Re: gcc development schedule [Re: sharing libcpp between GDB and GCC]

[Tom Lord <lord@emf.net>]

       Further enhancing the testing infrastructure is one objective that I'd
       like to see and where I've worked on already,

Yes.  The GCC project has _very_noticably_ improved in many process
areas since roughly the time the SC came on-line.

I come from a very "software tools" oriented background.  I think
there's a lot of leverage to be obtained not by waiting for volunteers
to contribute things that happen to be useful, but by making an
aggressive, worked-out plan and then asking how it can be implemented
via funded projects.  The SC mission statement contains lofty goals,
but it isn't an aggressive, actionable plan for the most part.  The
list discussions contain many good ideas and initiatives, but overall,
that's a scattershot rather than an especially organized approach to
the problem.

And it's an issue that's both larger than GCC, but to which GCC can
make a very useful contribution.  Well designed tools for improving
the GCC process will work for other projects as well.  At the same
time, GCC, more than most projects, exemplifies both the strengths and
challenges of open source processes -- an emerging software
engineering discipline of exponentially increasing commercial and
social importance.

-t