(Re)Using rustc components in gccrs

https://rust-gcc.github.io/2024/09/20/reusing-rustc-components.html

by lukastyrychtr • 2 years ago

126 23 2 years ago

rust-gcc.github.io

pitaj• 2 years ago

Makes sense

theobeers• 2 years ago

An interesting bit, on not making it too easy for people to circumvent the borrow checker:

First, we use a C++ compiler to build gccrs, disabling the borrow-checking pass of the compiler. It is important to ensure borrow-checking cannot be disabled at runtime using a command line flag, as this could have a negative impact on the Rust ecosystem – however, building gccrs without borrow-checking to use it as an intermediate compiler in our bootstrapping process is okay.

loeg• 2 years ago

Love seeing updates / progress on gccrs.

PoignardAzur2• 2 years ago

I'm kind of curious how many components you can jettison from a Rust compiler and still be able to build these libraries.

It's not like Polonius or the trait solver were designed with bootstrapping gccrs in mind.

HelloNurse2• 2 years ago

If these compiler components were designed to conform to almost implementation-agnostic bootstrapping stages (e.g. compiling the borrow checker without checking borrows) organizing gccrs bootstrapping like rustc bootstrapping enables reuse.

PoignardAzur2• 2 years ago

If these compiler components were designed to conform to almost implementation-agnostic bootstrapping stages

I'm pretty sure they weren't. The Rust bootstrap chain is ridiculously long.

jenadine2• 2 years ago

Why not reuse the whole frontend then?

AndrewDucker• 2 years ago

Because we want to plug into GCC, so that we can use the rest of the compiler chain to output to all of the architectures that GCC supports.

vlovich1234• 2 years ago

You still get that by using the same Rust frontend and using GCC instead of LLVM as the backend. A parallel reimplemented from scratch front end at best lets you find under-specified aspects of the current implementation. Not sure it actually helps the ecosystem though.

electronbeam• 2 years ago

Its their itch to scratch, and its good to have an independent implementation anyway

kam• 2 years ago

rustc_codegen_gcc is also a thing.

andrewchambers3• 2 years ago

I guess this doesn't solve the bootstrapping issue.

(Re)Using rustc components in gccrs

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