[llvm-dev] Using C++14 code in LLVM (original) (raw)

C Bergström via llvm-dev llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org
Tue Oct 4 13:04:38 PDT 2016

On Wed, Oct 5, 2016 at 3:55 AM, Joerg Sonnenberger via llvm-dev <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:

On Tue, Oct 04, 2016 at 03:29:14PM +0000, Zachary Turner via llvm-dev wrote:

I'm not familiar with the release process, but couldn't most of the concerns raised in this thread be addressed by shipping prebuilt binaries for these big platforms with older toolchains? How much of a burden is that on the release maintainer? One thing you seem to be forgetting is that LLVM is an infrastructure component now. It is not only a fancy C/C++ compiler, but it is also an integral part of the graphic stack for AMD GPUs and possible more. That's even more reason to start to be more conservative when it comes to shiny new features. Making it a nightmare to merge new GPU drivers because some silly infrastructure project decides to run after every new language feature is a very good way to screw up a project's reputation. This might be somewhat exaggerated, but not that far from the truth.

Pragmatically, I think there is a balance between what's a "shiny new feature" and something which is part of a 3 year old published standard that has an open source implementations and supporting compilers on modern systems.

I'm not advocating that C++14 should be adopted and I think strong technical arguments for/against need to be made, not comments that amount to "the sky is falling".

What's the problem c++14 would solve and what are potential alternative solutions. If the argument is "just because" then I'd tend to lean towards a conservative view and delay adoption.

Jörg - I can't poke my nose where it doesn't belong, but if NetBSD switched to a more modern toolchain it may have some benefits.

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