Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Malcolm McLean Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: Baby X is bor nagain Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2024 11:23:05 +0100 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 85 Message-ID: References: <20240625113616.000075e0@yahoo.com> <87ed8jnbmf.fsf@bsb.me.uk> <20240627201830.854@kylheku.com> <87msn1l3e5.fsf@bsb.me.uk> <87bk3flty5.fsf@bsb.me.uk> <87bk3f8hy5.fsf@bsb.me.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2024 12:23:06 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="d3632b7ae21454ea74fd52ce30974ae0"; logging-data="2262807"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19plsahoAG4VvJZ8OQJdn7s8848cB8DrRQ=" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:ZuC7jjRuuTLSJlzRqgasCLYA4uY= Content-Language: en-GB In-Reply-To: Bytes: 5401 On 03/07/2024 08:08, David Brown wrote: > On 03/07/2024 02:23, bart wrote: >> On 03/07/2024 00:58, Ben Bacarisse wrote: >>> bart writes: >>> >>>> On 02/07/2024 16:00, Ben Bacarisse wrote: >>>>> bart writes: >>>>> >>>>>> On 01/07/2024 13:09, Ben Bacarisse wrote: >>>>>>> bart writes: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Using products like tcc doesn't mean never using gcc. >>>>>>>> (Especially on Linux >>>>>>>> where you will have it installed anyway.) >>>>>>> The parenthetical remark is wrong. >>>>>> >>>>>> You mean it is possible for a Linux installation to not have gcc >>>>>> preinstalled? >>>>> I mean that saying "on Linux ... you will have it installed anyway" is >>>>> wrong. >>>>> >>>>>> Sure, although in the dozen or two versions I've come across, it >>>>>> always has been. >>>>> I'm not sure what you mean by a "version".  Every version (in the >>>>> sense >>>>> of release number) of a source-only Linux distribution will have gcc >>>>> installed, but is that all you mean?  Source-only distributions are >>>>> rare >>>>> and not widely used. >>>> >>>> No I mean binary distributions (unless the install process silently >>>> compiled from source; I've no idea). >>> >>> Which ones? >>> >> >> I really, really don't remember. I've tinkered with Linux every so >> often for 20, maybe 25 years. You used to be able to order a job-lot >> of CDs with different versions. Few did much. >> >> Then there were various ones I tried under Virtual Box. All had gcc. >> >> I must have tried half a dozen, maybe more, on RPis. Those I know all >> had gcc too.  So did a laptop or two with Linux. As does WSL now. >> >> I'm not sure what you're trying to do here. >> >> I will admit that it might not be 100% certain that a Linux OS on a >> system on which someone is planning to run a C compiler will have gcc >> installed, although that is not my experience. >> >> Will that do? > > In my experience, Linux distributions (which is a much more correct term > than your "versions") rarely install gcc by default, unless they are > source-based distributions.  But virtually all will have gcc available > for easy installation from their repositories.  And they will pull it in > automatically if the user installs something that requires it to run, or > to install (such as some kinds of drivers that need to be matched to the > kernel being used). > > So perhaps instead of insisting, incorrectly, that gcc is almost always > installed on Linux, you could just say that gcc is almost always easily > available, and move on.  (And perhaps it is so easily installed that you > did so without noticing it on your systems.) I remember exactly the same conversation a few months ago. When a Windows machine reaches the end of its useful life as a Windows machine, I generally convert it to a Linux machine to get a bit more service from it, until inevitably it goes for recycling. And so I've installed Linux several times. But not recently. I haven't recently retired a Windiws machine, though my current machine won't run Windows 11, and so is due to retire, when I can bring myself to splash a thousand pounds or so on a new device. And of course as a programming person I always want gcc and can't imagine a Unix-type system without a commandline C compiler. And I had a pretty clear memory that you got gcc by default. But other pepole say not, and you check a box as you install. And so I suppose it must be so. -- Check out my hobby project. http://malcolmmclean.github.io/babyxrc