Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!ncr-sd!crash!pnet01!jca
From: jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: Compress (really "Large Model" compilers)
Message-ID: <4671@crash.cts.com>
Date: 21 Jul 89 07:16:19 GMT
Sender: news@crash.cts.com
Organization: People-Net [pnet01], El Cajon CA
Lines: 31

The large model compiler doesn't have to be part of the standard distribution,
it can be for people like myself with the 'warped' sense of what the C
compiler for protect mode Minix should be.  My argument is the usability
factor.  What can you do with the current Minix C compiler besides recompile
the kernel?  Nothing really, in fact, things that will run in the seperate I&D
memory model won't compile in some cases.  Case and point, Bison (GNU Yacc)
will run in a small memory model under Turbo C 1.5 which is similiar to 
seperate I&D, but because of the seperate I&D limitations of each pass of the
Minix C compiler, it will not compile (i.e. output.c will not compile, opt
bombs on it and runs out of memory).  If Minix is to be used for ONLY
educational purposes, then the current compiler is quite reasonable, but you
and I both know that Minix has gotten bigger and better than that.  Ethernet
support is part of the standard distribution along with RS-232 support.  Minix
is becoming a REAL operating system rather than an educational tool.  I know
that Minix will not stop where it is, but will keep on growing.  So therefore,
I want a REAL C compiler for it that will fully utilize the idiosyncrasies
of the 80286 architecture and since the problems are idiosyncratic to the
80286, I believe they can be isolated to linker that is smart enough to
determine processor type and of course the memory manager task will have to be
made 'smarter' when protect mode is used.  The bottom line is that protect
mode is being wasted and I don't like waste.  The C compiler can be more than
it is...regardless of how 'messy' it will get.  Intel screwed up with the
80286, but there are work arounds.

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