My own experience disagrees with the assessment given in the 1st quoted message. While it is true that the DECC compiler generates better code than the GNU C compiler (this is evident even on Linux), there are a number of features in the GNU C compiler that do not exist in the HP supported compiler and there are some packages that make heavy use of these features. Case in point would be the __attribute__ modifer which provides functionality for which there is no duplicate in DECC (other than manual work by the programmer). For the packages I've worked on, I've never needed the Unix syntax (the only one that has been an issue is the fact that -I can be specified multiple times but /INCLUDE_DIRECTORY can only be specified once and I've always been able to solve that) but it has been a royal pain to find ways to address the differences in functionality.
A functioning recent version of GCC for VMS would make this work much easier.
If there are specific features of GCC that are missing from HP C that would aid in porting programs, the compiler team seems to be interested in them, and may be able to implement them as an option in future compilers.
For example the /ACCEPT=GCCINLINE qualifier.
The __attribute__ modifier corresponds to the #pragma directives in the C compiler, however while both are non-portable, IMHO the __attribute__ modifier is easier to read.
-John [EMAIL PROTECTED] Personal Opinion Only
