[LLVMdev] Preferring to use GCC instead of LLVM

[Chris Lattner]

On May 11, 2008, at 7:36 AM, Óscar Fuentes wrote:

>
> Not that I sympathize with the OP's manners but...
>
> Bill Wendling <isanbard at gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On May 10, 2008, at 7:55 PM, kr512 wrote:
>>
>>> See how gcc is invoked to generate the final executable
>>> file.  This means LLVM is an incomplete backend,
>>> unfortunately.
>>>
>> That's only a convenience. GCC generates assembly code too and calls
>> the assembler and linker as part of it's execution. You are perfectly
>> able to call the assembler & linker yourself.
>
> This means that LLVM requires an assembler and linker. Call it GCC or
> binutils, it is irrelevant. The OP point is that LLVM is not a
> self-sufficient tool on this aspect.

FWIW, I wouldn't be surprised if the LLVM project eventually grew more  
of native toolchain support (e.g. assembler, linker, etc).  It would  
fit naturally with the growing scope of the project.  I don't think  
that it is a high priority for anyone though.

One advantage of having at least simple assembler support is being  
able to handle inline asm in the (currently incomplete and buggy)  
macho/elf writers.

-Chris