On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 10:47 AM, Ralf Corsepius <rc040203@freenet.de> wrote:

On 09/18/2013 09:33 PM, Dave Johansen wrote:

For example, I am working on packaging odb (
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=975310 ), but it requires
gcc 4.5 or greater for plugin support and that is only available on EL
5/6 through the devtoolset.

What are the causes? To me, this sounds like a non-portable package.

There are two parts of ODB: 1) the compiler and 2) the runtime. The compiler takes an input and generates C++ code that can be built against and used with the runtime. The generated code and the runtime can be used with gcc 4.2 or greater.

The issue is that ODB requires gcc's plugin support ( http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/plugins ) to parse the input (which was introduced in gcc 4.5). Only gcc 4.4 is available on RHEL 5/6, but the devtoolset makes a newer version available, which enables the use of the compiler and not just the runtime.

So if it was possible to build on Koji using
the devtoolset, then it would enable odb to be packaged for EL 5/6 and
then those with access to the devtoolset could make use of it.

To me this boils down to the question: "Are people allowed to use RH's devtoolset in EPEL?".

Correct me if I am wrong, but to my knowledge, RH's devtoolset is only available to RH customers, which would mean EPEL can not use it.

Yes, the devtoolset requires the appropriate subscription from RH, but that is the point of my request. I would like to request that devtoolset be made available on Koji so it can be used to build certain packages. The idea is that then it will build the rpm on the server and it will be available in the EPEL (but not the devtoolset itself). This means that anyone who would want to use this package would need to have the devtoolset installed, so it doesn't violate any of the RH/EPEL policies, but would enable the use of the devtoolset with the EPEL.