🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec19.000239.11451@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>, tariqh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk
(Tariq Hamid) wrote:
> 
> In <lsr-181292122440@lsr.taligent.com> lsr@taligent.com (Larry Rosenstein) writes:
> 
> >Even if there wasn't a boycott against Apple the GNU software (especially
> >GCC) wouldn't be ported to the Mac OS as a matter of course simply because
> >their focus is Unix-like machines and it's relatively hard to port some of
> >the software to the Mac.
> 
> 
> Rubbish. The GCC compiler is available for the IBM PC, et al. And this version 
> in particular is _excellent_ e.g. it supports 128Mbytes of virtual memory.
> 

What's rubbish?  That the GNU focus is on UN*X machines, or that its hard
to port UN*X like software to the Mac?

And the 128Mbytes support for the PC requires a DOS extender.  I've lost
track... Did Microsoft ever release a 32bit DOS extender?  I remember that
when the first public domain extenders & GCC appeared for PCs, they didn't
have support for graphics, mouse, etc.  That was two years ago... Has it
changed at all?

So using a rough comparison, the PC is more like UN*X in that it has a
command line interface and so forth.  The Mac environment, with pull down
menus and no command line interface, is less like UN*X than the PC is.

But there is a solution: Porting a UN*X like tool to the Mac is easy if you
do it within the MPW environment.  I've ported a variety of my MSDOS & UN*X
tools to MPW.

Why?  MPW has UN*X like features (scripting, make, projector, custom tools,
limited piping, etc.)  Tools can have command line options and so forth. 
Custom tools (cross compilers & assemblers), scripts, and projector are the
reasons why I don't use Think C.  I build a software pack

You can find earlier versions of GCC ported to the MPW environment.  I
can't remember, don't they use the MPW linker, assembler, and libraries?

Unfortunately the GNU "copyleft" for GCC (and their varients of lex &
yacc), prevent me from using those tools for commercial work.  Not that I
think FSF cares much about an Apple employee not using a GNU tool, but I
suggest you read the GNU documents carefully before using their tools to
produce a commercial product.


Craig Keithley
Apple Computer, Inc.
keithley@apple.com
"I have absolutely no responsibility in this matter, what-so-ever"