set
188: PKGSRC_GCC_VERSION to 4.8 and PKGSRC_GXX_VERSION to 5.
189:
190: When the base system is new enough, e.g. gcc 5, 6 or 7 it should
191: simply be used. By "new enough", we mean that almost no programs in
192: pkgsrc fail to build with it, which implies that it supports (almost
193: all) C++14 programs. Our current definiton of new enough is gcc 5.
194:
195: ### Limited mixed versions
196:
197: One approach would be to allow limited mixed versions, where
198: individual programs could force a specific version to be bootstrapped
199: and used, so that e.g. firefox could use 4.9 even though most programs
200: use 4.8, which is what happens now on NetBSD 7. This would rely on
201: being able to link c++ with 4.9 including some things built with 4.8
202: (which is done presently). However, this approach would become
203: unsound with a library rather than an end program. We reject this as
204: too much complexity for avoiding building a newer compiler in limited
205: situations.
206:
207: ### Fortran
208:
209: Fortran support is currently somewhat troubled.. It seems obvious to
210: extend to PGKSRC_GFORTRAN_VERSION, and have that match
211: PKGSRC_GCC_VERSION or PKGSRC_GXX_VERSION, but the Fortran situation is
212: not worsened by the above design. \todo Discuss.
213:
214: ## Path forward
215:
216: - Modify all gcc packages to have minimal dependencies, and to add
217: PKGSRC_GCC_BOOTSTRAP.
218:
219: - Modify the compiler selection logic to do nothing if
220: PKGSRC_GCC_BOOTSTRAP is set.
221:
222: - Modify the compiler selection logic for LANGUAGES= to fail if
223: PKGSRC_GCC_VERSION/PKGSRC_GXX_VERSION is not new enough.
224:
225: - Modify the compiler selection logic for GCC_REQD to fail if the
226: version of GCC/GXX is not new enough.
227:
228: - Decide on defaults. The straw proposal is that PKGSRC_GCC_VERSION
229: is the base system version if >= 4.5 (or 4.4?), and otherwise 6,
230: and that PKGSRC_GXX_VERSION is the base system version if >= 5, and
231: otherwise 6.
232:
233: ### Later steps
234:
235: - Address fortran.
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