Brian, Thanks for clarification :)
-Ghee Brian Cameron wrote: > > Ghee: > > The restriction that we cannot use GCC has been lifted since gcc > was integrated into vermillion into /usr/sfw/bin. That said, we > do want to build vermillion components with Sun Studio unless there > is a compelling reason to use GCC. > > With C code, there is no issues with mixing code built with GCC > and Sun Studio. It is a problem with C++ code. > > Currently two modules are built with GCC: > > + libcdio - This module uses GCC extensions that are not yet supported > in Sun Studio and it would be significant effort to port the code > to build with Sun Studio. > > + liboil - This module contains hardware acceleration assembly code > that only builds with GCC. Sun Studio does not yet support building > GCC-style assembly. It makes sense, I think, to build this with > GCC to enable the hardware acceleration code when building on x86. > > It might also make sense to build libgphoto2 with GCC since we > currently disable the sierra driver because that driver won't build > with Sun Studio due to its use of GCC extensions. Not sure if this > is a big deal, though. > > Note that the Mars compiler (the next version of Sun Studio) is > supposed to fix a lot of the GCC extensions issues so we can probably > avoid using GCC when building libcdio when we upgrade to the new > compiler. Likewise I think the libgphoto2 issues I mention will go > away. > > Brian > > >>> The attached change to liboil causes it to be built with GCC when >>> building on x86 platforms, so that hardware acceleration support is >>> enabled. The new patch uses the getisax(2) kernel function so that >>> hardware acceleration support is determined using the correct Solaris >>> kernel interface. > > >> I can see why you want to do this. But I find this strange that >> GCC is >> actually use in building some part of vermillion. Is this normal >> practise or >> is this the first exception? Does this create any potential run-time >> problem >> down the line? >> No a linker/compiler expert, but like to ask some generic questions >> here :) >> >> -Ghee >>> >>> I have verified that liboil functions are 4-6 times faster using >>> GCC so that the GCC-style assembly code for hardware acceleration >>> gets compiled, and we don't just use the default C-implementations. >>> >>> Brian >>> >>>
