Re: Interpreters and caller-saved registers

anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at <anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at> schrieb:
> Thomas Koenig <tkoenig@netcologne.de> writes:
>>It is well known that compilers in general and gcc specfically often
>>generate superflous register moves
> ...
>>However, if this got worse between releases, this is a regression.
>>Those get higher priority for fixing. So, if it is reasonable
>>to generate a reduced test case (for which cvise, for example,
>>is an excellent tool) so filing a bug report would be a good thing.
>
> If you want to file such a bug report, I can give you the commit of
> Gforth before we added all the workarounds, where all the problems
> are visible without ado.


This reply shows an interesting aspect of compiler development that is
often overlooked: The social aspect.


Compiler writers generally want to improve their product, but they
also generally feel that bug submitters (at least those who don't have
a support contract) should also invest a minimum of work if he wants
something fixed, and a general "look at large package xyz, it'll be
obvious" is below that threshold. (This is the reason why gcc, for
example, asks for a complete and self-contained test case in its bug
reports.)


People who complain about bugs, but are not willing to put in that
minimum amount of work, are often ignored.

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