Subject: MINI-REVIEW: GNU C Compiler and related tools
From: [email-masked] (marco van der heide)
Date: 4 Mar 1994 19:30:20 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAMES

	GNU C COMPILER, ported by Philippe Brand and Fred Fish.
	GNU C++ COMPILER, ported by Philippe Brand and Fred Fish.
	Several GNU utilities by several people.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	These GNU programs can be used to compile C programs and C++
programs on Amiga computers.  The utilities provide Amiga versions of most
of the POSIX commands like rm, ls, mkdir, etc.

	This review assumes that you are familiar with these products from
using them on other platforms.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	All the programs are available on the Aminet ftp sites:  GCC version
2.5.8 is split into 5 archives:

gcc258-1.lha  dev/gcc  basic gcc distribution, all what you need is there.
gcc258-2.lha  dev/gcc  C++, Objective-C binaries, headers and libraries.
gcc258-3.lha  dev/gcc  docs in man & TexInfo formats, includes InfoView & man
gcc258-4.lha  dev/gcc  extra binaries in /bin (UN*X utilities).
gcc258-5.lha  dev/gcc  Full Gcc sources amiga ready.

Or you can update your version 2.5.6 (or higher) version to 2.5.8 with
the archive:

gcc258.lha    dev/gcc  update from 2.5.6+ to 2.5.8.

The author of the Amiga port can be reached at:

        Philippe BRAND
        Fidonet: Ramses The Amiga Flying BBS 2:320/104.21
        Email:   [email-masked]
        Ftp:     192.70.117.81 (sorry, DNS messed up at our regional coord).
                 /pub/incoming/uploads.

LIST PRICE

	All programs are licenced according the GNU Public Licence, which
generally means that they can be freely used by everyone.  Read the licence
for details.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	Amiga 1200, 14 MHz 68EC020 CPU and 68881 FPU
	2MB Chip RAM, 4MB Fast RAM

ABOUT THE USAGE

	The usage of the compilers is exactly like on POSIX machines.  All
the optimisations of the POSIX gcc are there in the Amiga gcc.

	The compiler is provided with include files and a library
(ixemul.library) to create an environment which is practically the same as
the POSIX environment.  This means that most of the POSIX library functions,
such as fork and pipe, can be used on any Amiga.

	The distributions also contains an Installer script which makes the
installation a lot easier.

THE COMPATIBILITY

	The compiler is fairly compatible with its POSIX counterpart, but it
also can be used to compile Amiga specific programs.  The Amiga library (in
the SAS world known as amiga.lib) is also included in the library to give
the user the ability to use the Amiga ROM functions.

	As the compiler uses a different kind of prototypes, the "clib"
directory of the 3.1 includes has been translated.

THE C++ PART

	The distribution also contains a port of the g++ compiler, which
enables the user to make use of the C++ language.  It is also possible to
compile Amiga-specific C++ programs which use the Amiga ROM functions.

	The use of templates within C++ is possible.

THE OTHER UTILITIES

	Some of the other utilities which are provided seem to be "not so
stable".  This is caused mainly because most of these utilities are direct
ports from POSIX source.  Here problems with the stack occur.  Most of the
problems can be fixed by raising the Amiga stack.

Marco van der Heide ([email-masked])

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