[nhc-bugs] Install Problems: IRIX6.5/gcc3.0.1

[Malcolm Wallace]

Jim,

> I'm having dificulties installing nhc-1.08 under IRIX 6.5 using
> gcc-3.0.1 to bootstrap the compiler.

I think this might be the first problem - gcc-3 has reputedly made
some significant changes over gcc-2, and I'm not sure of the effect
such changes might have underneath nhc98.

> The first problem I encountered was an incompatability between the
> prototype of the "system" call on my machine and the one used by nhc.

I would have thought this was pretty harmless - on my Linux box, the
standard prototype is
    extern int system __P ((__const char *__command));
which has never given a conflict with the nhc98-generated prototype
    extern HsInt system(char*);
for me.  It could be that gcc-3 is being more strict.

> I then resumed compiling and managed to buid the "nhc98comp" executable
> with no problems.  But the first time the build process tried to use
> this executable it aborted with the following message:
>
> What, run() returned!

Ok, that definitely looks like a bad executable, but I suspect the
cause is unrelated to the system() call.

Do you have any possibility of using gcc-2.9x instead of gcc-3?
If so, I would suggest a second test build would at least cut down
the search space, by telling us whether the problem lies with the
choice of C compiler or our assumptions about IRIX-6.5.

To use a different C compiler from the first one on your PATH, you
can use the CC variable at configure-time, e.g.

    CC=/usr/lib/gcc-2.95.6/bin/gcc ./configure

It might also be helpful if you can keep the tree you built with
gcc-3 separately.  Should gcc-2 work ok, then it could be useful
to do some small comparisions between the trees.

Regards,
    Malcolm