gcc4 and gcc2

Forum thread started by spiraleyes on Thu, 2014-08-07 05:35

I am just getting into learnng to program on Haiku, and notice a lot going on about having 2 different gcc suites. I'm wondering why they are both used? And which is better? If one is better, shouldn't we just use that? Most importantly, how do I decide which to use for my own programs?

Since I know nothing of the difference, I stick to the gcc2 hybrid images for nightlies.

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Comments

Re: gcc4 and gcc2

by PulkoMandy - 2014-08-07 07:12
Hi, The gcc2hybrid images are the officially supported ones. gcc2 is used because that is the only way to keep binary compatibility with BeOS. However, that is a 10 year old compiler and it lacks many features modern programs need. So, use gcc2 if you want to build a desktop replicant, a deskbar tray icon, or some other thing that will be loaded as a system ad on (media format plugin, screensavers, are some more examples). In all other cases, you can use either gcc2 or gcc4, it shouldn't make a big difference. Use gcc4 if you need C99,C11 or C++11 features, otherwise you can continue using gcc2.