[fpc-pascal] Version 1.9.6[??] on the Mac.

[Peter Vreman]

> Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas wrote:
>
>>
>>You need to use FPC 1.9.4 or later; 1.9.6 should work, as Jonas pointed,
>>because I'm using some features not available in older releases.
>>
>>
>>
> Here's a really curious thing!
>
> I've been working to compile smf.pas. I've loaded fpc 1.9.6 on Windows
> XP and, indeed, it compiles perfectly - later I get errors finding Libc,
> but that's understandable as it isn't Unix, besides I really want it wo
> work on the Mac.
>
> So, I've loaded fpc 1.9.6 on my Mac (powerpc, Mac/OS 10.x.x - the
> latest). When I try to compile it, I get the same error about the byte
> array, using Xcode. So I tried it with a command line compile:
>
> ppcppc -Sd smf.pas
>
> I get the same problem! This was very peculiar, so I tried:

Without output we can't say anything.

> ppcppc -iV
> 1.9.6
>
> So I haven't loaded the wrong compiler by mistake.
>
> It looks very much as if the code for the 1.9.6 compiler on Windows/XP
> and Mac/OS is different - in fact it looks as if the Mac version is an
> earlier release.

80% of the compiler is platform independent. Only the codegenerator and
assembler parser and writers are CPU dependent.


> How could this have happened? Should I download the compiler and compile
> it from scratch, or is it likely that somebody will fix the problem?
>
> Could I have something else wrong?
>
> Have you actually managed to compile this on a Macintosh running the
> Panther OS?
>
> While on the subject, of compiling the compiler. I have a dual 64-bit
> CPU on my Mac. Would it be possible to compile the compiler to run in
> 64bit mode and be multi-threaded - and produce code that is 64bit and
> multi-threaded? I know that Tiger will provide full 64bit operation (at
> least that is promised), but, in theory, the compiler should be able to
> produce 64bit code now. If not, how long before this will be possible?
> Is it difficult to do?

A 64-bit PowerPC codegenerator needs to be written first. The compiler
itself is already 64-bit ready.

Multithreaded compiler is not usefull. It'll the compiler very complex and
less maintainable. Also the benefit is very small because of all the
dependencies.