Building DMD

[Jascha Wetzel]

Lionello Lunesu wrote:
> Frank Benoit wrote:
>> DMDs frontend is open source, the backend is close.
>> Is there a way to compile a full functional DMD from the released 
>> sources?
>>
>> If the DMD release would contain a static lib for the closed part (like
>> libDmdBackend.a/dmdBackend.lib) it should be possible to build DMD
>> without making the backend open source.
>>
>> The advantage would be
>> - Users could learn how DMD works, not only by looking at the code.
>> - If a bug blocks developement, the user /can/ try to find a workaround.
>>   And then, the change /can/ be tested, before submitting a patch.
>>
>> Frank
> 
> I've managed to compile and link(!) GDC under cygwin once. It wasn't 
> easy, and I should have written it down :( but it does give you an open 
> D compiler in the end.
> 
> L.

Just for the record: compiling llvmdc on linux is very simple. It 
doesn't implement the whole language yet, but it's nice to play around 
with. Tomas is aiming for an alpha release early next year (go tomas, goo :)
I'm really looking forward to that - D on LLVM, that'll remedy all the 
target platform troubles D has.