[Development] Platform / compiler support

[Thiago Macieira]

On Monday, 7 de November de 2011 17:42:22 jan-arve.saether at nokia.com wrote:
> Don't we need to agree on what criteria a platform needs to fulfill in 
> order to be supported? The supported platforms will change as times go by,
> so the list will need to be updated by some criteria (it might cause
> discussion when some platforms are removed from the list, or if some are
> favored above others)
> 
>  * Is the criteria the number of installed platform SDKs?
>  * Is the criteria availability of platform SDK for people in the community?
> (e.g. MinGW has wider availability than MSVC) * Is the criteria that it
> should be used for automatic compile tests?
> 
> For instance, I'm not sure if Qt will have significant increased adoption
> because ICC is a supported platform, (it would be nice with some numbers,
> maybe a poll would suffice?

For this purpose, since we're talking about what kind of compiler and language 
features will be allowed in the source code, we have to be very broad. For 
example, suppose we want to allow template-template parameters in the code 
without restrictions. That means TTPs may enter into our API.

Now imagine someone wants to port Qt to a platform with a compiler that 
doesn't support TTPs. That will be impossible because TTPs are mandatory and 
cannot be worked around. So this port is dead before it even starts happening.

This is why I'm recommending being very conservative. Once we allow a feature 
unrestrictedly and it enters the API, there's no going back.

-- 
Thiago Macieira - thiago.macieira (AT) intel.com
  Software Architect - Intel Open Source Technology Center
     Intel Sweden AB - Registration Number: 556189-6027
     Knarrarnäsgatan 15, 164 40 Kista, Stockholm, Sweden
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