X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to djgpp-bounces using -f From: Rod Pemberton Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: About different programming language support for DJGPP port of GCC Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2016 19:00:39 -0400 Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Lines: 53 Message-ID: <20160730190039.55fb9531@_> References: <761aff8d-eb27-fcae-5486-28fdf878d2fd AT iki DOT fi> NNTP-Posting-Host: n4wpt9zq8xR26Ttf9mo2BA.user.gioia.aioe.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: abuse AT aioe DOT org X-Newsreader: Claws Mail 3.13.1 (GTK+ 2.24.13; x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu) X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Bytes: 3550 To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com On Sat, 30 Jul 2016 11:51:25 -0700 (PDT) rugxulo AT gmail DOT com wrote: > > how many people are actually using DJGPP > > port of Ada compiler? > > I hate arguments like this. It's a self-defeating question, setting up > an impossible impasse. > > Is this really adding much to the maintenance burden? I doubt it, esp. > considering the overall complexity of Ada2012 and modern OSes. This is just my two cents, as I find that I tend to view things somewhat differently from other people. The Ada compiler and most of the DJGPP utilities are licensed under GPL, yes? So, for these programs, it's not necessary to have a GPL free C library to link to, like DJGPP's C library for DOS. These programs could use a port of GLIBC for DOS, if such a port was available for DOS. One might be able to construct one by filling in OS calls with DJGPP C library code or even calls to the DJGPP C library. Having a working GLIBC for DOS would allow most of these apps to compile as-is without any porting. I'm sure there are probably some technical issues that have to be worked through so the apps also execute correctly. People using DJGPP to compile DOS apps could still use DJGPP's C library for DOS apps, while the utilities would be compiled with a proper GLIBC. So, I think that if DJGPP still has any goals that the goal for DJGPP should be to port the GLIBC library to DOS. Apparently, there is no new DOS OS coming so far which might revive DJGPP, the people supporting the DJGPP project are waning or moving on, and the users of DJGPP are moving on. Seven years ago a new DOS OS would've revived DJGPP. A DJGPP based OS might still have use for a few people. However, today, I think DJGPP's only hope is to support GNU utilities for DOS or NTVDM console, which would be best served with a correctly functioning DOS port of GLIBC. Of course, if almost no one is using DJGPP anymore or DOS anymore, then what's the point? It could take decades to build up to full momentum, like Linux. I only see a handful of guys posting to comp.os.msdos.djgpp anymore. There are almost no posts to comp.os.msdos.programmer. There are just a few recent posts to Robert Riebisch's "DOS Ain't Dead" and only a couple news updates on www.freedos.org for this year. KernelEx comments on various pages died between 2012 and 2015 so Windows 98/SE usage has died. Japheth's website with HXRT and other DOS utilities went offline. Daniel Borca's DJELF website went offline and was archived by DJGPP. Many of the old DOS archives seem to be slowly dying. It's just some "food" for thought ... Rod Pemberton