GCC 8 Has Been Branched, GCC 9.0 Development On Main

[phoronix]

Phoronix: GCC 8 Has Been Branched, GCC 9.0 Development On Main

The GNU Compiler Collection 8 stable release (GCC 8.1) is almost ready to make its debut...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GCC-8-Branched

[GdeR]

I would expect Fedora 28 to ship with the stable release. Not sure if that means that Fedora 28 will be delayed or GCC 8 will be out just in time to make it into the "base" repository.

[chilek]

I would expect Fedora 28 to ship with the stable release. Not sure if that means that Fedora 28 will be delayed or GCC 8 will be out just in time to make it into the "base" repository.

In F28 beta GCC 8.0.1 is used:

gcc-8.0.1-0.20.fc28.x86_64
gcc-c++-8.0.1-0.20.fc28.x86_64
libgcc-8.0.1-0.20.fc28.x86_64
gcc-gfortran-8.0.1-0.20.fc28.x86_64
gcc-gdb-plugin-8.0.1-0.20.fc28.x86_64

I doubt that F28 will change used compiler at the last moment (it would require re-compilation of all packages!).
So they will use 8.x compiler series through all F28 release and support cycle.

[GdeR]

I doubt that F28 will change used compiler at the last moment (it would require re-compilation of all packages!).
So they will use 8.x compiler series through all F28 release and support cycle.

Being a Fedora user myself, I'm pretty sure that the transition 8.0.1 -> 8.1 will take place at some point. F26 shipped with GCC 7.1.1 if I'm not wrong, now it currently has GCC 7.3.1 available, but I'm not sure if it was released with a pre-release version of the compiler. I asked because I'm not sure whether this means that the whole distribution gets built with a compiler still in experimental state. But that's more of my ignorance on how Fedora devs use to work.

I doubt that F28 will change used compiler at the last moment (it would require re-compilation of all packages!).
So they will use 8.x compiler series through all F28 release and support cycle.

So we must conclude that the odd numbered releases of Fedora are "more stable" on release day because they are built with a more stable compiler, am I wrong?

[pipe13]

Possibly. It's not as though Fedora doesn't have a regression suite for it's core packages. And it's been a few years since I've seen any issues with a new GCC compiling my own code. But if it makes you feel safer, by all means hold off your Fedora 28 update until after GCC 8.1, or 8.2 late in the summer. No one's forcing it on you.

[gilboa]

I doubt that F28 will change used compiler at the last moment (it would require re-compilation of all packages!).
So they will use 8.x compiler series through all F28 release and support cycle.

Switching from 8.0 (development) to 8.1 (stable) is fairly minor and will not require recompilation of all packages.
Nothing prevents you from running (and debugging) applications that were compiled, say, w/ GCC 6.1 on a machine with GCC 8.1.

- Gilboa

[GdeR]

[..]
But if it makes you feel safer, by all means hold off your Fedora 28 update until after GCC 8.1, or 8.2 late in the summer. No one's forcing it on you.

That's exactly what I'm going to do. I had this doubt that I needed to clarify because I ignore the process of building
and maintaining the core parts of a distribution. I know nobody is forcing me, but don't get me wrong, I was just
asking. Also, I see no real alternative for me other than Fedora. I'm so used to this system and I find it so realiable
that in the end I'd rather wait for things to get fixed than switch to another distribution.

[chilek]

Switching from 8.0 (development) to 8.1 (stable) is fairly minor and will not require recompilation of all packages.
Nothing prevents you from running (and debugging) applications that were compiled, say, w/ GCC 6.1 on a machine with GCC 8.1.

- Gilboa

And this is why I wrote: ...they will use 8.x compiler series through all F28 release and support cycle. Not 8.0.x but 8.x ;-) I think it's clear now.

[pipe13]

Switching from 8.0 (development) to 8.1 (stable) is fairly minor and will not require recompilation of all packages.
Nothing prevents you from running (and debugging) applications that were compiled, say, w/ GCC 6.1 on a machine with GCC 8.1.

- Gilboa

Nothing except possible glibc (or other system library) version incompatibilities. Whether by accident or design, when using third-party libraries built from source, it sometimes does happen and requires a recompilation and re-link against the newer system glibc. You can get around this by using e.g. scl devtoolkits under CentOS, but it's something I always keep in mind when doing a system upgrade: everything takes longer and costs more. This undoubtedly happens with other distros as well -- plan accordingly.

Edit: Apologies to Gilboa, who was referring to GCC minor version bump within the same distro version. I was thinking about what can happen with distro upgrades (including GCC upgrade) themselves.

[gilboa]

And this is why I wrote: ...they will use 8.x compiler series through all F28 release and support cycle. Not 8.0.x but 8.x ;-) I think it's clear now.

Guess I misread you post. My mistake.

- Gilboa