Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!allred
From: allred@ut-emx.UUCP (Kevin L. Allred)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: GNU story wanted!
Summary: gcc clashes with segmented architecture of 8086
Keywords: GNU
Message-ID: <14704@ut-emx.UUCP>
Date: 30 Jun 89 18:13:41 GMT
References: <7364@cs.Buffalo.EDU> <1040@acf3.NYU.EDU> <254@isctsse.UUCP> <1180@marlin.NOSC.MIL>
Organization: UT-Austin, Dept. of Chem. Engr
Lines: 28

In article <1180@marlin.NOSC.MIL>, jbjones@marlin.NOSC.MIL (John B. Jones) writes:
> In article <254@isctsse.UUCP> pajerek@isctsse.UUCP (Donald Pajerek) writes:
> >functionally equivalent to Unix (or maybe a superset). I don't know
> >if the GNU operating system is actually available, but many components
> >of it are, such as the EMACS editor and the GCC compiler.
> WHOA!
> Did you say that GNU actually has a C compiler out?  Does anyone have a
> copy of this beast, and the compassion to send it to me?  I would really
> like a copy....

Many of us would like to run gcc under MSDOS, but I don't think it is
going to happen soon.  As I understand it gcc likes a nice big linear
address space; so the 640K memory limit and segmented architecture under
MSDOS make it difficult or impossible to do a port.  gcc has been
ported to run on 386 processors running various version of UNIX, but I
don't even think a port has been possible to 286 processors running
UNIX or XENIX.  What we need is for some programmer that is very
familiar with the protected mode of the 386 (and willing to add this
to the FSF library of programs :-), to write a protected mode
shell that is just big enough to bring up gcc.  That way the people
with 386's (hopefully I will be one of them soon) would be able to
switch from DOS to protected mode to run gcc, or programs compiled
with gcc, without having to pay big bucks for a full runtime UNIX
system.-- 

	Kevin Allred
	allred@emx.cc.utexas.edu
	allred@ut-emx.UUCP