[9fans] compiler suite question

[9fans] compiler suite question

[anothy]

in its section on "The MIPS compiler", /sys/doc/port.ps
talks about the compiler which generates no R4000 code
operating in big-endian mode. it has a note stating that
a little-endian version exists. 2c(1) has:
          0c spim        little-endian MIPS 4000 family
but no other little-endian MIPS compilers. which
statement is correct? does 0c generate R4K code? does
whichever is "the other one" exist?

also, i note 2c(1) mentions MIPS R4K and AT&T 3210
compilers (4c and xc, respectivly). why were these
three not included? i'm mainly intersted in the ability
to generate R4K code, but i'm curious about the others.
: anothy;

Re: [9fans] compiler suite question

[forsyth]

0c is included in the free so-called `binary' inferno download.
we haven't had a chance to use it ourselves.

xc was included in the 2nd edition of plan 9.
i suspect that it wasn't included this time because 3210s (and relatives)
were thin on the ground, but it includes some useful optimisation
code that could be used (with appropriate changes) on other architectures.

Re: [9fans] compiler suite question

[rob pike]

0c is a compiler for an embedded R4000 (4700 and 7000).
Ints are 32 bits; longs are 32 bits; vlongs are 64 bits, just like
with vc, but little-endian and with 64-bit alignment.
0c is used only in the embedded environment; we don't have
the usual libraries and binaries for that architecture. Bruce
Ellis (brucee@plan9.bell-labs.com) can answer more questions
about it.

4c, the R4000 compiler, was an experimental setup done by
a summer student; it never matured.

For the release, we dropped a number of things for which
the market seemed too small to be worth distributing.

-rob