[LLVMdev] Using LLVM to compile LLVM?

[Chris Lattner]

On Wed, 29 Jun 2005, Robert L. Bocchino Jr. wrote:
> I'm curious...Can LLVM compile LLVM?

Yes, configure llvm with CC=llvmgcc and CXX=llvmg++

> And if so, why don't we use LLVM to 
> compile itself?  Why use gcc?

Primarily because llvm doesn't yet support full debugger info.

> I guess doing it this way could make it hard to fix some bugs, since those 
> bugs would be in the compiler you're using for development as well.  But it 
> seems that LLVM is developed/robust enough at this point that there's a core 
> of it we can use for development work while we fix/extend the rest.  Is this 
> a feasible idea?

Yes definitely.  Bootstrapping a compiler is a very important test of 
stability and other things.  LLVM has in the past done this and I have no 
reason to think it wouldn't work now.  OTOH, I'm not aware of anyone 
actively doing this on a regular basis.

-Chris

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