[gnu.misc.discuss] A new layout of the gnu languages directories

ingwa@isy.liu.se (Inge Wallin) (10/12/89)

I hereby propose a change in the directory layout for the GNU
languages. Presently, all files of GCC except the machine specific
definitions reside in the same directory, and when you want to compile
G++ you have to make links to many (most) of the files in ../gcc. The
situation is likely to get worse when the much awaited GNU
Objective C, GNU FORTRAN, GNU PASCAL, etc arrives.

I find this somewhat ugly and propose the following layout instead:
A top directory, perhaps with the name `gnu_languages' or whatever,
contains the following subdirectories:

  * tools	- genemit, genflags, etc
		  These are presently common to GCC and G++ and are
		  likely to be common to the other languages too since
		  they will all share the same back end.

  * config	- This is the same as config nowadays.

  * gcc		- Language specific files for C.

  * g++		- Language specific files for C++.

  * gobj-c :-)  - Language specific files for Objective C.

  * and so on...

All references to files in other directories can be made like
../foo/bar. This scheme allows the number of languages to grow without
the poor system administrator being drowned in symbolic links. 

Comments?
-- 
Inge Wallin               | Thus spake the master programmer:               |
                          |      "After three days without programming,     |
ingwa@isy.liu.se          |       life becomes meaningless."                |
                          | Geoffrey James: The Tao of Programming.         |