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From: rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: crt0.o -- C compiler revision
Message-ID: <4c8904b0.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Date: 31 Aug 90 21:34:00 GMT
References: <9008311320.AA02135@umix.cc.umich.edu>
Sender: root@apollo.HP.COM
Reply-To: rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Apollo Division - Chelmsford, MA
Lines: 27

In article <9008311320.AA02135@umix.cc.umich.edu> derstad@CIM-VAX.HONEYWELL.COM ("DAVE ERSTAD") writes:
>>Should it concern us that a BETA TEST C compiler was used...
>
>We found some things the other day that were compiled with ALPHA
>versions of the compilers!

I wouldn't be too concerned, though I'll admit it does seem odd at first
glance.  Internal users of our compilers, e.g.: the OS folks, tend to be
pretty conservative about consuming what we (meaning us compiler folks)
produce.  With good reason, for we often (shhhh! don't tell anyone! :)
break things in our normal, workaday mode of fixing other bugs and adding
enhancements.  Usually such regressions are caught quickly, but sometimes
not -- I don't build & boot an OS after every single compiler change, for
example, so it may be several weeks before I catch a problem that manifests
itself in the OS but not any other code in our test suites.

So if, say, a Beta compiler is "good enough" for a given application, the
internal users may not grab an updated copy for some time on the premise of
"better the bugs you know".  After all, most "known" bugs will manifest
themselves only in a particular situation, and if your source code doesn't
"trip the wire"...

Certainly no one here is building and shipping applications cavalierly,
using compilers they know to be unstable with their code.
--
   >>"Aaiiyeeee!  Death from above!"<<     | (Steve) rehrauer@apollo.hp.com
"Spontaneous human combustion - what luck!"| Apollo Computer (Hewlett-Packard)