GCC is a pox on this Earth.
I used the default GNU extensions unwittingly and paid the portability price, code wouldn't compile on clang. (Side note. If you alias gcc to clang, I hate you.) My solution was to just use a cross platform implementation of the Gnuism, because it was a useful addition.
The reason C programmers use Gnuisms is because they're helpful. If you want strict C89 compliance, set up the compiler flags and test under multiple compilers. Then you can run reliably run on PowerPC or whatever.
Alternatively, learn autotools and learn to write truley portable software. There are more quirks to deal with then Gnuisms. GCC just happens to be very popular.
Or just stop using C.
@petit it's GCC's fault for making non-standard extensions available in the first place. This extends to GNU as a whole, it's a really shit habit they have and the entire computer science ecosystem suffers under the heel of their garbage
@petit GNU is perhaps the single largest threat to software quality in our entire ecosystem
Beware @sroracle, you are going to be blocked by @sir for this
kind of "nonsense". 😉
Yesterday I spent 30 minutes trying to help him understand that his hate for #GCC is misdirected (and undeserved) see https://qoto.org/web/statuses/102380322656831790 and now I'm blocked.
But you know, hating a "third-order" dependency like #GNU that made your whole #business possible but you have no real impact upon is a great #marketing tool.
#OSS people love to throw shit at GNU and #FSF as they are unlikely to fight back.
But often if you dwell deeper, they don't know what they are talking about.
That's the main difference between #FreeSoftware #hackers and #OpenSource developers.
@Shamar @sroracle @sir I'm not sure if I necessarily agree with that last bit.
I'm passionate about libre software and agree the GPL is useful. I also think a lot of GNU projects are unnecessarily bloated.
GCC is not one of them. GCC is probably the best compiler we'll ever have just because it's so portable to everything, and so compatible.
But we @AdelieLinux do have https://da.gd/De-GNU as an eventual goal; even so, GCC isn't on the list.
@awilfox @sroracle @sir @AdelieLinux
I think that #GNU #GCC has (and had) it's issues (just like any other software, or well... human artefact), but it's for sure a valuable piece of software.
It's true that the large number of optimizations available, the large number of operating systems and architectures supported, the various language frontends make it a very complex piece of software.
Also it's a venerable program collection, with more than 30 years of active development and research on its shoulders, with all it implies.
Finally, I think everybody remember the (dumb and short-sighted) #Stallman opposition to exposing its AST in 2015 (see https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2015-01/msg00171.html )
Yet I agree that GCC is still probably the best compilers COLLECTION we have (I'd argue that Ken Thompson compiler suite for Plan 9 was simpler and more portable, but it's not a compilers' suite and it's not even a standard C compiler).
@awilfox @sroracle @sir @AdelieLinux
All this said I wonder what we disagree upon... 😆
About the difference between #FreeSoftware and #OpenSource?
I think I should write something about this as with time my understanding of the issue deepened.
But here you can find the incident that opened my eyes on the matter: https://medium.com/@giacomo_59737/what-i-wish-i-knew-before-contributing-to-open-source-dd63acd20696
