Re: Emacs contributions, C and Lisp

[Stefan Monnier]

> A whole generation of compiler experts is being trained to use LLVM
> and only LLVM for this sort of work, where 15 years ago they would
> have used GCC.

Indeed.

> The long term result of all of this may very well be to do exactly the
> opposite of what you want -- to convince compiler researchers that
> LLVM is the only serious platform for their work, and even worse, to
> convince developers in general that free software is too hard to use
> and that non-free software is the way for them to get their work done.

Let's not forget that LLVM is Free.  It's not as Free as GCC since it
doesn't use a copyleft license, but it's not proprietary.

> I think most of us understand the issue as you see it. I think the
> distinction is that most of us believe the trade-off is important. Yes,
> this may indeed mean that some proprietary software ends up being
> based on GCC just as some proprietary software is based on GNU/Linux,
> but the overall impact will be positive, and the risk is much lower
> than the reward.

I think this "much" is an understatement.


        Stefan