Subject: Re: [bug#39655] [PATCH core-updates] doc: Add 'Scheme-only Bootstrap' node.

From: Jan Nieuwenhuizen <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 May 2020 09:37:45 +0200

Efraim Flashner writes:

> I have to ask since we're talking about bootstrapability; is it actually
> not bootstrappable or is it just harder/more complex? (The question is
> more about the wording than about the logistics of it.)

gzip is about 7000 LOC of simple C, can be compiled with tinycc (and
probably mescc), and we have gzip in Gash.  That Scheme code is not
trivial but with not too much work we can have Mes run that code.  It's
also conceivable to have an M2-Planet port of gzip.

xz is about 25,000 LOC of C and I only managed to build it after having
a full fledged gcc-4.6, gcc-2.95 or tinycc did not work for me.

So, if SED only ships xz-compressed tarballs, that makes
creating/maintaining the GNU bootstrap story more difficult.

Greetings,
Janneke

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Jan Nieuwenhuizen <[email-masked]> | GNU LilyPond http://lilypond.org
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