gcc compilers to be supported by Macports, especially on older MacOS systems

[Ken Cunningham]

Hi Riccardo, yes need your input!

Reasoning for list I offerred:

apple-gcc42 stays, of course. unique and needed on 10.4
gcc4.8 … tenfourfox
gcc5 … for the java compiler used in pdftoolkit on older systems
gcc7 … current default compiler used for 5 years now on 10.4/5, well known, but staring to be a few things it can’t build, hence the pressure to upgrade
gcc10 .. last one that builds without c++11 … little used, but we need a fallback about here, so this is a guess as to a good fallback
gcc14 … current, has been used for the past year or so as the default compiler on ppc (by a small number of people TBH)

If this is to be useful and worth doing, the list needs to be shortish. 

Another could be added later I suppose, but would be some pain.

All others would be dropped, (except the bootstraps) as anything they built would potentially ABI breaking due to mismatched libs.


> On Nov 20, 2024, at 02:16, Riccardo Mottola <riccardo.mottola at libero.it> wrote:
> 
> Hi Ken,
> 
> I think in the past, I asked for something similar.
> 
> Two questions:
> 1) if a user wants a compiler beyond the "golden list"? will you remove the ports alltogether or will it just mean for him more compilation because it builds another libgcc?
> 2) can we start with a minimal list and then "tweak" things if we discover some software not building and add e.g. one or two versions later?
> 
> Ken Cunningham wrote:
>> The list of uniquely useful gcc compilers might be as short as:
>> 
>> gcc-4.8, gcc5, gcc7, gcc10, and  gcc-14.
>> 
>> All those already build on the older systems, and are at least a manageable list of versions to maintain.
>> 
>> Could we ask for thoughts and possible get consensus that the list of gcc compilers supported by MacPorts be shortened to a list such as that?
> 
> Making this list is I think a trade-off between a newer compiler breaking old code and capability of also compiling newer software.
> 
> My favorite is usually:
> 
> gcc4.8 (very good for old stuff... very stable everywhere and never found the need to use gcc 4.2 instad of gcc 4.8 except to stick with apple versions)
> gcc 6.5 : best "classic" compiler on 10.5/10.6, reliable, definitely to be included in list
> gcc 8 : first "modern" compiler
> 
> and then... gcc12 or 13 just because I used them long time and gcc14 is new, undecdided about which to choose
> 
> I think gcc5 can be dropped.. either 4.8 or 6.5 should do
> 
> gcc7 has been for a year the newest compiler on 10.5 for me, but can it be replaced by 6.5 or gcc8?
> 
> gcc10: could we try do drop it and have latest?
> gcc14 - I have used it very little on MacOS - but I do on linux and it is very finky...