[9fans] Re: Building GCC

[pavlovetsky@gmail.com]

We can not grip the system tightly and prescribe particular
application and use of it; instead, we must allow people to use it for
their own purposes. The more general the system, the better, and this
is the UNIX principle. If someone wants to build an environment he
feels comfortable with, but still, not leaving the splendid grounds of
Plan9 - great! Doesn´t it? This is customisation.

Personally, I would be happy as a child to see, say, web browser built
using native environment and fully copliant. It never will be, though,
for the simple reason - to be fully comliant, web browser must render
flash content and Java Script as a minimum, but there are also many
other web technologies, which are accessible through special,
proprietary plugins. The Flash Player is proprietary and, as a shared
library it is distributed for three mainstream operating systems and a
couple industrial UNIX systems. You will never get it for Plan9 until
it will become either standard industrial and/or mainstream. From the
purist point of view it is bad, because system looses its original
integrity, many flavours evolve and distasteful cruft appears. But, in
the end, this is evolution. This is the only way to survive. The more
people will use Plan9 the better, even if they do it in not so elegant
way.

It is senseless and impossible to reinvent every single weel. People
must port things, it will strengthen the system.