On 08/07/13 13:09, Nils Faerber wrote: > Am 08.07.2013 12:59, schrieb Mitnacht, Thomas: >> Hi David, In a nutshell ... >> >> * TI will drive the availability of precompiled packages > > That's great to hear! Which distributions will this include? I would > very much like see the already existing Debian packages, which are > based for derived versions in many other Debian based distributions > like Mint, Ubuntu etc.. So working together with the Debian > MSP430-gcc package maintainer(s) seems like a promising a fruitful > thing.
It might sound strange at first, but I would /not/ like to see this. I would prefer Debian (and other distros) to drop msp430-gcc from their repositories. The big problem with these is that such repositories are targeted towards the latest release of the toolchains, or at least the latest release the last time the package maintainer updated them. This is invariably /not/ what you want - it is seldom the very latest releases when you need them, and once you start working on a project using a particular release, it is important that you stick to that same release (or perhaps small critical bug-fix updates) - you don't want full new releases. In an ideal world, TI would maintain its own apt repository (and yum), supporting the toolchains for a variety of distros. But there should not be packages such as "msp430-gcc" and "msp430-libc" in these repositories - there should be packages such as "msp430-release-20130708" containing all the toolchain. And these should not contain files such as "/usr/bin/msp430-gcc" - they should contain files such as "/opt/msp430-20130708/bin/msp430-gcc". Of course such binaries should not be on the user's path - you must say exactly which toolchain you want in your makefile (or Eclipse/CCS project setup). And of course Windows toolchains should be packaged similarly. Packaging toolchains with IDEs, or adding the toolchains to Linux distribution repositories, helps amateurs get started - but it does a great disservice to professional developers who need to consider their toolchains as part of their project. > >> * TI will support header and linker command files for all supported >> MSP430 derivatives, same as we do for MSPGCC > > Excellent! Agreed - excellent. > >> * TI will release a CCS version supporting GCC > > Uh, also nice! Just for clearing up my ignorance - which part of CCS > is covered by the commercial license? The compiler? The IDE? Or > both? I was just wondering if GCC in CCS would mean that CCS could > then be used "for free" in order to work with MSP-GCC. Not that I > would use it ;) I more of a Makefile and simple text editor guy... > just out of curiosity... The IDE is Eclipse, which is freely available. AFAIUI, the current version of CCS is built using plugins for the standard Eclipse, rather than using a modified Eclipse. With current Eclipse, the CDT and remote debugging support is so good that CCS with gcc would not have to be more than a few wizards to handle project setup and compiler options (for those that don't want to do it manually). It would be strange if TI decided to charge money for that. Of course there are other things that could be added - and TI could charge for if it suited them. On the toolchain side, they could charge for the libraries (I hope not). For the IDE, they could make improved debugger features such as a simulator, or register view windows, or RTOS-aware debugging, or peripheral wizards, etc. Although I've found CCS to be a bit unreliable in the past (especially on my outdated 64-bit Fedora), I think it will be a good thing in general that they will integrate gcc into CCS, as I don't like the CCS compiler. They code it makes is okay, but few compilers can compare to gcc for the level of features, and CCS has a couple of serious show-stopper failures. (One is that uninitialised data is not zeroed, contrary to every C standard, and the other is the somewhat random choice of diagnostic levels that give errors on some correct code while allowing absolute nonsense to pass without warning.) mvh., David > >> * TI will support GCC via the TI E2E forum > > Great! > >> Stay tuned... >> >> Thanks, Thomas Mitnacht > Cheers nils > > >> Texas Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Haggertystr. 1, D-85356 >> Freising. Amtsgericht M?nchen HRB 40960. Gesch?ftsf?hrer: Dr. >> Wolfram Tietscher. Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrates: Edgar Frank >> >> -----Original Message----- From: David Brown >> [mailto:da...@westcontrol.com] Sent: Monday, July 08, 2013 12:40 >> PM To: Brendan Conoboy Cc: mspgcc-users@lists.sourceforge.net >> Subject: Re: [Mspgcc-users] mspgcc Red Hat release >> >> On 08/07/13 03:28, Brendan Conoboy wrote: >>> On 07/05/2013 11:24 AM, Przemek Klosowski wrote: >>>> Kudos to Peter Bigot for maintaining MSP430 toolchain for so >>>> long and for getting it to the level of support that it has >>>> today. Kudos also to RedHat people like Brendan Conoboy for >>>> committing to ongoing support. >>>> >>>> Having said that, could I suggest some public or private >>>> coordination between the two teams? Peter has extensive >>>> knowledge of this toolchain and I'm sure that anyone working in >>>> this area would benefit from his advice---but I have a sense >>>> that he is not involved with whatever is happening at RedHat. >>>> In the interest of the MSP430 community, could you guys brief >>>> each other on your plans and such? I have a feeling that this >>>> is something doable via a fairly short phone conversation. >>> >>> Peter and I had a nice chat early on, but out of necessity we did >>> the port without his considerable expertise. I think gcc is just >>> about ready to be checked in, at which point the upstream sources >>> will be complete and available for everybody to use without >>> special patching. Once that completes, I will send a note, but >>> also: I would like to encourage everybody who wants to contribute >>> to the new tools to submit their patches upstream: This makes >>> sure every future release is the best release ever. >>> >>>> I do know that Brendan super busy because of his involvement >>>> with the Fedora/Redhat ARM project, which is booming now, what >>>> with it becoming an official Fedora architecture and with the >>>> buzz and activity around Beaglebone Black---nevertheless, I >>>> hope something could be done re. MSP430 in the short term. >>> >>> Fedora-ARM is a demanding mistress :-) Fortunately the >>> engineers doing the real work on the MSP 430 GNU tools can give >>> it much more attention: Kevin Buettner, DJ Delorie, and Nick >>> Clifton. Hopefully TI will have an update of their own in the >>> near future. Cheers, >>> >> >> Do you know how this is going to work? Will TI release packages >> with binary builds of the toolchain (including libraries) for >> Windows and Linux? Will they provide a collection of patches >> against the main gcc and library releases? Will they integrate gcc >> into Code Composer Studio? >> >> As a cross-platform user, I would like to be able to get >> ready-packaged bundles for Linux (32-bit and 64-bit, of preference) >> and Windows that contain the same compiler and library snapshot, so >> that I can say "this project is built using the 20130708 release" >> and get the same build on all platforms. Such snapshots should >> include pre-built binaries (especially for Windows), source >> (including basic instructions such as lists of patches), libraries >> and headers. >> >> For many users, integration into Code Composer would be a big >> benefit too. >> >> What I would hate to see is a Microchip-style gcc, where you can >> pay them lots of money to use the free compiler developed by other >> people, or you are on your own regarding building the compiler, >> finding libraries, writing header files, etc. I don't expect that >> to happen here - it doesn't sound like TI and it certainly doesn't >> sound like Redhat - but legally it is possible. >> >> Anyway, I am looking forward to this new msp430 gcc port. Peter >> (and others before him) have done a fantastic job, but he has >> earned a rest and having TI and Redhat behind the port opens up >> many possibilities. >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows: Build for Windows Store. http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Mspgcc-users mailing list Mspgcc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mspgcc-users
