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Re: LLVM or GCC or Intel?

On 31/07/2008, at 2:51 AM, Todd wrote: 
But what about LLVM? I have not heard of this much in the past (just
off and on) and now that it seems Apple is moving away from GCC in
favor of LLVM, what should developers do?

First the disclaimer: these thoughts owe nothing to any insider knowledge or pre-released code, I just add up the observable facts and come to the obvious conclusion.

Facts:
1. Apple is shovelling money into LLVM development.
2. Despite many versions of GCC beyond 4.2 having been released, Apple uses no GCC code more recent than 4.2 in released products.
3. GCC versions more recent than 4.2 are licensed under GPL 3, which prohibits DRM and closed devices like iPod or AppleTV, and would appear to be totally incompatible with Apple's business model.
4. LLVM has totally permissive licensing. Allowing proprietary forks and just about anything else.

Obvious conclusion:
Apple is ditching GCC because of the project's decision to go with GPL 3. The company has no choice in this.

So you better get used to LLVM or whatever pocket the roulette ball lands in.

Cheers
Bill Northcott

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