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> Considering that the linux kernel is strongly tied to the specific C dialect supported by GCC and is not portable at all, this argument is bullshit. Linux ha
by planteen 10y ago
> Considering that the linux kernel is strongly tied to the specific C dialect supported by GCC and is not portable at all, this argument is bullshit.
Linux has been ported to over two dozen architectures so it is extremely portable. Yes, it is tied to some GCC behaviors, but many operating systems are tied to compilers. Some extensions make the code identical across different archs, like __builtin_return_address.
Windows is tied to particular C features, which is why MSVC is resistant to C99. Plan9 was a special dialect and compiler of C.
- gpderetta 10y agoThe context of course was portability to different compilers, not architectures.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- planteen 10y agoOh gotcha... I interpreted Linus's comment about archs. Boost is supported on far less archs than the Linux kernel is: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/master/libs/context/doc/html/context/architectures.html http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/master/libs/context/doc/html/c...
- gpderetta 10y agoNote that that's the supported architectures, i.e. those that are routinely tested. 99% of boost in architecture/machine independent and will work anywhere that has a standard compliant compiler.
- planteen 10y agoSure. Obviously all of this depends if the context is git or the kernel. But Linus (in context of the kernel) cares more about the 1% than the average person, for things like atomics, mutexes, etc.