dmd 1.043 alpha for FreeBSD 7.1

[Lars Ivar Igesund]

Walter Bright wrote:

> Lars Ivar Igesund wrote:
>> Walter Bright wrote:
>> 
>>> Now works for FreeBSD 7.1!
>> 
>> Nice!
>> 
>> But is there a particularly good reason for disregarding version
>> identifiers already established by gdc and ldc?
>> 
>> freebsd vs FreeBSD, darwin vs OSX
> 
> FreeBSD is how it is normally written in the official FreeBSD
> literature, such as : http://www.freebsd.org/
> 
> Also, gcc on FreeBSD predefines __FreeBSD__
> 
> Clearly, FreeBSD is the term preferred by the FreeBSD community.
> 
> The Mac OSX documentation does not refer to it as darwin, it normally
> refers to it as OSX. You have to work hard to find any references to
> darwin on the Apple web site. Nevertheless, "darwin" is predefined for
> legacy compatibility on the Mac dmd compiler.
> 
> I was concerned that people would see "darwin" support and wonder what
> that is. OSX is an order of magnitude better known and associated with
> Apple. Macs are not called "darwins". I suspect we'd get real tired of
> saying "yes, darwin really means OSX."
> 
> (As an aside, back in the 80's the ubiquitous and famous Wordstar
> program was produced by Micropro. Nobody could ever remember the company
> name. After many years of people assuming that Wordstar was made by
> Wordstar Inc. and fruitlessly trying to find Wordstar Inc., Micropro
> finally wised up and changed their name to Wordstar Inc.
> 
> Also, note that most bands put out their first CD as a self-titled one.)

I don't mind your conventions if DMD had pioneered these platforms, but it 
did not.

FreeBSD breaks existing code, and so will OSX whenever darwin is removed. 
Now a developer already active on those platform is forced to somehow make 
sure both identifiers are in place until some unknown point in the future.

Since the version identifiers have been established in GDC a very long time 
ago, and they do follow an acceptable convention, I find it very unnecessary 
to change that.

As for the darwin vs OSX issue, what I heard is that darwin is technically 
the more correct one as it is with linux vs Ubuntu, Suse, etc.

-- 
Lars Ivar Igesund
blog at http://larsivi.net
DSource, #d.tango & #D: larsivi
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