Objective-C bugs and GCC releases

[Gregory John Casamento]

All,

I believe that since the GNUstep project is a GNU project and since both Apple
and GNUstep current depend on GCC's ObjC frontend, that the policy of not
considering bugs in ObjC as showstoppers needs to end.  I would like to know
what the reasons are behind the decision this policy is.

The current regressions in the ObjC compiler will make it very difficult for
both the GNUstep project and, in my opinion, Apple to continue to use gcc
without making modifications.   Indeed, releasing a broken ObjC compiler could
cause a great deal damage to both the relationship of GCC with Apple and the
GNUstep project.

To my understanding a patch was submitted to correct these regressions and was
rejected.  Links available here:

http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2004-12/msg00889.html
http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2005-01/msg01423.html
http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2005-01/msg01516.html

In one of the messages above, Zem points out that a rewrite is pending to
correct the problem, but wont be available until 4.1.  This would mean, if I'm
not mistaken, the the ObjC compiler in GCC will remain broken for almost a year
before being corrected.

If a rewrite is pending anyway, what's the harm in including a temporary fix in
a front end that the GCC committee doesn't consider to be worth stopping a
release for?

It is my opinion that the policy of allowing ObjC to be broken in releases of
GCC should stop.   While ObjC might not be as popular as C or C++ it is
certainly more widely used today than a few years ago when this decision was
apparently made.

Thanks for your kind consideration, GJC

=====
Gregory John Casamento 
-- CEO/President Open Logic Corp. (A Maryland Corporation)
#### Maintainer of Gorm for GNUstep.