GCC C Compiler Evaluations Wanted

[Douglas C. Schmidt]

This reply is to Paul Butterfield's request for info on GCC.  My
mailer bauked at his return address...
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   I've been testing the gcc compiler for several weeks now.  When
it works it generates terrific code, but there are several major
compiler bugs I've discovered, including:   

1. Fatal signal when attempting to pass structure parameters to
   functions.  If the signal doesn't get you, then the bad 
   assembly code generation on a ns32000 sequent will (for strutures
   as parameters, that is!).

2. Fatal signal when declaring function prototypes with variables of
   type char.

3. Fatal signal when dynamic-length automatic local variables
   are declared inside of functions (this is obviously a
   GCC addition to K&R).

I'm sure other errors exist, but I haven't run across them yet.
As long as one sticks to the vanilla K&R  the compiler seems to
work well.  However, some of the newer ANSI and GNU extensions
don't always perform as expected (see above).
In summary, the compiler will be very nice, once it works!
Luckily, the GNU people are very receptive to bug reports,
so hopefully the problems will not endure!

   Doug Schmidt