Subj : A Terminal and a Manual
To   : Kai Richter
From : Maurice Kinal
Date : Thu Oct 31 2019 16:09:46

Hallo Kai!

 KR> That's the great freedom of choice of open source software.

Agreed.  However there is/was software that is part and parcel of every linux 
distribution.  For me gcc is definetly one of those and has been since I first 
used it on Solaris based machines (Sparc stations) in the real world way back 
when no matter what their purpose was.  Also C and Unix did grow up together 
way back in the late 60's when one wasn't possible without the other.  I still 
believe that is true and there would be zero linux (bsd's too) distributions 
without a C compiler and gcc was there at the beginning.

 KR> I was talking about servers in general. The job of a server is to
 KR> provide service for specific task(s). A file server have to serve
 KR> files, a web server have to deliver webpages.

I have yet to see one of those in the real world, nevermind here where I am.  
Every Unixie machine I have ever encountered ALWAYS had a working gcc 
enviroment since the late 1980's and continues to be true although I only have 
access to the machines I currently am running.  There are differences between 
the linux I originally ran back in the 1990's and today but gcc is still at the 
heart of it all.

 KR> I see and understand why "your" systems need a dev environment
 KR> but that is not required for "any" existing system.

Understood.  I could easily replicate a non dev enviroment but I'd use gcc to 
create it rather than rely on someone else's idea for such a crippled 
machine(s).  Having said that I am not sure what I'd need from such a system.  
I am guessing it would sit in the corner collecting dust.

Bottomline is that LFS is an excellent document of how things fit together and 
gcc is an integral part of that which makes it an excellent learning tool.

Het leven is goed,
Maurice

.... Huil niet om mij, ik heb vi.
--- GNU bash, version 5.0.11(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
 * Origin: Little Mikey's EuroPoint - Ladysmith BC, Canada (2:280/464.113)

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