[Coco] Devastated. Long term OVCC project falls short

[James Jones]

I did compiler work--the closest I came to doing lower-level stuff was
porting a device driver for a hard drive from an OS-9/6809 version to
OS-9/68000, and that was before I came to Iowa.

On Mon, Oct 21, 2019 at 8:22 AM Gene Heskett <gheskett at shentel.net> wrote:

> On Monday 21 October 2019 08:36:06 James Jones wrote:
>
> > The standard refers to two kinds of environments a C program can run
> > in:
> >
> >    - a "hosted environment", one with an underlying operating system
> >    - a "freestanding environment", without an OS. In a freestanding
> >    environment, there's only a small set of library functions one can
> > count on having (and hence only a small set of the standard header
> > files), and not all types need be supported. What exactly happens upon
> > return from main is implementation-defined.
> >
> > For gcc6809, we're talking a freestanding environment, unless someone
> > does a LOT of work.
>
> Chuckle, I note the caps. By free-standing one could assume an embedded
> system that once launched, probably never returns.  The coder would have
> to assume he is responsible for everything, including scanning the
> keyboard for more input.  And before you know it, he had to write a
> complete os. Makes one realize that os-9 was indeed, way ahead of its
> time. But then you knew that when you were helping to write it. The rest
> is as has been said many times now, history. :-)
>
> > On Mon, Oct 21, 2019 at 2:24 AM Gene Heskett <gheskett at shentel.net>
> wrote:
> > > On Monday 21 October 2019 02:27:36 William Astle wrote:
> > > > On 2019-10-20 11:50 p.m., Gene Heskett wrote:
> > > > >> gcc6809 cannot generate OS9 binaries. Its support for position
> > > > >> independent code is largely untested and almost certainly
> > > > >> incomplete and it doesn't understand the specific requirements
> > > > >> of the OS9 environment.
> > > > >
> > > > > I can confirm that too, its a total waste of time to attempt an
> > > > > os9 binary because of that problem using gcc6809. It knows
> > > > > nothing about PIC. AFAIAC it should be removed from circulation.
> > > >
> > > > That last bit is going a bit far. Remember that not everything is
> > > > OS9. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the *majority* of
> > > > stuff is not OS9, however much a non-trivial fraction of the Coco
> > > > community wishes otherwise. (That's not a criticism of OS9 or the
> > > > folks who support it.)
> > > >
> > > > Obviously, you shouldn't try to use a tool for a purpose it is
> > > > unsuited for. Thus, gcc6809 should not (and cannot, in fact) be
> > > > used for making OS9 binaries. It is simply not suited for that
> > > > purpose. That doesn't mean it should be removed from circulation.
> > > > It *is* perfectly suitable for other purposes.
> > >
> > > What os is it usefull on?
> > >
> > > Cheers, Gene Heskett
> > > --
> > > "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
> > >  soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
> > > -Ed Howdershelt (Author)
> > > If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law
> > > respectable. - Louis D. Brandeis
> > > Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
> > >
> > > --
> > > Coco mailing list
> > > Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > > https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
> Cheers, Gene Heskett
> --
> "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
>  soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
> -Ed Howdershelt (Author)
> If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
>  - Louis D. Brandeis
> Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>